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

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

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. Her music is described by The New York Times as “arrestingly lovely,” and “haunting.” 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 the recipient of fellowships and grants from Hermitage Artist Residency, NYC Women’s Fund, New Music USA Creator Development Fund, Cité International des Arts residency in Paris, & The Norman Mailer Center; she was an artist-in-residence at The Movement Lab at Barnard College, a composer Fellow at The American Opera Project, a co-winner of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Composer Competition, and a National Sawdust Summerlab Musician.

Her composing credits include: The Lydian Gale Parr, libretto by Karinne Keithley Syers, a poetic incantation with dance about a child emissary on an infinite quest to ask for an end to violence (co-produced by Amanda+James/The Tank, hosted by Target Margin Theater); Mia Rovegno and Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew’s adaptation of The Blind or Les aveugles, Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist play about 12 blind people lost on a forested island (HERE Arts Center); Joshua William Gelb’s adaptation of The Black Crook, the first American Musical (Abrons Arts Center), The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman, a humorous indictment of American foreign policy in Iraq, told through the true story of Hitler and his dog, Blondi (The Connelly Theater); and Scott Adkin’s The Kioskers, which follows two young city dwellers as they escape urban life on a floating kiosk (St. Ann’s Warehouse Puppet Lab). Her work has also been presented at SoHo Rep, Barnard College/Columbia University; and she has collaborated with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, artists César Alvarez, Coco Karol, Sxip Shirey, Ellen Winter, Amanda Palmer, Timothy Stoddard, Jason Webley, Steve Earle, Anne Waldman, Eliza Bent, William Burke, Tyler Gilmore (Blank For.ms.), and more.

Her poetry chapbook, ‘While Listening,’ was released by The Operating System in 2016. Her manuscript, ‘To Be Awake Means to Will’ was a 2015 Finalist for the National Poetry Series and a 2018 Finalist for Fence Modern Poets.

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.

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

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

 

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.

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.

Yuang Luo studied composition and compositional theory at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in China. She recently received a master’s degree in classical composition at the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Professor Reiko Fueting.

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/

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.

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 recently received a masters degree from 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.