Known for his energetic rhythms, rich harmonic language, and striking colors, award-winning composer Josh Rodriguez (b. 1982) continues to gain recognition as an emerging composer and collaborator on a national and international scale. Born in Argentina and raised in Guatemala, Mexico and the United States, Rodriguez’s musical imagination has been formed by this bilingual, multi-cultural […]
Marissa Kerbel (she/her) is a pianist and pedagogue based in Chicago, IL. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in piano performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where she studied with Michael Chertock and James Tocco. Other significant pedagogical influences include Marvin Blickenstaff and Dr. Erin Bennett. Marissa has performed in […]
Joe Bauer is a Chicago-based double bassist and curator. He is currently a tenured member of the Quad City Symphony, founding member of the Versa’tile Chamber Ensemble, former Fellow in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and returning performer in the Outside the Box New Music Festival in Carbondale where he was previously on faculty at […]
Hannah Novak is a professional orchestral freelance double bassist in the Chicago area. She currently studies at DePaul University with Alexander Hanna, and previously studied at Rice University with renowned bass pedagogue Paul Ellison. She enjoys rock climbing and dark chocolate, and is very happy to be a member of New Music Chicago.
Trevor Patricia Watkin is named after his grandmother, a fellow native of Southern California. A teacher since 1997, from 2013-2022 Trevor taught at Access Contemporary Music in Chicago, where he served first as Director of Operations and ultimately as Director of Artistic Activities. In 2019 he created the ACM Film Scoring Class, which is the […]
Anthony Joseph Lanman is an active and passionate musician that divides his time between composing, performing, teaching and advocacy for new classical music. As a composer, Anthony creates music that reaches general audiences as well as new music connoisseurs. Embracing influences that range from progressive rock and metal, to medieval and renaissance music, to jazz, […]
“I’m originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. I grew up in a household of music lovers, who encouraged me to pursue music. I picked up guitar at age 12 and immediately started composing my own songs. I attended the University of Chicago where I studied Music Composition under Mwata Bowden, Augusta Read Thomas, and Anthony Cheung. I […]
International prize-winning flutist Rose Bishop serves as Instructor of Flute at St. Ambrose University, Coe College, Cornell College, and Kirkwood Community College. An active orchestral musician, she serves as Principal Flute of the Southeast Iowa Symphony Quincy Symphony Orchestras and Second Flute/Piccolo with the Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with Orchestra Iowa, the Dubuque […]
Ari Hunter Scott is a cellist, composer, and improviser based in the Chicago area. She holds a Bachelor’s of String Performance and Pedagogy from Illinois Wesleyan University, and a Master’s of Music from DePaul University, and plays with ensembles in the Chicago area while composing as a freelancer. Scott’s practice as a cellist spans both […]
Emily Cox is a vibrant singer who has been seen across the country in opera, operetta, cabaret and musical theatre. Described as a ‘gifted singer with an endearing voice’, her numerous roles include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, Marian Paroo in The Music Man, Despina in Cosi fan Tutte, […]
Natasha Bogojević is an award winning and internationally acclaimed composer and pianist. She is regarded as the creator of highly original, passionate and imaginative pieces. Her music is not possible to categorize; while deeply rooted in classical tradition she is constantly searching for different inspiration to create new, engaging and inventive scores. She is the […]
Elliott Lupp is a composer, improvisor, visual artist, educator, and sound designer whose work often invokes images of the distorted, chaotic, visceral, and absurd. This aesthetic approach as it relates to both acoustic and electroacoustic composition has led to a body of work that, at the root of its construction, focuses on the manipulation of […]
Carlos Bandera is a composer whose music is characterized by a glacial unfolding of sonic landscapes. He often expands simple elements into large-scale musical structures, through which he explores the interplay of harmony, noise, and texture. Carlos received the Underwood Commission to write a new work for the American Composers Orchestra after his piece Lux […]
Pedram Diba (b.1993) is an Iranian-American composer of acoustic, acousmatic, and mixed music residing in Chicago. Diba’s music and research has been showcased in festivals such as IRCAM Forum 2022, Festival Temporel 2021, NOVA Contemporary Meeting 2021, 4th Annual Research on Contemporary Music Conference, Concert Vivier InterUniversitaire 2020, New Music Gathering 2018, White Ibis Ensemble […]
Cameron is a musician and software developer living in Chicago. He earned a B.A. in Computer Science and a B.Mus. in Saxophone Performance from Northwestern University and is currently a graduate student at the Chicago College of Performing Arts. He has performed in solo and chamber recitals across the country, but his current primary artistic […]
Logan Rutledge is a composer of contemporary classical music that hails from Gainesville, Florida! Rutledge holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago where he studied Composition with Marc Mellits, and a Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Miami studying with Charles Norman Mason. Rutledge has also […]
Olivia Kieffer is a composer, percussionist, and educator. A native of Wisconsin, her music has been described as “immediately attractive,” “like a knife of light,” and “honest, to the point, and joyful!” Olivia is former adjunct music faculty at Reinhardt University (2009 – 2017), where she taught percussion and World Music. She studied percussion at […]
Ramin Roshandel’s compositional work is based around incorporating ‘experience’ as a fundamental concept through a non-experimental approach in performance. Considering phenomena such as instability, cultural identity, and communicational language on one hand, and being inspired by Persian music intervals as a setār (an Iranian instrument) player on the other, has led him to consider indeterminate, […]
As a strong advocate for new music, and an experienced solo and small ensemble musician, Mason Spencer is dedicated to expanding the breadth of the classical canon through commissions and performance. His passion for musical variety has led to a collaborations with storytellers, singers, a variety of chamber and orchestral ensembles, and even a soloistic […]
Elizabeth Rudolph is a Chicago-based composer “whose music takes advantage of the rhythmic complexity of minimalism to emphasize thoughtfully composed melodic storytelling.” according to contralto Katherine Dalin. Rudolph’s music has been commissioned, performed, and/or recorded by VOX3, Third Eye Theater, New Moon Opera, Chicago Fringe Opera, Fresh Squeezed Opera, Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, Interlochen Arts […]
Julian Terrell Otis is a vocalist dedicated to the advancement of Black music in America, spanning genres from creative music and jazz, to contemporary classical. His work explores the limitless possibilities of his instrument’s expressive capacity through song, improvisation, and theater. Known for bringing fresh perspective, nuance, and “high drama” to the contemporary music world, […]
Ben Zucker makes “stirring compositions…built on a lifetime of musical curiosity” (Chicago Reader). As an intentionally wide-ranging composer/performer, he has contributed to experimental scenes across North America and Europe. Performance highlights include working with musicians including Anthony Braxton, Gareth Davis, Myra Melford, Karen Borca, Vocal Constructivists, Rinde Eckert, and the San Francisco Choral Artists, amongst […]
Zachary Guo attends Deerfield High School and studies piano with Dr. Matthew Hagle as well as composition with Dr. Christopher Jones. He is a scholarship fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy, a training center for advanced pre-college musicians. At the Academy, Zachary enjoys learning and playing contemporary music with his peers. Zachary began […]
Zoë A. Wallace (formerly known as Zoë Holbrook) is a classical composer and guitarist who is continually striving to broaden the repertoire for instruments in an ensemble setting. She has performed in a number of concerts as a soloist and in a duo throughout California, Illinois, and Utah, and has had the pleasure of playing […]
Katherine Petersen is an engaging Soprano specializing in the performance of 21st Century repertoire for Voice/Saxophone and Russian Art Song. Her recent collaborations with Decho Saxophone Ensemble include performances at the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Vienna (2022), Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (2022), Women Composers Festival of Hartford (2022), International Saxophone Symposium (2020) and […]
Molly Jones’ practice incorporates improvisation, composition, and multimedia performance with saxophones, flutes, and electronic samples. Her work originates in a place of playfulness, listening, and attention. Formed by her experiences in jazz, classical, Balkan brass, and Scottish country dance/contradance ensembles, and by her fascination with found sounds, she has created chamber works, graphic scores, electroacoustic […]
“…Zoulek’s performance, on saxophones in every range, is stunningly virtuosic, whatever the genre…none of this would matter much (except to saxophonists) if he were a less imaginative composer.” (The Wall Street Journal). A modern saxophonist of “pure mindfulness and talent” (PopMatters), Nick Zoulek’s artistry as a performer, collaborator, composer, and media artist has led to a diverse portfolio of distinctive […]
Richard Brasseale is a saxophonist, composer, and educator in the Chicago area. An acclaimed saxophonist, he has played with numerous ensembles, including the Milwaukee Symphony, Madison Symphony, Fulcrum Point New Music Ensemble, Camerata Chicago, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and others. Recent solo performances include the DePaul Symphony Orchestra, North Park Orchestra, and various recitals in […]
Abdo Timejardine-Zomeño is a Chicago-based clarinetist, woodwind doubler, composer, and arranger. He is currently earning a double degree in Clarinet Performance and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His on campus ensemble participation includes performing in the UIC Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Pep Band, as well as various chamber music ensembles. Abdo’s primary […]
Wenbin Lyu is a US-based Chinese composer and guitarist. The compositions written by Wenbin Lyu combines contemporary western techniques with ancient oriental culture. He seeks inspiration from nature, science, and video games. Lyu has received fellowships from Tanglewood Music Center, Cabrillo Festival Composers Workshop, and Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme. Lyu’s works have been performed at […]
Described as “kaleidoscopic,” and praised for its “real power,” “triumphalism,” (Fanfare Magazine) and “depth, beauty, and rich dimension” (The Courier), the multistylistic work of Baltimore-based composer and pianist Adam D. O’Dell (b. 1992) invokes theatre, nature, and human behavior and speech to explore the territory between the profound and the absurd. O’Dell has been commissioned […]
TREY TILLOTSON has worked in the classical music world since 2014. Born in 2002, Tillotson had his first official freelancing opportunity in 2015, and has since then performed, whether clarinet or piano, at various events, such as for a wedding, fundraisers, and multiple churches in the Pittsburgh area. His performance experiences include solo, chamber, choral, […]
Amanda Beaune is a violinist and educator who is community focused and driven. She has found herself to be truly at home in new music, and believes that new music can serve as a direct path to connect with youth and our surrounding communities. As a whole, Amanda is working to elevate new music to […]
Osnat Netzer /osˈnat ˈnɛtsɛʁ/ is a composer, performer and educator. Osnat creates her compositions collaboratively, tailoring her work to the performer’s sensibilities, physicality and improvisational inclinations. She takes inspiration from cognitive linguistics, and in dialogue with the embodied experience of physical forces, such as potential and kinetic energy, resulting in compositions that are rich in […]
Dr. Greg A Steinke is retired, former Joseph Naumes Endowed Chair of Music/Art and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon; Associate Director, Ernest Bloch Music Festival (‘93–97) and Director, Composers Symposium (‘90–97) (Newport, OR); served as the National Chairman of the Society of Composers, Inc. (1988–97). Composer of chamber and symphonic music […]
Born in Guatemala City, Xavier studied piano at the National Conservatory of Guatemala with Consuelo Medinilla. At age 18, he was awarded the first prize at the Augusto Ardenois National Piano Competition and third prize at the Rafael Alvarez Ovalle Composition Competition in Guatemala. He continued his piano studies in the United States with Argentinean […]
Born in 1997 in Vladivostok, Russia, Aleksandr Romunchkin was adopted at a mere 6 months old and brought to America by his parents Steve and Deborah. Later, Romunchkin became a U.S citizen through adoption and his name was changed to Matt Kubek. Matt Kubek considers himself a Russian-American Saxophonist. Throughout his life, Matt has always […]
Ryan McGuire is an emerging American composer based in the Chicago area. Though he is young, he has already exhibited the traits of a great composer in the making. From the age of 9, he has produced a body of works that are ever increasing in their sophistication and maturity. An admirer of Beethoven, Schubert, […]
Symphonic, solo, choral, chamber, theater and electronic music composer Carlos Vázquez is one of the most outstanding Latin American contemporary composers coming from the Caribbean basin. Ha has composed and presented the two most ambitious work done in his country; the opera La Mina de Oro and the Requiem domesticus. Born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, […]
Madeleine Wilmsen is a performer and teacher based in the Chicago area. She recently graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Arts in Music with an emphasis in Flute Performance where her principal teachers were Sarah Frisof and Michael Gordon. She was awarded placement in the University Honors Recital in 2016 and […]