The 2022 Program Fellows
Kevin Day (2022 Julia Perry Memorial Award)An American whose music has been characterized by “propulsive, syncopated rhythms, colorful orchestration, and instrumental virtuosity,” (Robert Kirzinger, BSO) Miami-Based Composer Kevin Day (b. 1996) has quickly emerged as one of the leading young voices in the world of music composition today, whose music ranges from powerfully introspective to joyous exuberance. Kevin Day is an internationally acclaimed composer, conductor, and pianist, whose music often intersects between the worlds of jazz, minimalism, Latin music, fusion, and contemporary classical idioms. A winner of the BMI Student Composer Award and many other honors, Day has composed over 200 works, and has had numerous performances throughout the United States, Russia, Austria, Australia, Taiwan, South Africa, and Japan. His works have been programmed by the Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, several top professional and collegiate wind ensembles, and many more. His works have also been performed at Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninov Hall (Russia), The Midwest Clinic, TMEA, and other major venues. Day has collaborated with the likes of David Childs, Nicki Roman, James Markey, Wendy Richman, Jens Lindemann, Demondrae Thurman, Hiram Diaz, Steven Cohen, Jeremy Lewis, and more on works for their respective instruments, as well as chamber ensembles like One Found Sound, Axiom Brass, Ensemble Dal Niente, The Sheffield Chamber Players, The Puerto Rican Trombone Ensemble, The Zenith Saxophone Quartet, The Tesla Quartet, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Low Brass Section. He has been mentored by composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Frank Ticheli, John Mackey, William Owens, Julie Giroux, Marcos Balter, Anthony Cheung, Matthew Evan Taylor, and Valerie Coleman. Day is currently earning his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where he is studying composition with Lansing McLoskey, Charles Norman Mason, and Dorothy Hindman. Day holds a Master of Music in Composition Degree from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance from Texas Christian University (TCU).
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Yanchen Ye (2022 Leslie Bassett Graduate Award)Hailed by the Seattle Times as “[a] major triumph,” Yanchen Ye is an award-winning Chinese contemporary classical music composer. Ye’s orchestral works have been performed by world-class orchestras, including the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the National Ballet of China Orchestra, and the China National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra. When Ye was only nineteen years old, his very first composition for orchestra won the national symphonic composition award from China’s Ministry of Culture. Since then, he has continued receiving world-wide recognition for his work by winning several major competitions including: the C.C. Prokofiev Composition Competition in Russia (2012), the China National Center for the Performing Arts’ (NCPA) Young Composer Programme Competition (2013), and the Celebrate Asia International Composition Competition in the U.S. (2015). Ye has collaborated with world-leading conductors such as Kristjan Järvi, Chen Zuohuang, Zhang Yi, and Carolyn Kuan. Ye has also been commissioned to compose for the NCPA Orchestra and the Vale of Glamorgan Festival, U.K. Ye graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory with a Bachelor and Master’s degree in Composition, and New England Conservatory with a Master of Music in Composition. He is currently working towards his D.M.A in music composition at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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Faith McLean (2022 David Stock Undergraduate Award)When asked why she makes music, Faith McLean's instinctive response was to simply say it’s “because I am music...I speak the same language as the instruments. I am incapable of doing anything else and I really want people to be moved by what I create”. Beginning her musical journey at the age of six with the piano and flute, and teaching herself music production and composition along the way, music was what came naturally. At the age of sixteen, the tenor saxophone joined her eclectic range of musical skills, and the rest was history. During the Pandemic, she pushed the boundaries of her abilities to produce new music and compose orchestral scores for film placements as well as became a producer for 2 sync music groups. While others focused on personal development, or acclaim, this artist had one goal in mind: to make people feel something in a world desensitized to emotion. To fight the numbness. Not only this, but to also strive to make opportunities for others through the chances she was given, drawn to fight in the corner of children in low income areas with the very same musical potential that she was able to nurture. While her long term goals surround creating a career in film scoring, undoubtedly at the root of her journey is a deeper desire to create – and through this, give back to her community.
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Emily McPherson (2022 Ruth Crawford Seeger Memorial Award)Emily McPherson is a composer currently based in State College, Pennsylvania. Her work includes a wide variety of instrumentation across different styles including solo, large and small chamber ensembles, large ensembles, and electronics via fixed media and live electronics. Her work is primarily influenced by external media such as the visual arts, environment, poetry/written text, and a connection to physical space and time. McPherson’s works have been performed throughout the United States and internationally in Xi’an, China. Her music has been honored and awarded at festivals, events, and publications such as Yarn/Wire Institute, Electronic Music Midwest, The_____Experiment Conversations CD, UToledo Student Composition Competition, NASA Region 5 Conference, Research on Contemporary Composition Conference, International Composition Competition for Electronic & Electroacoustic Masters Vol. 1, Performing Media Festival, She Can, We Can: Beyond the Women’s Suffrage Centennial (2021), SPLICE Institute 2021, and Alba Composition Program (2022). Timbre is the backbone of her compositional interest. Her work often expresses emotion through slow changing textures. McPherson works towards creating materials that lend themselves towards disciplines such as art, dance, and video. Emily holds her BM in Music Composition from Bowling Green State University where she studied with Drs. Elainie Lillios, Mikel Kuehn, Marilyn Shrude, and Christopher Dietz. Currently, she is pursuing her MM in Music Composition from Pennsylvania State University studying with Drs. Steven Rice and Baljinder Sekhon.
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Felicity Mazur-ParkFelicity Mazur-Park is an English pianist and composer currently based in Texas. She started playing the piano at the age of four, and also plays the violin, flute, and organ. She received much of her formative musical training at Mount Kelly, an independent day and boarding school in Tavistock, England. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition from The Boston Conservatory and a Master of Education degree from Tennessee State University. Her Master of Education thesis, Ethnic Music in Nashville: A Choral Approach, won the university’s graduate oral presentation award at its Spring 2017 Research Forum For the Arts. Currently, she is completing a Master of Music degree in Music Composition and teaches elementary theory, as an instructor of record, at Texas Christian University. She is also the current president of the Texas Christian University Society of Composers chapter and works as Director of Music Ministries at First United Methodist Church of Farmersville. She formerly worked for Bethany Lutheran Church in Dallas, and Irving Independent School District. Mrs. Mazur-Park is proud to be a member of Boston Conservatory at Berklee Alumni Committee. Her works have been performed by ensembles including: Xanthos, Juventas New Music Ensemble, The Boston Conservatory Orchestra, Ludovico Ensemble, and Texas Christian University Symphonic Band. She has had works read by Brave New Works, The Boston Conservatory Orchestra, The Boston Conservatory Chorale, and Texas Christian University Symphony. She has studied music composition with Andrew M. Wilson, Jan Swafford, Dalit Warshaw, Andy Vores, Marti Epstein, Olga Harris, Robert Xavier Rodriguez, Martin Blessinger, and Blaise Ferrandino
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Sebastian Suarez-SolisSebastian Suarez-Solis is an active sonic and visual artist in the Baltimore area whose works range from musical compositions to installations and performances. Their works are varied, their artistic philosophy is singular: they seek to disseminate new modes of thought across many art forms, treating all mediums as one vehicle for expression. As such, while their works are undoubtedly musical in their sound, they are visually more suited to the print, the page, or the gallery. With a heavy focus on improvisation and intuitive action, Sebastian often creates works accessible to artists of all skill levels, as in Synchrony: A Symphony of Theatrics (2021). As a queer Latinx composer, Sebastian is a staunch fighter for representation of underrepresented peoples and intersections thereof. They often make pieces related to mental health struggles and unique dialectical experiences they would want to see represented and recorded. It is through their struggles that they derive their musical style – heavy contrast, extreme forms, a reckless abandon. Currently, Sebastian is pursuing an M.M. in Music Composition at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University under Sky Macklay. They received a B.M. in Music Performance in Percussion from the University of Central Florida, where their primary instructors were Thad Anderson, Kirk Gay, and Jeff Moore.
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Brian MoralesBrian Dean Morales is a composer who thrives on the communal participation of music and storytelling. He is most widely known for his orchestration of John Doyle’s The Color Purple, which featured Cynthia Erivo. From a young age, Disney’s Fantasia has always inspired Brian: The combination of expressive and extroverted visuals mixed with dynamic, melodramatic music is an element that regularly dominates his creative output. Many have complimented his music for its emotional catharsis and descriptive, film score-like quality. His chamber ballet, Strangers, was his first serious large-form work for woodwind quintet, percussion and 4 dancers -- completed during the pandemic. Brian, being no stranger to orchestral writing, won first place in the Pittsburgh Philharmonic EQT Young Composer Contest and, as both a Talis and Alba Music scholar, continued his exploration in harmonic textures with a chamber works for oboe quartet (Visions of Sacrifice, oboe part premiered by Celia Craig). He is currently singing with the Cantori NY choir, experimenting with electronic music and loves playing French Romantic Art songs on the piano with friends. He received his M.M. in composition from the Manhattan School of Music and B.M. from California State University Fullerton.
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John FranekJohn Franek is a pianist and composer whose compositions “evoke an epic narrative.” (Sonograma Magazine). John has had premieres of his compositions performed throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia, with notable premieres in locations such as New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Vienna, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Bangkok, Milan, Rome, Lviv, Havana, Quito and more. Among these performances he has had his worked performed by ensembles such as Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, The Moravian Philharmonic, KLK Contemporary Ensemble, the Brightwork Ensemble, the Lontano Ensemble, Trio Immersio, Syntax Ensemble, Hub New Music, Unassisted Fold and TACETi ensemble. This 2022 season he looks forward to premieres with ensembles such as the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, PhoeNX Ensemble, as well as individual acoustic and electronic collaborations and premieres. As an active performer, recording artist and electronic music composer, John's output hosts a collection of acoustic and electroacoustic albums featured on the music labels Navona Records, Da Vinci Classics and Donemus Composer's Voice, among others. John additionally maintains an active role as an educator and masterclass artist. John's works are published by Dutch music publishing house Donemus
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Wenbin LyuWenbin Lyu is an award-winning US-based Chinese composer and guitarist. The composition written by Wenbin Lyu combines contemporary western techniques with ancient oriental culture. He seeks inspiration from nature, science, and video games. Lyu’s works have been performed at many events, including Tanglewood, ICMC, EMM, NYCEMF, NSEME, TUTTI, NCPA Young Composer Programme, China National Symphony Orchestra Young Composer Program, Chinese National Music Festival, among others. His music has been performed by Beijing Symphony, Tianjin Symphony, NEC Philharmonia, CCM Concert Orchestra, Fifth House Ensemble, Del Sol Quartet, Tacet(i), icarus Quartet, and Transient Canvas. Based on his outstanding academic performance, he was honored to receive the China National Scholarship in 2016 and Donald Martino Award for Excellence in Composition in 2020. Lyu is the recipient of ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. Two VR movies he composed premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2016. Lyu serves as a composer-in-residence at HAcappella where based at Harvard University, and the all-female musician group New Downbeat. Lyu received his degrees from China Conservatory and NEC, where he studied with Wanchun Shi, Michael Gandolfi, and Kati Agócs. Lyu is currently pursuing a Doctorate at CCM, where he studies with Mara Helmuth and Douglas Knehans.
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Austin Franklin (2020 Program Alum)Austin Franklin is an internationally recognized composer and sound artist based in Baton Rouge, LA where he is currently pursuing a PhD in Experimental Music & Digital Media from Louisiana State University. His interests include music involving process, such as algorithmic composition and music incorporating machine learning technologies. His latest album, Four Idols, has been described as “an elegant, artistic statement that demonstrates the flexible possibilities of electronic music” (The Sybaritic Singer). Austin has several pieces for percussion published through C-Alan Publications and his music has been performed throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. He is the recipient of several awards and commissions, including the RMN Call for Electroacoustic Works, the Hypercube Composition Lab, SCI Region IV Mixtape, PARMA Winter Call for Scores, the Dead Resonance Call for Aleatoric Scores, the Sound/Sight Art Collaboration, the First Annual LSU Composition Competition, and the CNME Call for Scores. His music has also been selected for festivals and conferences such as SEAMUS, NEMF, Festival Ecos Urbanos, the New Music on the Bayou Festival, Splice Institute, NYCEMF Festival, WOCMAT, Alba Music Festival, Society of Composers Incorporated, and Electric LaTex. Austin has presented research at the Web Audio Conference that explores using Web API’s as the basis for designing digital instruments, and at the New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference that involves simultaneous auditory and vibrotactile stimuli. His String Quartet No. 1 “Lanterns” was also recently aired on the Viva 21st Century 50/50 Marathon on Classical Discoveries with Marvin Rosen
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Sarah EvansSarah Evans is a contemporary classical composer who utilizes collaboration to create a more accessible environment for marginalized peoples. After beginning classical piano training at a young age. she eventually grew tired of performing other people's works and began writing her own. Sarah's music ranges from neoclassical to more exploratory pieces involving microtonality and extended technique for solo instruments. While she has found success in writing concert music, she believes her writing style and aspirations lend themselves best to films or performance art spaces. Her dream career is to be a film composer, and her favorite film scores at the moment are Bobby Krlic’s score for Midsommar (dir. Ari Aster) and Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto’s score for The Revenant (dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu). A student at the University of Denver, Sarah is currently working towards a Bachelor of Music in Composition and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, as well as a minor in Gender and Women's Studies. After she completes her undergraduate degrees, she hopes to score films or pursue a career in music therapy. As of 2021, she has scored one film, Persephone Country (2020, dir. Shelly Patton). A champion of social justice, Sarah fuels her emotions around topics such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ rights into her works. In the future, she hopes to create musical programs that exclusively showcase LGBTQ performers and performers of color. Sarah also believes in creating a more accessible environment for new music and hopes to create programs that include people from all walks of life whether they come from a musical background or not. Sarah's music has been commissioned by Heike Matthiesen and The Baylor School and has been performed by various performers at the Lamont School of Music in Denver, Colorado. She attended the Screen Music Program in Milan, Italy in summer 2021. When not composing, Sarah watches films and television, cuddles with her dog Merrick, and drinks root beer. Sarah can play piano, guitar, violin, steel drums, and electric bass.
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Isaac DuquetteIsaac J. Duquette is an American composer and horn player based in the Philadelphia, PA area. His undergraduate degree was in Horn Performance and Music Composition with a minor in music production at West Chester University and graduated with honors in 2020. He is a recent graduate of Temple University where he studied horn performance with Ernesto Tovar of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Isaac’s main compositional influence is psychology and the mentality behind how we experience life. Isaac's influences include composers like Adam Schoenberg, Henryk Górecki, and Theodor Adorno. Isaac has received several commissions, most recently from the Reading Choral Society (RCS), West Chester University Concert Band, and Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra. In 2021, the RCS premiered his work Dispirited Walls with text by Marlene Miller, which critically discusses the cultural sacrifices we all experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, The West Chester University Concert Band premiered his work A Journey Through Life which handles the fickleness of life, the chaos that life brings, but the beauty that results from life. Later this year, the Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra will be premiering his work Lugeo Eam. This work tackles the melancholy and mourning of a lost loved one.
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Nicole KnorrNicole Knorr is a composer, pianist, and vocalist based in Jacksonville, Florida. As a composer, she specializes in vocal music and loves to work collaboratively. In the summer of 2021, she served as a piano teaching assistant at the Interlochen Center for the Arts summer program. She now teaches private lessons at Jacksonville School of the Arts. Nicole is an undergraduate student at the University of North Florida, studying both piano and vocal performance. She studies piano under Dr. Erin Bennett and voice under Professor Brittany Fouché. Throughout her undergraduate degree, Nicole has been honored to serve in many leadership positions for the University's choral ensembles, including the Undergraduate Choral Assistant under Dr. Cara Tasher. During her time at UNF, Nicole has received instruction in composition as well. Her teachers include Drs. Matthew Fuerst and Gary Smart. She composed incidental music for the university's 2019 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was featured at downtown Jacksonville's Museum of Contemporary Art. In addition to her musical accomplishments, Nicole has also developed a Composition Collective at UNF—a place where students gather, discuss their compositions, and arrange for performances of their new works. This semester, the group will officially host their first full concert of student-composed works. Nicole's most recent projects include her suite for solo piano, 5!, and serving as music director for A Hand of Bridge in October 2021. In March 2022, her string quartet groves will receive it's live premier at the University of North Florida.
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James PecoreA composer, multi-instrumentalist and countertenor, James Pecore interweaves romanticism, spectralism, minimalism, aesthetic philosophy, queer history, and Buddhist-Judeo-Christian theologies throughout his work. A current undergraduate composer at Columbia University, James Pecore has studied Music Composition principally under Mr. Georg Haas and Dr. William Dougherty, among others. James also studies composition privately with Dr. Ira Taxin, DMA and faculty of The Juilliard School, as well as with Dr. Jordan Kuspa, DMA of The Yale School of Music. James is the 2022 Composer in Residence with institut .abeceda, a Slovenian ensemble for New Music based in Ljubljana and directed by Dré Hocevar. Pecore collaborates with such artists as The New York Youth Symphony, The Aizuri Quartet, The Beo Quartet, Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble, Fonema Consort, members of counter)induction, etc., performing music at venues such as Symphony Space, New York Presbyterian Church, Michiko Studios, and The DiMenna Center. Additionally, James Pecore has received commissions from such groups as the following: Alba Music Festival 2022 (Italy), highSCORE Festival 2021 (Italy), Charlotte New Music Festival 2021 (Charlotte, NC), soundSCAPE Festival 2021 (Italy), .abeceda 2021 New Music Workshop (Slovenia), The New York Youth Symphony 2020-2021 (NYC), Domino Ensemble Call for Scores 2020 (Tennessee), Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble (Seattle), Atlantic Music Festival 2019 (Maine), etc. Creating a union between previously opposed dichotomies, Pecore unifies both tonal and post-tonal schools of technique as well as religious and queer forms of musicological self-identifications. Fractured yet tactfully arranged together, James Pecore composes music as a mosaic—beauty coalescing out of brokenness—purpose, out of pain.
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