Composition

Ked Adams (b. 2000) is composer and performer from Jacksonville, FL. They graduated from the University of North Florida in May of 2022 with a bachelor’s in music performance. Ked has extensive performance experience in many kinds of ensembles, including wind symphonies, symphonic orchestras, saxophone quartets, pit orchestras, and more. They have also been awarded outstanding musicianship multiple times at UNF, as well as being selected as a winner of the 2022 Annual Concerto Competition.

Website: https://kedrickadams6.wixsite.com/ked-adams

William Bastianon is a composer, performer, arranger, and artist from Ontario, Canada. He is currently studying composition with Dr. Reiko Fueting.

In his work, Will seeks to blend music and storytelling, drawing from a deep love of musical theatre, jazz, popular, and classical traditions, blurring the lines between genres.

Using this eclectic mix of musical languages, Will strives for humour and clarity through a marriage of carefully chosen convention and emotionally charged content.
Throughout his ongoing musical exploration,

Will is constantly deepening his love and respect for the artistic process, collaboration, and his connection to the artists who came before him.

Will has worked as an arranger and copyist for clients such as Nicolas Dromard (Broadway performer), Kate Schutt (singer-songwriter), and Voices Rock Canada (Canadian choir). He has written music for two Toronto Fringe shows (one of which he also performed in) and two independent short films (one of which he acted in).

Website: https://www.willbastianon.com

Ross Bello (b.1999) is a composer and percussionist based in New York City. Ross’ music is intentionally eclectic, exploring various sonic spaces and compositional techniques. He is unafraid to exist within or outside of any preexisting aesthetics. His music often explores the vast wonders of the world we exist within, and introspective reflections of human experiences.
As a performer, he has performed solo recitals, worked in large and chamber ensembles, and is particularly dedicated to performing marimba and keyboard repertoire. Notably, Ross was the 2021 Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition winner at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, performing Gillingham’s 2nd Marimba Concerto.
Ross holds a BM in Music Composition for New Media from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, with an additional degree in Music Performance. During this time, he studied closely with Dr. Brandon Vaccaro. He is currently working toward a MM in composition, studying with Susan Botti at the Manhattan School of Music.

Website: https://www.rossbellomusic.com

Sebastian Block is a composer and classical guitarist. He is studying at the Manhattan School of Music under Professor David Adamcyck.
Sebastian was born and raised in Los Angeles, and currently resides in New York City. He started to take an interest in composition when a music teacher introduced him to Steve Reich’s Different Trains, opening him to the limitless nature of “classical music.” Since then, Sebastian has been inspired and influenced by a number of composers, including Lili Boulanger, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and John Adams.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Sebastian played in the rock band Swandive, and he was immersed in the city’s young artists’ scene. His many friends in art, film, and music also have greatly influenced his compositions.
Sebastian’s latest work, String Quartet No. 1, seeks to explore our minds and the memories we keep inside. It combines philosophical and scientific elements to create an immersive experience of exploring consciousness and perspective.

Maya Borisov is a composer and soprano born in 2004. From 2017 to 2022 she studied composition with Dr. Craig Levesque at the Westminster Conservatory of Music as well as voice with Danielle Sinclair. Maya graduated with High Honors from the Westminster Conservatory Honors Music Program, where she double majored in composition and voice. In 2020 she won the Westminster Conservatory of Music scholarship for achievement in composition. Maya was a participant in the Curtis Institute Young Artist Summer Program (2020), and the Atlantic Music Festival (2021), where she had her pieces A Purple Forest, To What Used to Be, and On the Flipside performed. She is currently an undergraduate student at MSM studying composition with Dr. Nirmali Fenn.

Vincent Bos is a Dutch-Indonesian (or ‘Indo’) Composition student born in Delft, Netherlands. Vincent originally trained as an electric guitarist, however, at the late age of 17 he developed an incredible interest in music composition and went on to devote his time towards this practice. Vincent draws much of his inspiration from composers such as Mahler, Ravel, and Beethoven.
In 2021 Vincent started taking music composition lessons with Aris Antoniades.
He is currently pursuing his undergraduate composition degree at MSM with Dr. J. Mark Stambaugh.

Jemina Brechoire is a Franco Algerian composer, pianist, vocalist, and producer. Having originally trained as a jazz pianist, Jemina entered Berklee College of Music with the prestigious Presidential Scholarship where she studied under the tutelage of Alain Mallet. There, she deepened her love for cross cultural music and interdisciplinary art.

She has an interest in folklore from all other the world that stems from her Franco-Algerian background and her exposure to many traditional folk genres from a young age (North African folklore, French chanson, Jazz).

It is an interest that has grown significantly when she moved to the United States having been exposed to ever more local traditions and people.

As an artist, she strives to be innovative and eclectic in all her creations. Jemina has arranged for Best Jazz Album Grammy Awards Nominee Tia Fuller, was the musical director of the Berklee Esperanza Spalding Ensemble, co-wrote with Tokyo Metropolitan Theater artistic director and avant-garde composer Dai Fujikura, and recorded for Cop21 premiered documentary “Terra Libra” amongst many other projects.

In her work she has been striving to connect seemingly unrelated themes, people, and places both through the medium of music and throughout her collaborations: her first album “22” was entirely produced and written by her and featured musicians from more than eight different countries. The album was recorded remotely due to the pandemic and pays tribute to North African Folklore, taking a global approach to music making and, hoping to serve as a medium to help composers and performers through uncertain times as it did for the composer herself.

Jemina sees her interests lying in creating a music in movement, centered around our multitudes. Although her first instrument is piano, she also started developing an interest for the voice early on. Listening to jazz records she discovered scat through Ella Fitzgerald and is, to this day, fascinated by the power and emotional intensity that vocalists can deliver even with a wordless approach to music. A lot of Jemina’s music pays tribute to that vocal jazz legacy and to the artists that have been reclaiming the voice as an instrument.

This coming month Jemina will be performing for the arrival of Little Amal in New York, an eleven-foot giant refugee puppet from Syria and symbol of international human rights.

Her compositions have premiered in places such as the University of Toronto Massey College and Berklee Performance Center among others.

www.jeminamusic.com

Marco Catella is a freshman student composer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was exposed to music throughout his life but developed a stronger interest in writing in 2019, at age 16. Although his musical influences are noticeably diverse, he attempts to unite them by creating vividly dramatic works. Wagner, Mahler, Strauss, and many film composers like Hermann and Rosza enkindled his love for drama. He majored in economics for one year in Argentina but decided to take the risk and study music. While unfamiliar with US music schools, he quickly fell in love with the Manhattan School of Music. After going through the thorough application process, including a very engaging interview, he visited the school and attended a concert. After that day, he had no doubt about which place would be best to cultivate his musical potential.

Szilvia Cimino is a composer, arranger, soprano, pianist, brass player, actor, and poet from Fairfield, Connecticut. In 2022, Szilvi was awarded the prestigious Leonard Bernstein Musicianship Award, the John Philip Sousa Band Award, the CAS Outstanding Arts Award. She was also the 2022 recipient of the Halo Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play. She has performed at many renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Radio City Music Hall.

Szilvi’s works are largely narrative and highly emotional. Her poetic nature allows her to create expansive settings and intense feelings that transcend verbal language. Her style is influenced by the Hungarian folk music she grew up surrounded by and her background in theatre. She enjoys going out of her comfort zone, as she views such a challenge as a learning experience.

Isaac Ismael Cortijo is a Brooklyn born and raised pianist, composer and conducting student. Born in 2005, Isaac began playing piano at 3 years old, and picked up several more instruments throughout high school, including the cello, euphonium, French horn, and tuba. Isaac graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy where he had several pieces performed, the most significant one being his wind symphony piece Rebirth which was premiered by the Interlochen Wind Symphony. Additionally, Isaac began conducting his senior year of high school. That following summer, he participated in a program held by the Conducting Institute where he was able to conduct several pieces and learn under Miguel Harth Bedyoa, who he now studies privately with. Isaac aims to connect and communicate with his audience through his music to invoke an emotionally rich listening experience. He hypothesized that music, sound and frequency are what connect us all fundamentally as living beings and plans to explore that hypothesis in his future studies and explorations. As a student of Valerie Coleman, Isaac looks forward to learning more about what it means to be a composer, creator, and contributor to the arts.

James Warner Duquette (b. 2000) is a composer. He has worked with ensembles and performers including Les Percussions de Strasbourg, ASKO Schönberg, the Talea Ensemble, the Mivos Quartet, the ETHEL Quartet, GRAMMY® nominated violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved, and renowned thereminist/founding member of the NY Theremin Society Rob Schwimmer.
James Warner Duquette studied composition with Michael Hersch, and has had additional composition lessons with Du Yun, Reiko Füting, Michael Harrison, and Samir Odeh-Tamimi, among others. He also studied Indian Classical Music with La Monte Young and Michael Harrison.

https://jameswarnerduquette.com

Alaina Ferris is an interdisciplinary composer, poet, and performer who specializes in choral works, opera, and contemporary theater. As an active pianist and Celtic harpist, her music is inspired by a love of Renaissance chorales and her former work as a music therapist. She is one half of the indie-folk duo, Physical Kids, alongside Matt Schlatter. She is an awardee of the New Music USA 2022 Creator Development Fund; was summer 2022 artist resident at Cité International des Arts in Paris; a 2019-2021 Composer Fellow at The American Opera Project; a co-winner of the 2019/2020 Brooklyn Youth Chorus Composer Competition; and selected as a 2019 National Sawdust Summerlab Musician.

Alaina’s work has been presented at HERE, SoHo Rep, Barnard College/Columbia University, Abrons Arts Center, The Connelly Theater, and St. Ann’s Warehouse. She has worked with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, artists César Alvarez, Coco Karol, Sxip Shirey, Ellen Winter, Amanda Palmer, Jason Webley, Steve Earle, Anne Waldman, Eliza Bent, Mia Rovegno, William Burke, Joshua William Gelb, Mac Wellman, Tyler Gilmore (Blank For.ms.), and more. She is the founder of The Music Room, a membership space (a guild!) for composers and music teachers who are dedicated to the art of practicing music, located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Alaina was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and later moved to Boulder County, Colorado. She earned her B.A. in Music and Creative Writing from the University of Denver and her M.F.A. in Poetry from New York University, and now lives in Brooklyn.

http://www.alainaferris.com/

Emily Green grew up in Ottawa, Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in composition from the University of Toronto, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in composition at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studies with Reiko Fueting. Green has been commissioned by numerous ensembles, including the Ottawa Children’s Choir, the Exultate Chamber Singers, Pax Christi Chorale, and Modern Sound Collective. Being a vocalist herself, she has a particular interest in vocal and choral music and enjoys exploring the full range and capabilities of the human voice. She also strives to challenge and expand the technical boundaries and expectations as to what a vocalist is capable of, ranging from alternative tuning systems to simultaneous percussion parts played by the vocalist(s).

Green is also a passionate music educator. She especially enjoys working with beginner students, and has taught voice, theory, and composition both privately, and with several organizations including Sistema Toronto, which provides free, after-school music instruction to students from low-income families. She is passionate about developing a personal curriculum which incorporates a wide variety of musical skills and concepts, in order to create well-rounded musicians with the necessary foundations to enter any musical discipline, whether it be performance, composition, conducting, or otherwise.

Website: https://www.emilygreenmusic.com

Chongguang Guan is a classical composer, pianist, and electronic music performer who graduated from the Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music where he studied composition with Weihao Qiang. Currently he is studying composition at the Manhattan School of Music with Marjorie Merryman for his Bachelor of Music. His timbral approach is very unique and was well received in Elinor Armer’s master class (2015 May) and the Winter Master Class Program (2016) run by UCLA’s music department. His works have not only been influenced by various music genres, but also by his rich variety of experiences as a performer. He performed in the 2018 Electric Daisy Carnival Shanghai as a Guest DJ, and he also performed at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as a jazz pianist in 2016.

Julian Bennett Holmes is an award-winning composer and theorist, a doctoral student at the Manhattan School of Music, and Sacred Music Coordinator for Columbia University. He studied with Lowell Liebermann, Richard Danielpour, and Marjorie Merryman. As a teenager, he toured internationally, playing in experimental bands.

He has won prizes including the Society for New Music Israel/Pellman Award, the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester Young Composer Competition, the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Composers Award, and Second Prize at the Seventh International Antonín Dvořák Composition Competition.

He performs weekly organ improvisations at Columbia University, which you can watch on YouTube.

www.julianbh.com

Alexander Howard was born in 2004 in Chandler, AZ. He has been studying the saxophone and clarinet for seven years and participated in two All-State competitions with both. He discovered his desire to compose in elementary school and continued forward with his passion. In high school, he studied saxophone and clarinet privately with Mr. Don Goldstone, piano with Mrs. Blair Myers, and composition with Dr. Mathew Fuerst.

He is obsessed with a medley of composers and of the folk music from many cultures. He strongly believes that music is a universal medium and music must be able to resonate as strongly with everyone playing and listening. His music possesses strong melodicism and richly colorful harmonic palette, focusing on the intense joys and the cataclysmic lows of the human condition. He often derives music from nature, and alongside his synesthetic responses, finds music in every tenet of life.

Besides music, he loves reading, studying butterflies and geology, hiking in the mountains, and talking with his friends and family.

 

Shouye Huang was born in the AnHui province China and began to learn the piano at the age of five. He graduated from the Tianjin Conservatory of Music in 2023 with a Bachelor of Music degree in composition.
In ancient China, there was a totem called tai chi. Its connotation means moderation and harmony between black and white. Shouye was influenced by the ancient Chinese philosophy of naive materialism.
With an open mind and an inclusive mind, Shouye learns from foreign cultures and inherits the essence of his own nation. Gradually achieve cultural consensus and integration of ideas. He is willing to contribute his own national music and strength to the MSM and the art world.

Eric Impey is a contemporary classical composer and multi-instrumentalist, taking inspiration from pop, metal, jazz, and classical.
He began composing as a young child independently from the music classes he had been exposed to. He recalls seeing and hearing music in his head for as long as he can remember, which eventually became a desire to share those visions with an audience.
Eric’s development as a composer has been intense and unexpected. His formal composition instruction began at the age of 17, and his body of work spans early 2022 – present. While he studied piano, tuba via public education, and later guitar as an adolescent – he was not exposed to intensive music education in his youth. While he enjoyed his experience with the world of performance, he quickly recognized a more prominent and ever-present interest in composition that had underlined his musical journey.
This led to attending the Atlantic Music Festival, summer of 2022, followed by the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artist’s Program, summer of 2023. His orchestra work, ‘The Floodgates’ had the honor to be debuted during the Tanglewood on Parade Young Artist concert.
As Eric embarks on his B.A. in Music at the Manhattan School of Music with mentor, Reiko Fueting, he seeks to expand his style and vocabulary within his compositions and experience the variety of music available during his time at MSM.

Website: https://ericimpeymusic.com

Kenedea Lee is a composer and pianist. She studied Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Classical Composition at the Manhattan School of Music. At the Manhattan School of Music, she studies with Professor Susan Botti. Growing up in South Los Angeles, Kenedea has been inspired to write music that reflects her upbringing. She aims to compose music in the Contemporary Classical style while taking heed of the black vernacular, vocabulary, and the African American Experience.

https://www.kenedealee.com

Sun Lee (Hyesun Lee) is a South Korean composer with a profound interest in incorporating various art and music genres into her compositions. From 2019 to 2023, she studied composition with Dr. Michael Timpson at Ewha Womens’ University and completed works of various combinations. In addition to contemporary concert music, she also dedicated herself to composing different music genres, including pop music, background music, and musical theater.
During her undergraduate years, she explored the fusion of Korean traditional music with Western style mini-opera while participating in an exchange program at UNM. She also worked on jazz and blues piano playing and merged different styles into her music. In 2021, she composed and directed a musical theater production centered around Korean history, incorporating Korean traditional music styles.

Motivated by a genuine curiosity for interdisciplinary collaboration and an exploration of diverse musical genres, she’s furthering her education as a master’s student at the Manhattan School of Music under the guidance of Dr. Susan Botti.

French undergraduate composer Gabriel Legros pronounced his wish to work in the field of Music from his early juvenescence.
Gabriel started his classical training in voice at age 4 and developed, throughout the years, an utter interest in multiple instruments such as the Piano, Classical Guitar, Bass Guitar and Cello.
Years later, he began working intensely on his theory and ear training under the private tutelage and mentorship of Juilliard School professor Dr. Wayne Oquin.
Being an avid performer, Gabriel has performed in various venues including events involving high representatives of the French government, charitable organizations, and musicals amongst others.
Soon after turning 17, Gabriel commenced showing a deep interest in Composition, which led him to ask Dr. Oquin to specifically instruct him on the subject. From there, Gabriel’s passion for composition never ceased to grow, to a point where he came to conclusion to pursue his studies in Conservatoire.
In September 2023, Gabriel will begin his Bachelor of Music at The Manhattan School of Music under the guidance of Dr. Reiko Füting, where he will develop his musical endeavors.

Arthur Siyun Li (b.1998) is a Canadian composer and pianist currently based in New York City. He is pursuing dual master’s degrees in composition and piano at the Manhattan School of Music. He is a recipient of the MSM President’s Award Scholarship as well as the Silver Medal for piano in the Canadian Music Competition (2009).

As a composer, Arthur’s recent work aims to explore the poetic fragment as an analog for motivic construction in music. In addition, Arthur is interested in writing music for film and games. He composed the score for the animated short film Front of the House (dir. Ashley Ma), which was selected as part of the LA Shorts International Film Festival in 2019. At MSM, Arthur is under the tutelage of Susan Botti (composition) and Alexandre Moutouzkine (piano).

Shuwen Liao was born in China, graduated from the Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2018, where she majored in composition with Dr. Wenpei Ju. In 2022, She graduated from Manhattan School of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree in composition. Shuwen is currently a graduate student at Manhattan School of Music, where she studies with Susan Botti.

Shuwen became the first young Chinese composer included in the New York Philharmonic’s “Very Young Composer” program. Her work, Shadow of the Wolf, was performed by the New York Philharmonic in Lincoln Center, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra concert hall. She later wrote an international music postcard, The Skeleton Demon, which was premiered in New York by the New York Philharmonic and subsequently toured around the world.

Shuwen has received many prizes and scholarships. Her composition, Wolf Shadow, won the first place in the chamber music group in the Third “Spring Awakening” National Composition Contest. Shuwen’s string quartet Pure. Fire, won the third place of the Manhattan Prize at MSM. Her wind quintet, Warm Station, was commissioned by Windscape to perform in New York. Shuwen also received the Giampaolo Bracali Award for Music Composition at Manhattan School of Music in 2022. Recently, her orchestral piece, Elegant Cloud, won the Grand Prize in the Red Maple Composition Competition in Canada. In her music, Shuwen seeks to create an illusion – something wild and unexpected, but in a subtle way, quietly exciting, full of lightness.

Tongyu Lu is a composer from China who is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in composition at Manhattan School of Music with Professor Reiko Fueting.

Tongyu was born into a musical family and began to learn the piano at the age of five and the trumpet at the age of eleven. In 2016, he was admitted to Central Conservatory of Music Middle School with excellent results, and studied trumpet with Professor Chen Guang, piano with Professor Li Xiang, solfeggio practice and music theory with Professor Wang Yusu, Associate Professor Zhang Juan and Professor Li Tong. He also joined the China Youth Symphony Orchestra (Central Conservatory of Music Youth Symphony Orchestra). In 2020, he officially began to study composition, under the guidance of Professor Xu Zhitong and Professor Liu Kanghua.

He has an extensive passion to compose various styles of music and create his own new works. Also, he has a great interest in art and nature under the influence of his family. Many of his works are inspired by them.

Yuang Luo studied composition and compositional theory at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in China. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in classical composition at the Manhattan School of Music. At the Manhattan School of Music, she studies with Professor Reiko Fueting.

Nhat Nguyen was a fellow at The Loretto Project (2021) and has been commissioned by the Amorphous Collective and James Alexander. He was also the winner of the Manhattan Prize in 2019 and recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts Grant.
His works have been performed by Transient Canvas, James Alexander, Yarn/Wire, Lydian String Quartet, Longleash, Unheard-Of//Ensemble, Ensemble Linea, Manhattan School of Music Orchestra, Hanoi New Music Ensemble, Ripieno Ensemble, Ajax Quartet, confluss duo, members of the Contemporary Performance Program at Manhattan School of Music and conducted by Jeff von der Schmidt, Kee Yong Chong and Joseph Carlomagno.
In 2016, he was nominated by Kim Ngoc Tran to represent Vietnam in the Goethe-Institut Manila Composers Lab for young Southeast Asian composers.
Nhat has participated in important musical events, including the Divergent Studio (2022), the Collaborative Composition Initiative (2020), Etchings Festival (2019), Hanoi New Music Festival (2018), Fresh Inc Music Festival (2018), the Asia-Europe New Music Festival (2014) held in Hanoi.
Nhat earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music in 2019 under the tutelage of Dr. Reiko Fueting and Professor Susan Botti, and his MFA in Composition at Brandeis University, studying under Prof. Yu-Hui Chang and Prof. Eric Chasalow.

Website: https://nmnhat.squarespace.com

Gabriel Ordás (Oviedo, 1999), who already showed his precocity at the age of 11 by debuting as a soloist with his own piece for violin and string orchestra, now has a catalog that exceeds 70 works.
In his compositional career, he has had multiple symphonic premieres with orchestras such as RTVE, OFIL, OSPA, and the Oltenia Philarmonic Orchestra (Romania); two chamber operas commissioned by the Cultural Association “La Castalia”, and commissions for several symphonic-choral works from the University of Oviedo. Among the awards he has received, notable mentions include the “Marino Gutiérrez” Composition Prize 2020, the Extraordinary Prize for Higher Artistic Education in Asturias 20/21, and the AMAS in the category of Film Music 2021. More recently, he has been awarded the “Leoncio Diéguez Marcos” Composition Prize organized by CONSMUPA, where he completed his higher studies in 2021.
His works, in which the intervention of his teachers Fernando Agüeria and Manuel Martínez Burgos has been decisive, have received praise and congratulations from international figures such as David Lockington, Óliver Díaz, José Peris, Leonardo Balada, Aldo Ceccato, and Jorge Muñiz. The latter premiered Ordás’ works in Indiana (USA) in 2015 and 2016.
In his violinistic facet, he began studying this instrument with Gayané Pogosova and continues to do so under the guidance of Lev Chistyakov. As a soloist, he has performed in several concerts offered by OSPA; he premiered his Concerto for violin, choir and orchestra “El Aura” in the Cathedral of Oviedo, and won the National Prize for Professional Artistic Education in 2016. He is also a member of various chamber groups, with which he won the CONSMUPA Chamber Music Prize – Fundación Caja Rural 2019 awarded to the Trío 4Tercios, and the ISLIM 2020 Prize for the duo he forms with violist and pianist Jorge Diego Valera.
Currently, he is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Composition for Audiovisual Media at Katarina Gurska in Madrid, while also completing his higher studies in Piano at CONSMUPA under the tutelage of Martín Acevedo. He has also been admitted as a student in the Composition Master’s program at Manhattan School of Music.

Website: https://gabrielordas.com/en/

Reinier Potgieter is a composer based in New York City. His music is informed by an almost overwhelming tendency for deep introspection. He believes that his art, as an extension of his life, should be an avenue to contemplation. Through this, he attempts to (with varying degrees of success) create opportunities for listeners to engage with the material as essential mechanisms in slowly unfolding events, even as passive observers. When not absorbed by his graduate studies at Manhattan School of Music, he can often be found half-finishing crossword puzzles before starting new ones

Varun Raja (b. 2000) is a master’s student at the Manhattan School of Music where he studies Composition under the tutelage of Professor Susan Botti. He enjoys writing for all manner of instrumentations from solo to symphony orchestra. As a composer, he would describe his stylistic aesthetic as a fusion between romantic influences and contemporary techniques. From a recent dance collaboration with a Texas Women’s University choreographer, Varun and his collaborator’s multimedia video Paradox was selected for the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Screen Dance Festival.

varunrajamusic.com

Shahar Regev, born in 1992 in Israel, is an interdisciplinary Composer, Singer and Cellist. Regev Graduated from the Composition Department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She was instructed by famous Israeli musicians – Professor Josef Bardanashvili, Professor Yinam Leef, and Professor Michael Klinghoffer. Recently, Regev completed her master’s degree in Composition at the Mannes School of Music, studying with Dr. Lowell Liebermann in New York City. She is currently studying in the professional studies Composition program at the Manhattan School of Music with Susan Botti.
Her works include various styles of orchestrations – vocal, chamber, and orchestral music. Her pieces were performed by ensembles and orchestras at concerts and festivals in Israel and overseas. Artistic engagements include commissions and collaborations and with Symphonette Raanana Orchestra (Israel), Tzlilim Bamidbar Festival (Israel), Toscanini Quartet (Israel), Ensemble diX (Germany), Alambic duo (Italy) Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York (Bulgaria, USA), Mestizo Sax Quartet (Italy), MMS project – Mediterranean Miniature Sketches (Greece), The IPO for Kids (Israel), Duo BassGuitar (Israel), Meitar Ensemble (Israel). She also composes music for the theater, musical arrangements, and original songs.

www.schacharregev.com

Sarah Senior is a pianist and composer from Caracas, Venezuela. She studied Music and Film Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University while being part of the cross-registration program with Manhattan School of Music, where she studied Classical Piano with Dr. Inesa Sinkevych and Phillip Kawin. She was also part of the Music Performance Program at Columbia for Chamber Music. She graduated magna cum laude, with department honors, and was awarded the Ethel Stone LeFrak prize. She is now pursuing her Master of Music in Composition at MSM with Dr. Reiko Füting.
Though she started composing music to play herself and continues to do so, she is excited about collaborating and working with other musicians. She has written for the ensembles PinkNoise and Ekmeles for performances in New York City. Sarah has also scored the music for a number of short films, combining her love of film and music. She is eager to continue working on this medium and exploring Latin American genres moving forward.

https://www.instagram.com/bysarahsenior/

Hao Shen was born in China and graduated from China Conservatory of Music with master’s degree and from Minzu University of China with bachelor’s degree in composition. Currently, he is a graduate student in composition at Manhattan School of Music, studying with Reiko Füting.
In 2021, his Piano Quartet won the Third Prize of Pennsylvania Piano Quartet Composition Competition, held by the China Conservatory of Music, 2021. In 2021, his ensemble piece The Sketch of Music won the Third Prize of theEnsemble Workstation, also held by China Conservatory of Music, 2022. Sketch of Music was published by Modern Press in 2023.

Cengxing Shi began studying piano at age five and composition at age of 11. Then, when she was 12 years old, she was accepted by the Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China. She studied with Hong Gao and Professor Weihao Qiang. In 2020, she was accepted by Manhattan School of Music. She studies with Professor Marjorie Merryman. In addition, when she was nine years old, she won third prize in the junior group of the piano competition in the Anhui Province, China. Also, when she was 14 years old, she won first prize in the Second National Composition Competition (Yinzhong Cup in China). When she was fifteen years old, she won second prize in the School Photography Competition.

Jianing Song graduated from China Conservatory of China. She graduated with high distinction from her undergraduate studies, having received various scholarships.

Her art song My Thoughts Fly to You won the Gold Award in the 6th International Asia-Pacific composition competition and the first prize of the 10th China new generation composition competition. Her micro-opera The Story of a Mental Hospital is “the creation and research improvement project” of China Conservatory of Music and “The Academy Level Project” of Sichuan Conservatory of Music.

While majoring in composition, her second major is conducting. She conducted an orchestra academy affiliated to China Conservatory of Music to perform Mozart’s piano concerto K.482 and numerous other works.

R.S. Stricklin III, born in 1994 in Dallas, Texas, has had his music performed across the United States and in Europe. He has worked on performances of his music with loadbang, Frances-Marie Uitti, and members of the Ostravská Banda and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Stricklin graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2017 with a BM in composition and honors in the liberal arts, and Manhattan School of Music in 2020 with an MM in composition, where he is currently pursuing a DMA in composition, studying under Reiko Füting.

Akshay S. Tiwari (b. 2002) is a music composer and multi-instrumentalist from Princeton, New Jersey. Over the years, he has studied the viola, piano, and bağlama saz in depth. Influenced by rich folk traditions from around the world, his works draw from a colorful palette of musical styles and idioms. His journey into composition began by writing and arranging various world folk pieces for an ensemble he started consisting of a string quintet and mixed percussion, which performed at several venues around New Jersey.

Over the years, he has developed a particular affinity for the folk music of Turkey, Eastern Europe, Northern and Western Africa, and his family’s native India. This blending of often overlooked folk idioms with standard western ensembles forms the core of his work, and as he studies composition at the Manhattan School of Music, he plans on expanding his musical language, guided by the fundamental belief that music of every tradition offers a new perspective which, when combined with other perspectives, provides a more complete view of the human spirit.

Currently working as a private viola teacher, his ambitions include film and video game scoring as well as composing contemporary concert and art music.

Angela Tse is a freshman student at MSM. She was brought up in two cities of China, Beijing and Guangzhou. Angela discovered her ability to compose in a very early age. Although she didn’t receive much formal composing education since she had been studying in public schools, her insistence and determination in composing got her in her favorite school and now studying with Reiko Fueting.
Angela is obsessed with some old arts. She has been influenced by her favorite artist Antonio Lucio Vivaldi from the Baroque period, having many similar preferences in composing. To reappear the charm of Baroque and classical art in a modern language is one of her major goals in music.

Her music often focuses on some moments of certain human emotion. They can be explosive, colorful and sophisticated, which are reflected and marked on the highly varied and passionate melody in her compositions. She believes good pieces of music are able to impact people’s emotion and mood, so she wants to enlighten people through music. In addition to orchestra music, she also writes pop music, and she has recently been invited to participate in the writing of the music for a film in China.

Apart from music, she develops deep interests in many other subjects such as art, literature and astronomy. She is also a talented and skilled painter, and she studied English Literature in high school, which helps her to write lyrics and novel in her spare time.

Hsin-Yi Tseng (Lisa) is a musician and artist born in 2001 in Taiwan. She graduated from Taipei National University of the Arts, where she majored in composition and minored in fine arts. She is now a master’s student at Manhattan School of Music, studying composition with Reiko Füting.

Dylan Wolf is an American composer, born in Queens and raised in a rural town in the Midwest. He studied Composition and Voice at the University of Illinois under the tutelage of Steven Taylor (for Composition), Jerold Siena, and Ricardo Herrera (for Voice).
Wolf’s music explores a wide variety of exploratory styles and concepts. Utilizing his studies at the University of Illinois, he studied the work of Ben Johnston, one of the fathers of microtonality. Other influences include Rautavaara, Poulenc, and Berg. Wolf combines colors from the harmonic series and other modern techniques with his love of Romanticism and Mysticism. He was recognized by the Illinois Modern Ensemble in 2022, with the premier of his work Torn. He was a runner up for the University of Illinois ACDA Chapter’s choral works competition.

Yeabon Jenny Yi is a Korean American composer-performer currently residing in New York. She is classically trained in double bass and likes to experiment with improvisation and timbre on the instrument. She is also a self-taught producer and continues to explore the technicalities of music production and sound engineering.

Jenny has a bachelor’s in composition from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee which where most of her pieces and performances were debuted. She was able to work on collaborative projects with professional musicians such as Arx Duo and yarn/wire. One of her larger ensemble works was recently performed by The Boston Conservatory’s String Orchestra. Jenny has also worked on many other projects with her friends, peers, and colleagues. During her undergrad years, she has performed (double bass) in numerous concerts with the Boston Conservatory Orchestra. She is now at Manhattan School of Music to pursue her master’s in composition. Jenny works on not developing her musical language but rather the variety of musical language there is. Her most recent works seek to express her own concept of complexity within simplicity.

Chen Shuhe Yue (Yue Chen), a composer, soprano and multi-genre artist, was born in 1995 in SiChuan, China. Yue was awarded bachelor’s degree in Opera Acting from The Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, and went to Mannes School of Music to study with Huang Ruo in Music Composition for master’s degree. Now she is in the professional study program in composition at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Reiko Füting.

As a composer, Yue writes in various styles. Her works include solo, chamber, opera, music theater electroacoustic music and sound installation. Yue has cooperated with many notable musicians such as Jack Quartet, PHACE Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, David Fulmer, and musicians around the world. As a soprano, she used to perform traditional operas such as The Magic Flute, Così fan Tutte and La bohème. Now she is active in performing contemporary vocal music, including her own music. As an interdisciplinary artist, Yue has traveled to more than 20 countries and has participated in many Art festivals and art projects such as Street Installation, Performance Art, Immersive Theatre… In 2017, Yue founded the nonprofit subscription “DramaEtMusica” based on Weibo and WeChat social media, dedicated to public music education of Opera and classical vocal music and new music in China.

https://www.chenshuheyue.com

Yuqing Zhang (b. 2004) is a classical music composer from China. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree at Manhattan School of Music with the Professor Ashkan Behzadi. In her unremitting efforts of exploring the world of music, she drew inspirations from her daily readings and the trivialities of her routine life. Her musical works usually evoke philosophical contemplation and manifest its connection with music. Emotions such as awareness, introspection, reflection and understanding are the common elements found in her works.
“Music is eclectic and all-embracing; it encompasses the meaning of life and depicts everything in the Universe.”