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 […]
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 […]
Nicole Hoffman is a Chicago-based pianist and composer. Her works explore contrasting timbres and the transformation of musical material through different styles. Additionally, she takes interest in how improvisation and collaboration can be used to foster spontaneous performances from the same principal material.
Black Moon Trio is a horn, violin, and piano ensemble redefining the chamber music experience through adventurous programming, community-centered education, and a commitment to equity in the arts. Founded in 2022 by Parker Nelson, Jeremy Vigil, and Khelsey Zarraga, the trio seeks to effect meaningful change by connecting with diverse audiences and amplifying underrepresented voices. […]
A not-for-profit organization offering scholarships in Turkey and France. In the USA, private music lessons are given to underserved children and teens in the Chicago area. Ayse Celasun founded Notre École de Musique in 2014; in 2020 the school was moved to Chicago’s North Center neighborhood from the famous Fine Arts building downtown. Former Assistant […]
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, […]
Niayesh Javaheri is a pianist and educator based in Bowling Green, OH, currently pursuing her DMA in contemporary music with Dr. Solungga Liu. She has performed as a soloist and with various ensembles in Iran, Europe, and the US. Niayesh has premiered and recorded numerous works, including a piece featured in the album Contemporary Music […]
Hailed as “spine-tingling” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and “breathtaking” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), American pianist Kyle Orth possesses unusual virtuosity and artistic sensitivity. He has distinguished himself globally as a captivating soloist and chamber musician, passionately reviving lesser-known works while offering intriguing interpretations of pieces within the standard repertoire. The Dallas Morning News praised his complete musicianship […]
Cacie Miller has relied on the sounds and repertoire of the piano to help her make sense of the world around her since a young age. She is drawn to compositions packed with colorful storytelling and especially those that seem to push through the edges of reality. She relishes these qualities in the music of […]
Han geul Lee is a multifaceted musician, known for his innovative approach to the piano as a composer, improviser, and instrument maker. He has explored a wide range of piano repertoire, from early baroque to premiere performances of new music and continues to explore theuntapped sonic capabilities of the piano with experimental techniques and electronics […]
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 […]
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 […]
Founded in January 2018, the Yang and Olivia Arts Foundation is a non-profit 501c3 organization whose aim is to provide a platform embracing diversity, equality and inclusion. The first years of activities focused on international cultural exchange between United States, China and Taiwan, particularly in the area of classical music. Since the pandemics, the foundation […]
South Korean native Koeun Grace Lee is an accomplished performer, educator, and conference lecturer. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and a Post-Master’s Certificate in Music Theory Pedagogy from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, and […]
CELEBRATED FOR COMPOSITIONS THAT ARE EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED AND VISCERALLY-ENGAGING, COMPOSER MISCHA ZUPKO WRITES MUSIC THAT EXCITES BOTH MUSICIANS AND AUDIENCES Working collaboratively with other great musical minds, his body of work is intensely virtuosic and bracing in its vision and scope. In the words of Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein, Zupko’s piano concerto Fahrenheit was“…a powerhouse of the evening” and […]
Carl J. LaMark’s work as a composer, pianist, and collaborator has been described an exercise in “sustained intensity”. Coming from a long line of Chicago natives, he received the majority of his training as a pianist at the Music Institute of Chicago at Winnetka and Northwestern University under primarily under Dr. Soo Lee. He received […]
“…a precise and engaged artist, unafraid of deep ambiguities…” (Justin Hayford, The Chicago Reader) Shi-An Costello (世安) is a composer, pianist, and a proud second generation mixed race Asian American, born and raised in Chicago. Although he started piano lessons at a young age, Shi-An’s first love was sports. But in high school, he fell […]