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 […]