Sebastian Suarez-Solis

2023 William Thomas McKinley Memorial
​Alba Alumni Commission

We are thrilled to announce Sebastian Suarez-Solis, a 2022 Alba Composition Program Alum, as the recipient of the 2023 Alba Alumni Commission,  named in honor of the late American composer, William Thomas McKinley, and supported by gift from the William Thomas McKinley Foundation. The commission is awarded annually to one of the alumni of the Alba Music Festival Composition Program, and started in 2017. Sebastian will compose a new work for the 2023 resident group, Transient Canvas for premiere during the 2023 Alba Music Festival.

About The Commissioned Composer

Sebastian Suarez-Solis (b. 1999) is a Baltimore-based sonic and visual artist whose works range from musical compositions to visual pieces, installations, performances, and happenings. A Caracas-born Venezuelan-American artist, their dialectic output is derived from the ablation of established performance practice, injecting elements of spontaneity, irreverence, and profane action into their works wherever possible (as in their prepared harpsichord solo Seven Sounds for Strings). Their works are varied, their artistic philosophy is singular: 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.  Be it a 15' scrolling-cell-score-video-game-music tapestry, a concerto for film cameras, sonic sculptures, paintings, MaxMSP patches, video installations, or countless, countless noise sets, Sebastian has their hands in many forms of expression. As a performer, they have recently been playing drum set, amplified bass viola da gamba, prepared guitar, harpsichord (prepared and otherwise), and laptop, focusing on free improvisation, fluxus performance, and low-fidelity methods of amplification. Throughout their practice, community always plays a large part; they are no stranger to communal composition, most notable being their series LIVE ELECTION BINGO with Thomas Milovac and Tyler Jordan, a week-long act of musicking, painting, acting and sculpting. Sebastian is currently at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, where they are the 2022-2023 Richard Dragon, Louis Cheslock, and Philip D. Glass named scholar; in their Masters studies in Music Composition under Sky Macklay and Oscar Bettison, they have recently worked with ensembles like Parker Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, Alexandre Ribeiro, Trio Immersio, Estrella Consort, TORCH Collective, among other groups and personal commissions.

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Sebastian (on the right) in discussion with faculty member J Anthony Allen during lunch at the 2022 Alba Music Festival Composition Program.