Composer Chats

Chelsea Komschlies’ music, called “otherworldly” and “uncanny” and praised for its “vivid storytelling” (Chicago Classical Review), blends the familiar and strange in mysterious ways. She prioritizes perception of her music by the human brain and shared experiences among listeners. Her compositions, each a distinct fantasy world, evoke vivid multisensory imagery and a range of psycho-emotional lan...

Mary Bichner (b. 1982) is an American orchestral composer of opera and ballet with sound-to-color synesthesia — a neurological condition that allows her to “see” splashes of specific colors when she hears their corresponding pitches sounded. Her work has appeared in publications such as National Geographic, BBC Music Magazine [UK], La Nouvelle Republique [France], and on NPR; and she has collabora...

Zemlinsky Prize winner and eight-time winner of The American Prize, composer Martin Hebel (b.1990) works at the intersection of music, advocacy, and interdisciplinary collaboration, responding to global challenges with socially-conscious music to spark positive change and strengthen communities. Hebel was inducted as Honored Artist of The American Prize in 2025. Hebel’s Uplifting Unheard Voices pr...

My name is Eric Lane Barnes. I am a composer, writer, lyricist, pianist, director, conductor, performer, teacher, and advocate for LGBTQ rights. I live to explore all the ways music can connect people with themselves, with one another, and with the world around them. https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-museum-of-really-interesting-things1 https://www.ericlanebarnes.com

Evan VanDoren is an in-demand music composer regularly commissioned to create engaging & award-winning music for marching bands and concert ensembles at all skill levels. Evan’s music is regularly performed around the country, including premiere performances at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention and the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic . In 2025, Evan was recognized as a Nationa...

Mark Simpson (b. 1988) is a UK-based composer of an acclaimed body of work and an internationally-renowned clarinettist, whose programmes champion music new and old. His music for the stage, orchestra, voices, and chamber forces has been celebrated by leading conductors, instrumentalists, and ensembles ; across a myriad of forms, poetic intensity is matched by technical assurance and expressive ge...

Dr. Kira Zeeman Rugen is a composer, conductor, academic professor, and professional soprano from Scottsdale, Arizona. Kira currently serves as the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities as a residential faculty member at Scottsdale Community College. Now in her twenty-eighth year as a music educator, she conducts Concert Choir and ArtieVox (Jazz Vocal Ensemble) at Scottsdale Community College an...

Olympia, Washington based composer Dawn Sonntag’s music has been called “hauntingly lyrical,” “profound,” and “freshly relevant.” Her works have been performed by ensembles and soloists across the U.S. and in Europe, including Burning River Baroque, the Delgani Quartet, the Ensign Chorus and Orchestra in Seattle, the Cleveland Chamber Chorus, the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland, the Fairbanks Sum...

Jason Nitsch’s music is equally at home on the concert stage, in outdoor venues, and streaming online, reaching the broadest audience of musicians, performers, and music enthusiasts possible. As a composer dedicated to the exploration of new ideas, his music has evolved over a 25-year career to incorporate more and more non-traditional elements, such as effect tracks, sound drops, and enveloping e...

Beth Anderson (M.F.A./M.A.) is a critically acclaimed composer of neo-romantic, avant-garde music, text-sound works, and musical theater. Born in Kentucky, she studied primarily in California with John Cage, Terry Riley, Robert Ashley and Larry Austin at Mills College and U.C. Davis. She is a member of Broadcast Musicians Inc. (BMI) , the American Composers' Forum , International Alliance of Women...

Paula Dreyer is a classically-trained contemporary composer and pianist living in the Pacific Northwest who seeks to inspire, include, and connect individuals through music. She has created her own, unique sound – weaving a wide range of influences from the Romantic and Impressionistic eras, film composers, Spanish music, and solo improvisation albums from the masters. Listeners are transported th...

Composer and conductor Lee Actor (b. 1952 in Denver, Colorado) was one of five composers selected in November 2014 as an "Honored Artist of the American Prize" , the first time this prestigious award has been bestowed. He has won a number of awards for his compositions, most recently for Symphony No. 2 , third place winner of the 2019-20 American Prize in Orchestral Composition, Dance Rhapsody , w...

Katherine Saxon (b. 1981) was born in Santa Monica, California. She graduated magna cum laude from Williams College in Massachusetts where she studied vocal performance with Brad Wells and composition with Ileana Perez Velazquez. She obtained a Masters of Music at the University of Oregon studying with composers Robert Kyr and David Crumb and received her Ph. D. in Music from the University of Cal...

Amy Beth Kirsten is celebrated for her theatrical and conceptual approach to composition. Her music fuses voice, instrument, language, and movement into works that blur boundaries between concert, theatre, and ritual. The 2025–26 concert season includes the completion of Eating the Underworld , a pop-song cycle for Bergamot Quartet and the composer as vocalist; the release of Misfit Toys , a grade...

Laura Nevitt is a conductor, composer, and educator based in Boston. She earned degrees in Composition and Music Education from the University of South Carolina, and a M.M. in Choral Conducting at Boston Conservatory, studying with George Case. As a fierce advocate for new music, they love working with composers, and have conducted over 30 premieres of new works. She is especially passionate about...

Dale Trumbore (b. 1987) is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer whose music has been called "devastatingly beautiful" (The Washington Post) and praised for its "soaring melodies and beguiling harmonies deployed with finesse" (The New York Times). Her compositions have been performed widely in the U.S. and internationally by Atlanta Master Chorale, Central West Ballet, the Choral Scholars of Uni...

Multi-award-winning composer Jordan Jinosko is celebrated across concert, media and film music industries, gaining international acclaim for the “subtle and powerful” and “cinematic scope” (Wisconsin Public Radio) of her work. Drawing inspiration from mythology, nature, her lived experiences as a trans woman of color, and her social & environmental activism, Jordan’s compositions have been com...

Noah Hudson-Camack (b. 2001) is a composer and arranger native to Cary, North Carolina. Believing firmly in diversity as strength within art, he seeks to blend elements from disparate eras of Western art music, jazz, and popular music in his work. The sewing together of different genre aesthetics is as much an objective in his music as developing strong motivic content, rich harmony, and complex r...

Composer Mara Gibson is originally from Charlottesville, VA, graduated from Bennington College, and completed her Ph. D. at SUNY Buffalo. She has received grants and honors from the American Composer’s Forum, the Banff Center, Louisiana Division of the Arts, ArtsKC, Meet the Composer, the Kansas Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, the International Bass Society, ASCAP, the John H...

Charles Rochester Young was appointed as the Director of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2022. At UNC Greensboro he works collaboratively with faculty, staff, students, and leadership to illuminate the lives of listeners and to better support students’ professional aspirations. Prior to his appointment at UNC Greensboro, Young served as the Associate Dean a...

Jessie Cox is Assistant Professor of Music at Harvard University and received his doctorate from Columbia University. Active as a composer, drummer, and scholar, his work thematizes questions at the intersection of black studies, music/sound studies, and critical theory. From Switzerland, with roots in Trinidad and Tobago, Cox thinks through questions of race, migration, national belonging, and ou...

Dr. Roger Zare is an assistant professor of composition and theory in the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University. He is praised for his “enviable grasp of orchestration” (New York Times), and often composes music inspired by science, nature, mathematics, and mythology. Dr. Zare previously taught at Illinois State University. An award-winning composer, Dr. Zare has had his music perf...

Cameron Moody is an American composer, conductor, and trumpeter based in Los Angeles, CA. His distinctive utilization of the symphony orchestra has given way to a varied resume, with project genres in film and television ranging from action and documentaries to romance and comedies. Cameron composed the score for the Hulu original limited series Washington Black . The show, which was created by Se...

Born June 6, 1997 (Portales, New Mexico) is an award-winning composer who has composed music for an array of musical settings from wind ensembles to brass ensembles, marching bands, TV Series, and everything in between. His compositions have acquired attention from notable composers such as John Mackey. He accredits his mentors: Benjamin Fairfield, John Mackey, and Mark Dal Porto as being pivotal...

Minoo Dixon (b. 1999) is a Korean-American composer who has been recognized by ASCAP and the National Band Association (NBA) and has been on the rise composing meaningful and exciting music meant for a variety of audiences in the Concert Hall. He also has been an enthusiastic supporter for bringing diversity into the Concert Hall. Minoo grew up in Suwanee, Georgia, where he was a passionate member...