Ahmed Alabaca (they/them) is an African American composer, conductor, songwriter, pianist, and community facilitator. Creating power and possibility, through music, for themselves and the diverse communities they are a part of is the basis of Ahmed’s work. Raised in San Bernardino, CA, Ahmed understands the value of hard work and perseverance in the face of […]
Clara Frantzen is a violinist, composer, and conductor currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance at the Boston Conservatory. As a composer, they have had two of their compositions premiered by the Civic Orchestra under the guidance of Jessie Montgomery, through the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Young Composers Initiative. Before they were a part […]
Justin Weiss is a composer and conductor whose music has been described as “mesmerizing… simultaneously colorful and sparklingly direct” (Amici per la Musica) and “powerfully visual” (Third Coast Review). His music explores the perception of time, energy, and transformation through collective textural play and melodically driven lyricism, immersing the listener in dramatic and vibrant sonic […]
Hao Zhen is a composer, filmmaker, and pianist whose practice spans music, moving image, and installation. Her work explores sound as a material and relational process, engaging touch, distance, and forms of indirect transmission across acoustic and multimedia contexts. She approaches composition as a site of inquiry into how sound travels between bodies, objects, and […]
Devin Cholodenko is a composer with eclectic taste and signature style. His music tends toward the introspection of inner emotional and psychological experiences. Inspirations include time and memory, the experience of reality, nature, extreme experiences, classical mythology, and identity. His music has been performed, read, and recorded across the United States and internationally by chamber […]
Kyong Mee Choi, composer, visual artist, painter, organist and poet, received several prestigious awards and grants including John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Robert Helps Prize, Aaron Copland Award, John Donald Robb Musical Trust Fund Commission, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, First prize of ASCAP/SEAMUS Award, Second prize at VI Concurso Internacional de Música Eletroacústica de São Paulo, Honorary Mentions from […]
Asher Sizemore is a composer and performer based in Chicago. Her music blends interests in electronic, pop, and experimental genres, informed by her background as a producer, songwriter, and performer. Her music is often performed in non-traditional spaces, such as at house parties, in bars, and in queer clubs. She draws inspiration from queer culture, […]
Fredrick Gifford is a composer, educator and recording producer. His compositions are never the same twice: they explore openness by incorporating notated materials, live listening cues and performer decisions to shape their real-time unfolding. Commissions and festival performances include TIME:SPANS, Splice, Resonant Bodies, SEAMUS, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik (AUT), Festival Internacional de Música Contemporánea (MEX), […]
Alissa Voth (she/her) is a composer, paper artist, and PhD candidate based in Chicago IL. Her music explores gradual transformations, drifting between song, noise, and wandering tonalities. Her paper weavings form abstract, textural structures that evoke meaning through the interplay of layered images. Website / Instagram
Composer, Songwriter, Orchestrator, Arranger, Sound Designer… are all ways to describe Daniel Clingman. However, if you were to ask him to describe himself; he would likely say that he is a storyteller. Crafting the emotions felt by audiences, he draws out the the underpinning force of the narrative. Within his music-craft, story always comes first. […]
Violinist, composer, and 3Arts awardee Brandi Berry Benson, noted for her “four-string acrobatics” and “indispensable skill” (TimeOut Chicago), has been praised as “alert [and] outstanding” (Chicago Classical Review), as her “riffs.. powered by a flashing blur of bow arm, rolled out with irresistible glee” (Washington Post). Brandi has performed with numerous ensembles throughout North America […]
Mason Kurtz is originally from southern IL but currently resides in Chicago, IL. Mason completed his Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance at Eastern Illinois University and is a current graduate student at DePaul University pursuing a Master of Music degree in vocal performance. Mason has experience in both opera and musical theatre. Previous […]
Dongryul Lee is a composer and Assistant Professor of Music at Loyola University Chicago. His music has been performed by ensembles and artists including Miranda Cuckson, the Jupiter and Mivos Quartet, the Taukay Ensemble, Paramirabo, the Grossman Ensemble, the Callithumpian Consort, Avanti!, and Axiom Brass, among others, and has been presented at venues such as […]
Baskin composes music based on literature classics and is a member of a band — Mortal Fools — that performs them in one-time-only happenings (music and interstitial narration). Website
Joel Y. Hoo (符永敬) boasts a multifaceted career as a composer, improviser, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist, distinguished by expertise in crafting music across diverse musical genres, tailored for online media, theater productions, and short films. His music stands at the convergence of orchestral and electronic music and treads the balance between post-minimalism and new complexities. […]
Mahalia Hernandez is currently pursuing Violin Performance at the Chicago College of Performing Arts under the direction of MingHuan Xu. Mahalia’s musical journey began at 4 years old at her elementary school’s afterschool strings program, Music House. For several years, Mahalia primarily studied with Zhanna Bullock. Mahalia would be selected as a recipient of the […]
Annabel Punzel is a 22-year-old composer based in Chicago whose music lives at the intersection of classical elegance and imaginative eccentricity. Known for her vivid rhythms, colorful textures, and delightfully unpredictable harmonic turns, she draws inspiration from the shimmering hues of French Impressionism, as well as from folk melodies, rock grooves, and jazz-inflected harmonies—creating a […]
Chicago-based violist Rebecca Miller has extensive experience across a variety of genres, with a focus on contemporary music and opera. Rebecca is enthusiastic about pit orchestra work, and is a member of the Des Moines Metro Opera orchestra. She has played in productions with Opera Festival of Chicago, Chicago Summer Opera, San Diego’s Opera NEO, […]
Dr. Hyejin Cho enjoys a flourishing performance career as a soloist and chamber musician, with concerts across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her research, centered around her passion for Robert Schumann, led her to develop a concert series featuring his piano works in eight different states, supported by the Missouri Arts Council, the Kate […]
Joey Chimes is a multifaceted composer, pianist, improviser, and music teacher currently living in Chicago, IL. His music, while wildly eclectic in its juxtaposition of harmonic and stylistic traits, is marked by its organic sense of development and a keen attention to detail. His debut album, Reflections on Solitude, was released in 2020. His compositional […]
Joshua Paul Daniels (he/him/his) is a composer based in Chicago, Il. His music focuses on themes of the sharper edges of life. From a personal place this comes from his experience with bipolar type 2 and the deconstruction of his religious upbringing. On a broader sense, the world as we know it is not short […]
Benjamin Damann is a composer, percussionist, music technologist, & educator fromChicago. His internationally-performed works explore metric & rhythmiccomplexity, accessibility, habituation, & the timbral manipulation of acousticinstruments through physical preparation & electro-acoustic augmentation. Heseeks to normalize such complexities by generating works that engage with them interms of feel, groove, & intuition.His research utilizes combinatorics & linear […]
Mike Schwebke is a recording and performing artist on steelpan and percussion. He holds a Bachelor of Music and Performer’s Certificate from Northern Illinois University where he studied with Liam Teague, Cliff Alexis, Robert Chappell, Mike Mixtacki and Dr. Greg Byer. While at NIU Mike played in the NIU Latin Jazz Ensemble, NIU Bata trio, […]
Zae Munn is now a Chicago-area composer following her recent retirement from her position of Professor of Music at Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana. She continues as the Director and Resident Composer of the Summer Composition Intensive . Past faculty positions include Bowdoin College, Transylvania University, Lehigh University, and Interlochen Arts Camp. Her […]
Oboist Will Stevens is currently based in Chicago, performing as a regular member with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He is also currently in the post-residency period of the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the Yale School of Music. His doctoral thesis explores an intercultural approach to analyzing and performing the work of Tōru […]
Cellist Ben Fryxell is a seasoned veteran of the concert stage, at home as a soloist, orchestral player, and chamber musician. Since 2022, he has served as Associate Principal Cello of the Jacksonville Symphony, where he was granted tenure less than a year after joining. Before that, he was a Fellow with the New World […]
Cristina Buciu is a native of Bucharest, Romania and comes from a family of well-known musicians. Her teachers include Sherban Lupu, Peter Zakofsky, and the Muir String Quartet. Ms. Buciu is an alumnus of the Academy of Music in Bucharest, the University of Illinois from which she holds a Master’s degree, and a recipient of […]
Priya Fink is a Chicago-based flutist, originally from Houston, Texas. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Flute Performance with a minor in Communication and Media from DePaul University and recently completed her MBA in Arts Innovation from The Global Leaders Institute. A passionate educator, Priya teaches flute and woodwinds in Sistema Ravinia’s Austin Nucleo. She […]
Jaime Garcia-Anoveros is a NYC / Chicago-based composer, violinist, and President / Co-Founder of the Deleuze New Music Collective (DNMC). He has been playing violin for fourteen years and composing for six. Jaime currently studies composition with Marcos Balter at Columbia University. Previously, he completed studies with GRAMMY-award winner Jessie Montgomery, Kevin James, Amanda Harberg, […]
Alex Reyes is a pianist, composer, and improviser who is currently based in Urbana, IL. He previously lived in Chicago, and had the pleasure of performing at venues such as the Chicago Public Library, Fourth Presbyterian Church, and the Green Mill. He plays a wide range of musical styles including new music, jazz/blues, folk music, […]
Ian Ding is a versatile and in-demand percussionist specializing in contemporary & orchestral music. He is a founding member and co-director of New Music Detroit, a member of the Fulcrum Point New Music Project (Chicago), and the Virgil Moorefield Band (Zurich). He serves on the percussion faculty at the DePaul University School of Music. He […]
A Chicago native, I am a dedicated French horn musician and instructor passionate about sharing my love for music. Holding a Bachelor of Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I studied under Daniel Grabois of the Meridian Arts Ensemble, and currently pursuing a Master of Music in Horn Performance at DePaul University, I bring […]
Cellist and educator J Holzen is in constant pursuit of musical collaborations of all kinds, including contemporary chamber music, pop and jazz shows, and working with students to achieve their artistic goals. Their enthusiasm and sincerity as an artist and performer encourages audience members and students alike to join J on their artistic journey or […]
Caitlin Edwards is a visionary artist who seamlessly blends her cultural roots with her musical upbringing to curate performances that resonate with authenticity, impact, and joy. Caitlin began her journey with the violin at the age of eight through the Music Opportunity Program in Birmingham, Alabama. Since then, her multifaceted career as a violinist, composer, […]
Singularly devoted to challenging and redefining flute repertoire, Sasha Ishov is a versatile flutist, educator, and researcher dedicated to fostering connections across musical communities and advancing the art of flute playing. Praised for his “well-sounded and lucid” artistry (The San Diego Union-Tribune), his work spans old and new solo and chamber repertoire, experimental electroacoustic projects, […]
Derek Allen is a musician, composer, sound artist, and engineer from outside Chicago. Currently performing with Lower Automation and Formants, he has toured nationally and released music since 2009. He received a BFA in Sound Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015, and is currently earning a Masters in Music […]
Salvatore Siriano is a Chicago-based composer, audiovisual artist, and educator whose work explores the intersection of sound, imagery, and nature through technology. He blends field recordings, synthesis, acoustic instruments, and self-filmed videos to create engaging multimedia experiences. Recent presentations of his audiovisual compositions include the Seoul International Computer Music Festival, the Central Washington University New […]
Matt A. Mason is a distinguished composer, pianist, and educator whose work spans across multiple genres, including contemporary classical, electroacoustic, and music theater. Currently an Assistant Professor of Musicianship at Roosevelt University, Chicago, Matt teaches courses in music theory, composition, and performance. His teaching interests reflect his expertise in post-tonal music theory, electroacoustic music, and […]
Composer Gustavo Leone is a Professor Emeritus of Music at the Department of Fine and Performing Arts of Loyola University Chicago. His principal composition teachers included Gerardo Gandini, Marta Lambertini, Ralph Shapey, Shulamit Ran, and John Eaton. He also studied electronic music with Howard Sandroff. Leone received a Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy […]
Described as “dazzling” and “scintillating,” (Classical Source) and lauded for her “beautiful singing lines” and performances filled with “drama and energy” (Joan Tower), pianist Emiko Edwards continues to captivate audiences with her sincere musical interpretations and wide variety of tonal color. Edwards’s international performing career has taken her across North America, Europe, and Asia, where […]