Michael Seewald holds the Chair of Dogmatics and the History of Dogma at the University of Munich, and is a Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg) in Berlin. His books have been translated into 11 languages. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, one of the most prestigious and highest-endowed research awards worldwide. His most recent book is entitled “Theories of Doctrinal Development in the Catholic Church” (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Seewald is a 2026 Fellow at the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles.

Luis RosaLebron is a composer, pianist, piano historian, and restorer of historic instruments, born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, into a family of amateur musicians and music lovers. From an early age, he understood music as an essential part of life. An avid collector of fine instruments and music-related memorabilia, his work bridges performance, scholarship, and craftsmanship. In addition to composing, he coaches college-level music students in score reading and interpretation, with a strong commitment to engaging directly with the composer’s original intentions. His musical language draws on classical, Caribbean, jazz, and folk influences, often favoring short, accessible miniatures that condense rich emotional and harmonic worlds. A violist as well as pianist, RosaLebron is known for his inventive compositional voice, which explores emotional ambiguity, suspended atmospheres, and the expressive possibilities of harmonic tension.

Andrew Krastins is a violinist, music historian and internationally recognized expert on early classical sound recordings 1889-1900. Mr. Krastins’ key discoveries include the unique recorded legacy by Camillo Sivori, the only pupil of Niccolo Paganini; these wax cylinders are the earliest known recordings by a violinist of complete classical works.  His research has been published by the British Library and other sources. Based in Los Angeles, he has a longstanding interest in American cultural history, particularly the classical and vernacular musical traditions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Recognizing the historical preciousness of ephemeral objects, Mr. Krastins is a careful custodian of rare musical scores, sound recordings, and unique manuscript materials central to his research.  Mr. Krastins takes a special interest in the musical history of Los Angeles in all its variety, from the 19th century through the arrival of European musicians, composers and other intellectuals fleeing European oppression in the 1930s and onward. His musical interests reflect a broader fascination with the relationship between music, memory and the local cultural habitats in which music was created. His performances are marked by a deep sensitivity to musical storytelling and historical context, making him an especially compelling collaborator in programs that connect literature, history, and live performance.