6-WIRE and Friends

Among other notable performances, 6-WIRE premiered Sean Gao’s “Sleep now, O Earth” for the 40th anniversary concert of Earth Day in 2010. 6-WIRE has had multiple tours in Asia including the premiere of Encounters, a multimedia theatrical concert transporting audiences back to the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). 

6-WIRE has been the recipient of grants from Chamber Music America, National Endowment for the Arts, Delaware Division of the Arts, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Shanghai Sonatas Foundation.

Sean Gao

Violinist Sean Gao is recognized as a highly successful, multifaceted performing art professional: a producer, presenter, fundraiser, songwriter, composer, arranger and performer of classical, jazz, funk, bluegrass, Asian folk, pop and Latin American music. As a classical concert violin soloist, he has appeared with more than 100 symphony orchestras throughout the world including the Czech Philharmonic, the Gothenburg Symphony-National Orchestra of Sweden, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in Russia, the Estonian National Symphony, the Mexico State Symphony, as well as the Detroit, Kansas City, Knoxville, Memphis and Aspen Music Festival Symphony Orchestras. He has performed for numerous world leaders including two former U.S. Presidents, former Chinese President Hu JinTao, and King Carlos I of Spain. In 2007 the Stradivari Society in Chicago selected Gao as a recipient of extraordinary Stradivarius violins for his concerts. Gao is the Trustees Distinguished Professor of Music, the youngest endowed professorship at the University of Delaware, and past “ZiJiang Professor of Music” in Shanghai at East China Normal University. He received the Delaware Governor’s Award in the Arts for his work at the University of Delaware. He is the founder of the China Music Foundation. He was named one of the Top 30 Professionals of the Year 2021 by Musical America magazine. He is the creator and composer of a new musical, Shanghai Sonatas (shanghaisonatas.com), currently in development by Broadway producers in New York City (Xianggao.net).

Cathy Yang

Cathy Yang is an internationally acclaimed erhu virtuoso and guzheng (Chinese zither) soloist who performs frequently throughout China, Europe and the United States. She has performed as a soloist at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, among other major concert halls. The Chinese Government has named Yang numerous times to be a Chinese cultural ambassador, which included solo performances in Vienna, Frankfurt, Munich, Los Angeles and other major international cities. In May 2008 she performed before thousands of New York Mets fans: the first traditional Chinese musician to appear at Shea Stadium. She has performed at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, and recently was soloist with the Annapolis Symphony. A former professor of music at the China Contemporary Cultural Academy, she has received numerous prestigious awards in China, including top prizes at the Long Yin Instrumental Competition, the Tian Hua erhu competition, the Chinese Ministry of CultureAnnual Music Competition and the Chinese National Cultural Foundation Award. She is a resident of Maryland where she is founding director of Amazing Culture and Arts Center, presenting concerts and teaching Erhu and Zither.

Matthew Brower, artist in residence at the University of Delaware with 6-WIRE, is a faculty pianist at Emory University. He has been hailed as “superb” by the Philadelphia Inquirer. A pianist, coach, Nationally Certified Teacher, his expertise spans from classical piano, chamber music, opera, and art song to musical theatre and jazz. Brower has appeared in many prestigious venues throughout the United States and Asia, including Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center and the Shanghai Oriental Performing Art Center, and he has been featured on WRTI, Philadelphia’s classical radio station. He has performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia as well as members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and faculty from many leading conservatories. He has worked with Opera Philadelphia, Westminster Choir College, the Curtis Institute Summerfest Young Artist Voice Program, the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, Opera in the Ozarks, the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, the University of Delaware and the University of Pennsylvania. In 2019,  Brower served as Director of the Collaborative Piano Program at the University of Delaware’s Master Players Summer Festival, and in 2020, he served on the faculty of the Collaborative Piano Summer Institute at Louisiana State University.

Groves is an active composer, focused on original compositions for woodwinds and jazz ensembles of various sizes. His Active Agenda for sax quartet and percussion ensemble was premiered by the NJSQ at the 2018 World Saxophone Congress in Zagreb, Croatia, and his Delaware Jazz Suite quartet was premiered by them at the 2006 WSC in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with a subsequent American premiere at Carnegie Hall. His other compositions have been performed at the International Saxophone Symposium and other national conventions. 

Groves often appears as guest soloist with area wind ensembles, jazz ensembles and chamber ensembles. He has been featured with the University of Delaware's Wind Ensemble, Jazz Bands, Christiana Quartet, Delaware Steel and others. Groves is a member of UD's Faculty Jazz Ensemble, performing regularly on and off-campus.

Groves graduated summa cum laude from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where he was awarded the honor of valedictorian.

Maricle has received several awards and honors which include the 2023 Yamaha Music in Education, Legacy Award; the 2022 Ronald McDonald House – New York’s Music for Hope award; 2016 Audelco Award for “Best Musical” – Tappin’ Thru Life;  2014 Ovation award for “Best Music Direction” in Tappin Thru Life; the 2009 Mary Lou Williams-Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award, a 2013 State Department grant for FIVE PLAY to tour Vietnam, a tour grant from Arts International, The Kennedy Center Alliance Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Arts, a grant from Meet the Composer, a doctoral fellowship from New York University, the New York City Music Educator’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and was twice selected New York University “Music Teacher of the Year.”

As an educator, Maricle runs a private drum set and percussion studio. She is also an active clinician for Yamaha Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Aquarian Drumheads and Vic Firth Drumsticks. From coast-to-coast she also serves as a guest conductor, soloist and adjudicator for collegiate and high school jazz festivals. Fifteen years ago, Maricle created Musical Magic—a hospital outreach program for Ronald McDonald House New York—and remains its music director.

Maricle graduated from Union-Endicott High School in Endicott, N.Y. in 1981. She earned her bachelor of arts degree from Binghamton University in 1985, then moved to New York City to attend New York University, where she completed a master of arts in jazz performance in 1986 and a doctor of philosophy in jazz performance/composition in 2000.

Maricle's recent recordings include The DIVA Jazz Orchestra – Tappin Thru Life (2025), The DIVA Jazz Orchestra “30” (2023), The 3D Jazz Trio 9 to 5 (2022), Christmas in 3D (2020) and I Love to See You Smile (2020), DIVA and the Boys (2019, MCG Jazz), and FIVE PLAY “LIVE” at The Firehouse Stage (2019)

When Maricle isn’t fully immersed in her musical worlds, she loves hiking, spending time outdoors and swing dancing. She loves her two rescue kitties Goofy and Blue and her rescue dog, Finnegan the Australian Terrier. Sherrie and her partner live in a converted Dairy Barn in West Chester, Pennsylvania.