composers

Trenton Rhodes (b. 2002) is an award-winning composer and musician working in Arkansas. His music has been performed all across the United States, with recent performances at the 2023 International Trumpet Guild Conference (New Works Recital), 2023 USM Trombone Day (2nd Place in Call for Scores), and the 2024 College Music Society South Central Chapter conference (1st Place for Student Awards). He currently studies Music Education and Composition at the University of Central Arkansas, where he studies trumpet with Dr. Ross Ahlhorn and composition with Dr. Paul Dickinson.

Bethany Lambert is a composer, musician, attorney, and mother. Bethany received her Bachelor of Music in Music Composition from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2007 where she was fortunate to study under David Heuser, James Balentine, and James Syler. Shortly after receiving her degree, Bethany took a hiatus from composing to raise her young family. Inspired by her differently-abled children, Bethany chose to pursue a law degree to better support her family and the disabled community. Bethany attended Mitchell Hamline School of Law where the study of copyright law reignited her passion for music composition. Bethany received her JD in 2018 and now practices law and arpeggios and is currently working towards her Master of Music in Music Composition at the University of Georgia under the tutelage of Adrien Childs, Emily Koh, and Tom Hiel. Bethany is the third-place winner of the 2023 American Prize Pop/Lite Composition.

Julian "Jules" Rios is a Sophomore Music Composition student at East Tennessee State University, where he is a member of the ETSU Chorale and Greyscale ensembles. He has had one piece debuted by Chorale (in collaboration with the Sing Me a Story Foundation) and plans to debut another piece with Chorale by the end of the school year. He specializes in SATB pieces but often composes for other ensembles as well.

Aidan Vass (b. 2003) is an American composer. He is a three-time YoungArts winner for classical composition, a finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Award, and a first place winner in the MTAC Composers Today competition. He was one of the Nancy and Barry Sanders’ Composer Fellows with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 2018-2021. Composition mentors include with Andrew Norman, Ted Hearne, Sir James MacMillan, Brett Banducci, Sarah Gibson, and David Lefkowitz. Vass has written music for ensembles such as the American Youth Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, USC Thornton Edge ensemble, USC’s Apollo Chorus, Seraphour, Nu Deco Ensemble, Sandbox Percussion, USC Thornton Symphony, and Tallgrass Chamber Choir, and he has independently released a catalog of music including a full length debut solo piano album (8 Sketches for Piano, 2021). He is currently published with Hal Leonard and Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and his music has also been featured on magazines and publications such as The Violin Channel, VoyageLA, LA Opus, Planet Hugill, and others.

Corbin Montenegro (b. 2004) is a choral composer and arranger currently based in St. George, Kansas. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music Education from Kansas State University, where he studies voice under Jesus de Hoyos and has studied music theory and composition under David Pickering and Ben Worcester. In addition, he is a member of the flagship choral ensemble, Concert Choir, as well as the school's premier contemporary a cappella ensemble, In-A-Chord. He holds membership in the National Association for Music Education, the American Choral Directors Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. While he cannot pinpoint exactly one artist as a main influence, Corbin's compositions have drawn influence from Ola Gjeilo, Uģis Prauliņš, Gian Carlo Menotti, Jacob Collier, Igor Stravinsky, Roberto Carlos Braga, and more.

Daniel (Jingyang) Cui, a Chinese-born composer, draws inspiration from his rich Chinese heritage, encompassing culture, history, and contemporary social issues. Having spent considerable time abroad, he passionately shares his unique perspectives on China through his musical compositions. His creativity is not confined to grand themes alone, as he finds inspiration in the subtleties of daily life, be it the charm of animals or a whimsical anecdote. Cui's diverse body of work spans from chamber pieces to orchestral compositions, reflecting the breadth of his artistic expression. Cui is currently pursusing his PhD in composition at University of California San Diego. Prior to his current pursuits, Cui completed his master’s degree at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music, under the mentorship of David Dzubay and Aaron Travers, Cui has been honored with the JSOM Supplemental Fellowship and the Irving & Leno Lo Scholarship Fund. Cui completed his bachelor's degree in composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia, studying under the esteemed Australian composer Carl Vine. Cui's compositions have been embraced by renowned ensembles globally, including Tacet(i) Ensemble, Hub New Music, Prism Quartet, ~Nois Saxophone Quartet, Project Fusion Saxophone Quartet, Wild Up, Texas New Music Ensemble, IMPULSE Festival Trio, Vinola Trio, NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and Sydney Conservatorium Clarinet Ensemble. These ensembles have commissioned and premiered his works. His collaborative reach extends to international orchestras such as the American Composers Orchestra, and the Sydney Conservatorium Orchestra.

Sean Barnette (b. 2003) is a Florida-based composer and arranger, and is currently in his undergraduate studies at the Florida State University College of Music, where he is majoring in Choral Music Education. Sean is an emerging talent, and his compositions are influenced by his love for contemporary musical genres, like rock and musical theatre, combined with his choral experiences to create an invigorating and fresh musical experience for a new generation. Sean is also the founder of the Harmonies for Health project, a series of charity concerts to raise money for the Children’s Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. Inspired by his own battle with cancer, Sean believes in the transformative nature of music, and hopes to inspire audiences through his compositions, as well as entertain and spread the joy of singing.

Tobias Jordaan Eric Deggans (b. 2004) is a multi-disciplinary artist, composer, and conductor born and based in the state of Florida. Influenced by his choral contemporaries and obscure indie esoterica alike, Tobias strives to bring a fresh angle to everything he does— whether it be the clear influence of Arvo Pärt and Radiohead alike in all of his work regardless of genre, or his dedication to writing and setting texts that spotlight underrepresented perspectives in choral music. His love of experimentation comes hand in hand with his strong drive to keep his work accessible: in his view, some of the most impactful and captivating works (in any genre) are deceptively simple and unfailingly earnest. He is currently pursuing his bachelor's in Choral Music Education at Florida State University, and as a transgender man in music education, he strives to use his many artistic interests to facilitate the healing, community, and catharsis he knows firsthand that choir music can bring.

Evan Blaché is a choral composer and choral singer based out of San Marcos, Texas. Never known to mince words, Evan has composed a lot of work combining the classical style with topics of social justice. Evan studied music at Austin Community College. While there, they were a part of the Austin Community College Chamber choir and was a part of the Texas Two Year All-State Choir for three years as the bass two section leader. They are currently in their undergraduate program at Texas State University for their B.M in Music Studies and Composition while singing in the Texas State University Chorale under the direction of Joey Martin and studying composition with Dr. Jack Wilds. While at Texas State, Evan has been commissioned by various groups, including Conspirare, led by Craig Hella Johnson and Vocem Cordis, led by Texas State Graduates, Nathan Thompson & Christian Clow. Evan currently sings in the groups, Tinsel Singers, Inversion Ensemble, and is an Insight Fellow in Conspirare.

Composer Victor Cui’s music is rooted in motion and physicality of sound. As a singer, Victor derives a great joy from improvising/writing melodies, and always seeks to transfer the musicality in song to all aspects of his music-making. As a result, Victor Cui constantly finds himself negotiating between spontaneity, poetics, and control. Victor is also deeply interested in literatures, cultures, histories, linguistics, and the sounds of nature. Victor is an incoming Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) student at the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University. He holds a Master of Music (MM) in composition from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and a BA/MA joint degree in Music and the Humanities from University of Chicago. Victor has studied composition with Ashkan Behzadi, Augusta Read Thomas, Hans Thomalla, Courtney Bryan, Felipe Lara, and Sky Macklay, and he has taken courses in computer music with Sam Pluta and Bryan Jacobs.

Lux Ezra Onigman is an undergraduate studying music and neuroscience at Smith College. They have been singing in choirs since age seven, and can usually be found in several at once. Lux began composing in March of 2020, and a solo vocal piece they wrote that summer was purchased by the National Youth Rights Association to display on their website. In 2021 and 2022, they won prizes in the Harmonium Choral Society High School Composition Contest with their pieces “Invictus” and “Arise!” respectively. Lux was commissioned to write “A Welcome Thought” by the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing. They also play guitar, lead song sessions, and teach music classes. In addition to music, they enjoy studying brains, fencing, learning new languages (and dead languages), writing poetry, reading, and riding their bike.

Zachary Bell (b. 2000) is a composer from San Antonio, TX, who strives to create potently expressive, beautiful, and intellectually-stimulating music. His works have been performed and recorded across the United States at venues such as the Peabody Conservatory, Rice University, Baylor University, and Appalachian State University, and at festivals including the Collaborative Composition Initiative, Divergent Studio, the Del Mar International Composer Symposium, the Atlantic Music Festival, and multiple International Trombone Festivals. Zachary’s work has been performed and/or recorded by ensembles including Unheard-Of//Ensemble, Hub New Music, loadbang, the Ohio Trombone Quartet, the Baylor Symphony Orchestra, and the Baylor Wind Ensemble, and has been commissioned by bass trombonist Shane Stewart. In 2019, Zachary was named co-winner of the Baylor Composition Competition, and has won the Best Audio award for his score at the Chillenium Game Jam in 2018. He has also done film score work for directors Tristan Sparks-McMahon, Nic Diaz, and Sarah Allen, including Tristan Sparks-McMahon’s adaptation of “Cain Rose Up,” as part of Stephen King’s Dollar Baby program, and Tristan Sparks-McMahon’s full-length film “breadcrumbs.” Zachary is currently earning his Master’s degree in Composition and Music Theory Pedagogy at the Peabody Conservatory, where he studies with Michael Hersch. He previously studied with Scott McAllister and Ben Johansen at Baylor University, and has been fortunate to work with many composers, including Georg Friedrich Haas, Martin Bresnick, Pierre Jalbert, Reiko Fueting, David Ludwig, Melinda Wagner, Lei Liang, Oscar Bettison, Matthew Evan Taylor, Sky Macklay, George Tsontakis, Kevin Puts, Nina Young, Zhou Long, Liliya Ugay, Robert Honstein, Arthur Gottschalk, Januibe Tejera, Joel Puckett, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Matthew Ricketts, and many others.
 

Erick Odiweric (b.1996) is a Kenyan composer from Nairobi who is a music enthusiast. He is driven by passion to create music related to Chemistry. Erick has participated in BCMC 3.0 and will participate in JACK Studio Reading for his string quartet piece 'Carefree Kikanyagi'. The composer holds a Bachelors degree in Industrial Chemistry from the Technical University of Mombasa. Currently, he is doing an online course at Alison; Diploma in Music Theory with Prof. Craig M. Right of Yale University.

Ryan Piggott (he/him) is from Mobile, AL and currently attends Auburn for a Music Education degree. He started writing with small instrumental arrangements to play for his friends, but transitioned to writing for larger ensembles and choirs during high school.

​Chris Dorner (b. 2004), is a composer who proudly represents the intersection of being a first-generation college student, the LGBTQ community, and Panamanian-Americans. Chris is currently a student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, pursuing degrees in Music Education and Music Composition—studying under Robert K. Mueller, Jeremy Lynn Allen, and Rick Salonen. During High School, Chris was a well-accomplished musician, being part of four music ensembles, being an all-region and all-state musician, as well as having the opportunity to perform with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA). At the U of A, Chris is involved in the Razorback Marching Band, Razorback Chorus, Wind Symphony, and Community Horn Choir, and a member of the Horn Studio under Katey J. Halbert. Chris is also a member of the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP), the International Horn Society (IHS), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and the Young Composers Community (YCC). Around the age of 12, Chris explored composition by initially transcribing his favorite metal songs. Within five years, Chris has self-published numerous pieces, all in various styles of music from classical, jazz, world music, to contemporary classical. Chris has been a selected composer for the 2019 Aspiring Artists of Texas (AATX) Call for Scores, the 2021 Evan Erickson Call for Scores, an awarded winner of the 2022 Penn State Ballora-Wang Young Composers Competition, as well as being a virtual presenter for his music at the 6th-annual Research On Contemporary Composition (ROCC) Music Festival, at the University of North Georgia.

Logan Severson Willson is a bass, composer, and conductor from Tucson Arizona currently studying choral music at Northern Arizona University. Logan is passionate about finding, through music, what unites us all by being uniquely human. He has been fortunate in his ability to share this passion through performing with all of Arizona’s major Symphonies, at local and regional ACDA conferences, and as a conductor, soloist and choir member in several world premières.

Logan performs with award-winning ensembles including The Sedona Academy of Chamber Singers, High Altitude Vocal Jazz, and Shrine of The Ages, where he served as section leader.

As a composer, Logan is published through his own website, is featured in the Collegiate Choral Composition Community, and has had works premièred alongside distinguished composers such as Jake Heggie, Hans Bridger Heruth, and Jennifer Lucy Cook.

Currently, Logan enjoys his time as Chorus Master for Northern Arizona University Opera, as a choral intern at the Church of the Red Rocks, as the conductor of the Kitt School of music composition studio, and as music director of Phi Mu Alpha Province XXXV and Kappa Xi chapter. 

Outside of music you can find him racing bicycles.

Soren Stavnicky is a 20-year-old student composer from Cleveland, Ohio. For the first two years of his undergraduate, he pursued a Bachelor of Music in Composition at Cleveland State University. However, starting Fall 2023, he will be expanding his education and musical versatility in other fields of musical creation, and will be attending the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington. There, Soren will pursue the Bachelor of Arts in Music and Sound Design, studying with seasoned veterans of the video game industry, and professionally collaborate with student artists, game designers, and developers.

Sam Scheibe is an up and coming composer/arranger, conductor, and performer of contemporary and traditional choral music. His music has been performed and commissioned by ensembles across the United States and the United Kingdom by ensembles including the Frost Chorale, the Westminster Williamson Voices, Anchorae, the West Jersey Chamber Music Society, and the University of Aberdeen Chamber Choir. He received his Undergraduate degree from Westminster Choir College, his first Master's degree from the University of Aberdeen, and is now pursuing a Master's in Choral Conducting from the University of Miami, under the direction of Dr. Amanda Quist. His music is published by GIA publications and recorded by the GRAMMY-nominated Westminster Williamson Voices. Sam has also sung professionally as a bass-baritone with professional ensembles including the Seraphic Fire Youth Initiative, the Same Stream Choir, and Choir Next Door.

Jason Fieler is an undergraduate sophomore at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music studying media scoring and production with a minor in composition. He got into music playing classical piano at the age of 9, but began branching out very soon after that, with jazz and contemporary piano, and with learning guitar and bass as well. He’s very participatory at the University of Miami, being a member of numerous vocal ensembles, both contemporary and classical, and playing keyboard and bass in various other musical groups. Jason has attended multiple summer programs throughout his life so far for composition, including the Frost Summer program and the Boston Conservatory High School Composition Intensive.

Bold, dramatic, with an exquisite attention to detail, Ethan Soledad (b. 1999) is a Filipino-American composer whose work aims to express emotions in their most raw form. His musical style is marked by unapologetic expression, dynamic extremes, and the ability to do more with less but never shying away from doing more with more. His music has been performed and recognized by ensembles such as New York Youth Symphony (First Music Commission Honorable Mention), Fifth House Ensemble, Bent Frequency, the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble (ECCE), and Fear No Music among others. He graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in Music at Florida State University 2021 and is currently pursuing his Master of Music in Composition at Rice University studying under Karim Al-Zand and Shih-Hui Chen.

Kevin Lubin (he/him) is a composer and instrumentalist based in New York. He with a degree in harpsichord performance and composition from Adelphi University. As a performer, he is open to playing whatever music is put in front of him, whether on piano, percussion, or kazoo. Additionally, Kevin composers for a variety of instrumentation and has premiered multiple operas both silly and serious. Arrangements of his have been used at several notable events, such as the Adelphi University 2022 Commencement at Nassau Coliseum. Kevin is the harpsichordist and viola da gamba player of Long-Island based baroque ensemble "Four and Twenty Strings." In this role, he has curated riveting and educational concerts such as those highlighting Jewish composers of the 17th century. As a teacher, Kevin gives private lessons on piano, guitar, ukulele, and voice to students of all ages and levels. He has also tutored extensively in subjects such music theory, ear training, music history, and general essay writing.

David Caldarella is an undergraduate composer and vocalist currently studying music composition at the Frost School of Music in Miami, FL. Caldarella began his study of music at the ACES Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, CT, along with private composition lessons with composer Polina Nazaykinskaya. His studies continued with pianist-composer Michael Brown, and later conductor Alasdair Neale, as a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra's Youth Composer Project and as an intern for the orchestra. Presently, Caldarella is a member of the world-renowned Frost Chorale under Dr. Amanda Quist. His works have seen premieres by the Frost Chamber Singers and the Greater Connecticut Youth Symphony Orchestra. His piece, Domine Deus, is currently published in the Amanda Quist Choral Series under Walton Music, and is programmed for the 2023 Virginia All-State Choir concert.

"Just recently started my composition journey, and am loving every second of it! I am a sophomore in my undergrad for music ed and music comp, so very busy. I've still got a long ways to go, but I've made progress!"