Vaibhav Mohanty

 

Born in 1998, Vaibhav Mohanty, is a composer, arranger, pianist, saxophonist, and music theorist from Charleston, South Carolina currently studying at Harvard University. His compositions span classical, world, and jazz domains and are performed across the United States and internationally.

 

Vaibhav’s compositions have been awarded and acclaimed at the national and international level. He has received the Grand Prize from the Sul Ross State University Wind Ensemble Composition Competition (an international contest) and second place in The American Prize for Concert Band Composition. In 2014, Vaibhav was named a winner of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Student Composers Competition, meriting his piece a performance at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee by the NAfME All-National Honor Band. In the 2015 National YoungArts Foundation competition, he was named a Finalist, an award given only to the top two composers that year. In that same year, his music was performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) 50th Anniversary National Conference. Vaibhav is also a four-time awardee in the National Parent Teachers Association Reflections Contest, a finalist in the Music Teachers National Association Composition Competition, and an honorable mention recipient from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Morton Gould Young Composer Awards.

 

Vaibhav has been a member of ASCAP since 2013 and SCI since 2014. His works are published by JPM Music Publications (Missouri), Lighthouse Music Publications (Ontario, Canada), C.L. Barnhouse Music Company (Iowa), and RadnofskyCouperEDITIONS (Massachusetts). In the past, Vaibhav has taught music at the Charleston County School District summer arts program and at a private music studio in Charleston. He is currently Co-President of the Harvard Composers Association.

 

 

robert anton strobel

 

Robert Strobel composes fresh and expressive art music for the modern era. In 2017, his music was played or performed at the Source Song Festival, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, the New Music Festival and University of Nebraska-Kearney, the TUTTI Festival, and the SCI Region VI conference. His work Prairie Dog Rhapsody received a special mention at the Alfred Schnittke Composer's Forum and Competition and as a result was published by Aldebaran Editions. His music has been broadcast twice on WPRB Princeton in Marvin Rosen’s 25-hour new music marathon, and once on Hawaii Public Radio, in the program “Singing and Other Sins.” Among the commissions he has received include the LDS Barlow Commission and Mizzou New Music Initiative-funded work for some string players of the St. Louis Symphony. His symphonic work From the Book of the Dead was a winner in the Missouri Orchestra Composer's project, which was also funded by the Mizzou New Music Initiative. Robert has a doctorate degree in composition

 

from Florida State University, as well as degrees from the University of Missouri- Columbia (MM Composition), and the University of Northern Colorado (MM Oboe Performance, BM Composition and Oboe Performance).

 

 

Keith Kramer

 

Keith Allan Kramer, composer, currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. He has taught at Central Connecticut State University, Towson University, University of Miami, University of Maryland College Park and Harford Community College. His compositions are performed frequently throughout the U.S. as well as recent performances in Italy, Canada and Czech Republic. He has studied composition with Thomas DeLio, John Van der Slice and Stuart Saunders Smith. Keith received his D.M.A. from the University of Miami and his M.Mus. from the University of Maryland, College Park. His music has been performed and recorded by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kirk Trevor, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vit Micka, David Taylor, Anna D’Errico, Leonard Garrison, Martin Jones and many others. Recent performances of his work include two highly successful all-Kramer programs at New York’s Merkin Hall, documented on the DVD Beyond Sonic Boundaries Live!. Additional all-Kramer releases include the critically acclaimed albums Causal Dualism and Emerge on the Navona label. The title track of Emerge is a twenty-minute orchestral work that is also heard on the Navona release Mementos. Keith’s work Sogni was recently premièred by acclaimed British pianist Martin Jones and a recent European première of his work Rinnovo, for piano and percussion, featured internationally renowned pianist Anna D'Errico. Keith’s work Suspension of Disbelief for piano trio is scheduled for its New York City première by cellist Ovidiu Marinescu and Trio Casals at Carnegie Hall in in 2018.  Find more information on Keith Kramer's website.

 

 

Matthew J. Jasko

 

Matthew J. Jaskot is a composer and pianist originally from Middletown, CT.  He holds a DMA and MM in composition from the University of Maryland (College Park, MD) and a BA in music from the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA).  He has studied composition with Osvaldo Golijov, Shirish Korde, Mark Wilson, and Tom DeLio, and piano with Marian Hanshaw and Gina Fredericks.

 

Matt's compositions explore the dichotomy that exists between clarity and chaos, and activity and stasis across all musical parameters, while synthesizing improvisational and gestural materials with a refined approach to orchestration and form.  His works have been performed by the Kronos Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, Transient Canvas, the Xelana duo, the Great Noise Ensemble, the Fortunata Trio, the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Percussion Group, among others.  Matt has participated as a composer/performer in a variety of conferences hosted by the Society of Composers, the College Music Society, and the National Saxophone Alliance conference, and festivals such as the West Fork New Music Festival, Connecticut Summerfest, and the Charlotte New Music Festival. As a performer, Matt’s primary focus is the presentation of works from the twentieth and twenty-first century.  He is a regular performer on Clark University’s 20/21 series and as a graduate student, premiered a variety works on the University of Maryland’s New Music Series.  He also served as the artistic director of TEMPO, a student-run new music ensemble at the University of Maryland.  Under his direction, TEMPO became recognized as an integral part of the School of Music and was positively reviewed in the Washington Post.

 

​Currently, Matt serves on the faculty at the College of the Holy Cross where he has taught courses in music theory, composition, surveys in twentieth century music, including American popular music and the History of Rock, and Music of Peace and Conflict.

 

 

Jonathan Graybill

 

Jonathan Graybill is a versatile composer who garners his influences from nature, field recordings, history, and the legends and stories of the indigenous people of North America to his music. His music has been performed and recognized throughout the U.S. and Europe and features at various new music festivals and conferences. Recently, his Nightscape for strings was recorded with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra – this work was premièred by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra with subsequent performances by the Knox/Galesburg Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Butler Symphony Orchestra. Recent projects included a new work for the Kronos Quartet and a large scale wind ensemble work for the University of Maryland Wind Ensemble. Currently, Graybill is invested in an ongoing project, the Ancient Language of Birds, which consists of a series of works that pair a solo instrument with field recordings of the songs and calls of single avian species from North America – the pieces explore and extract hidden languages and meanings buried deep within these songs. The birds are connected with the myths and stories of Native Americans origin, exploring the cultural meanings and early names of these birds in each composition. Find more information on his website.

 

 

Gabriel Mălăncioiu

 

The underlining factor behind every work that I've written in the last few years is the quest of rediscovering the secret power that music has, its capacity to influence the human consciousness. Therefore, many of my works are influenced by texts belonging to ancient or modern mystics, ranging from Lao Tzu and Heraclit to Osho, Eckhart Tolle, Gangaji or Mooji. Lately, the sacred / profane relation has intrigued my musical thinking, and the complementarity of the polar opposites has become the main idea in many of my works, irrespective of the aesthetical orientation, be it avantgardistic or traditional, regardless of the medium used, be it live-electronics or the ancient duduk… Commenting on a piece played during ISCM World Music Days, Frank Oteri from New Music Box was saying “Hommage à Papaji contained some extremely lush harmonies that seemed to float beyond consciousness...”

My works have been performed in concerts in Romania and also in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Austria, Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, Ukraine, Scotland, Macedonia, Poland and Hungary by Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Slovenian Chamber Choir, The Boston New Music Initiative, Ensemble Aventure, Hand Werk, L’Arsenale, THReNSeMBle, Trio Contraste, Florian Mueller (Klangforum Wien),  Bjorn Wilker (Klangforum Wien), Richard Craig, Bruce Curlette, Gianluca Ruggeri, Luca Piovesan and conductors such as Huba Hollókői, Michael Wendeberg, Eduardo Narbona, Martina Batič, Filippo Perocco, Remus Georgescu amongst others.  Some of my works were released by Ablaze Records (USA), Col Legno (Austria) (digital release), Stan Music (Germany) and Blowout Records (Italy). I’m is currently teaching Composition Techniques, Orchestration and Musical Analysis at the West University of  Timişoara, Faculty of Music and Theatre.

 

 

Jacob Thiede

 

Jacob (Jake) Thiede is a composer, saxophonist and current PhD student at the University of North Texas. Recently, his music has been championed by the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, the 15.19 Ensemble, STACKS Duo, and pianist Kris Carlisle. Premieres and performances of Jake's music have taken place in Italy and the United States, including Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont. Recent honors and festivals include the Bowling Green State University Graduate Music Conference (2017), the National Student Electronic Music Conference (2016 & 2017), the Electric LaTex Conference (2016 & 2017), New Music on the Point (2015), and the HighSCORE Festival (2014). He received his BME at Murray State University and MM in music composition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has studied with Mike D'Ambrosio, Brian Ciach, and John Fannin at Murray State and with Mark Engebretson, Alejandro Rutty, and Steven Bryant at UNCG. As a saxophonist, he has studied with Scott Erickson and Steven Stusek. Jacob's current interests are grooves and rhythms in metal music, glitch, and the manipulation of sine tones. Jake studies composition with Kirsten Broberg and Andrew May as well as saxophone with Eric Nestler at the University of North Texas.

 

 

Mark W. Phillips

 

Mark Phillips won the 1988 Barlow International Competition for Orchestral Music. Leonard Slatkin has conducted his music with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Japan. His Breaking News for wind symphony was premiered at Carnegie Hall in February 2017. His Violin Power appears on the SEAMUS 2015 conference CD. The World Saxophone Congress commissioned and premiered his What If for 101 saxophones. The Peabody Modern Orchestra opened its inaugural concert with a performance of his Shadow Dancing. His String Quartet No. 2 was performed at the Festival Internacional de Música de Bogotá. Following a national competition, Pi Kappa Lambda commissioned a chamber work from Phillips, which led to the premiere of Bushwhacked! in San Antonio, Texas (September 2006). Commissioned for a 2005 premiere in Memphis, his Dreams Interrupted has received numerous subsequent performances in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Duluth, Baltimore, Dallas, Louisville, South Bend, Birmingham (AL), and Athens (Ohio). In 2004 Phillips premiered Turning Two Hundred, a 50-minute commissioned work for orchestra, jazz band, drum corps, handbell choir, electronic music, eight instrumental soloists, video, and dance. His music has received hundreds of performances throughout the world — including dozens of orchestra performances — and has been recorded by Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lark Quartet, and several solo artists. Mr. Phillips has also received awards from the Ohio Arts Council, the Indiana Arts Commission, ASCAP, Meet the Composer, Ohio University, Indiana University, the Delius Composition Competition, and the National Flute Society.

 

Mr. Phillips is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music at the Ohio University, where he has taught since 1984. From 1982-84 he was a Visiting Instructor of composition at the Indiana University School of Music. Born in Philadelphia, he holds a B.M. degree from West Virginia University and both an M.M. degree and a D.M. degree from Indiana University.

 

 

 

 

Vaibhav Mohanty

 

Born in 1998, Vaibhav Mohanty, is a composer, arranger, pianist, saxophonist, and music theorist from Charleston, South Carolina currently studying at Harvard University. His compositions span classical, world, and jazz domains and are performed across the United States and internationally.

 

Vaibhav’s compositions have been awarded and acclaimed at the national and international level. He has received the Grand Prize from the Sul Ross State University Wind Ensemble Composition Competition (an international contest) and second place in The American Prize for Concert Band Composition. In 2014, Vaibhav was named a winner of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Student Composers Competition, meriting his piece a performance at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee by the NAfME All-National Honor Band. In the 2015 National YoungArts Foundation competition, he was named a Finalist, an award given only to the top two composers that year. In that same year, his music was performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) 50th Anniversary National Conference. Vaibhav is also a four-time awardee in the National Parent Teachers Association Reflections Contest, a finalist in the Music Teachers National Association Composition Competition, and an honorable mention recipient from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Morton Gould Young Composer Awards.

 

Vaibhav has been a member of ASCAP since 2013 and SCI since 2014. His works are published by JPM Music Publications (Missouri), Lighthouse Music Publications (Ontario, Canada), C.L. Barnhouse Music Company (Iowa), and RadnofskyCouperEDITIONS (Massachusetts). In the past, Vaibhav has taught music at the Charleston County School District summer arts program and at a private music studio in Charleston. He is currently Co-President of the Harvard Composers Association.

 

 

robert anton strobel

 

Robert Strobel composes fresh and expressive art music for the modern era. In 2017, his music was played or performed at the Source Song Festival, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, the New Music Festival and University of Nebraska-Kearney, the TUTTI Festival, and the SCI Region VI conference. His work Prairie Dog Rhapsody received a special mention at the Alfred Schnittke Composer's Forum and Competition and as a result was published by

 

Aldebaran Editions. His music has been broadcast twice on WPRB Princeton in Marvin Rosen’s 25-hour new music marathon, and once on Hawaii Public Radio, in the program “Singing and Other Sins.” Among the commissions he has received include the LDS Barlow Commission and Mizzou New Music Initiative-funded work for some string players of the St. Louis Symphony. His symphonic work From the Book of the Dead was a winner in the Missouri Orchestra Composer's project, which was also funded by the Mizzou New Music Initiative. Robert has a doctorate degree in composition from Florida State University, as well as degrees from the University of

 

Missouri- Columbia (MM Composition), and the University of Northern Colorado (MM Oboe Performance, BM Composition and Oboe Performance).

 

 

Keith Kramer

 

Keith Allan Kramer, composer, currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. He has taught at Central Connecticut State University, Towson University, University of Miami, University of Maryland College Park and Harford Community College. His compositions are performed frequently throughout the U.S. as well as recent performances in Italy, Canada and Czech Republic. He has studied composition with Thomas DeLio, John Van der Slice and Stuart Saunders Smith. Keith received his D.M.A. from the University of Miami and his M.Mus. from the University of Maryland, College Park. His music has been performed and recorded by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kirk Trevor, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vit Micka, David Taylor, Anna D’Errico, Leonard Garrison, Martin Jones and many others. Recent performances of his work include two highly successful all-Kramer programs at New York’s Merkin Hall, documented on the DVD Beyond Sonic Boundaries Live!. Additional all-Kramer releases include the critically acclaimed albums Causal Dualism and Emerge on the Navona label. The title track of Emerge is a twenty-minute orchestral work that is also heard on the Navona release Mementos. Keith’s work Sogni was recently premièred by acclaimed British pianist Martin Jones and a recent European première of his work Rinnovo, for piano and percussion, featured internationally renowned pianist Anna D'Errico. Keith’s work Suspension of Disbelief for piano trio is scheduled for its New York City première by cellist Ovidiu Marinescu and Trio Casals at Carnegie Hall in in 2018.  Find more information on Keith Kramer's website.

 

 

Matthew J. Jasko

 

Matthew J. Jaskot is a composer and pianist originally from Middletown, CT.  He holds a DMA and MM in composition from the University of Maryland (College Park, MD) and a BA in music from the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA).  He has studied composition with Osvaldo Golijov, Shirish Korde, Mark Wilson, and Tom DeLio, and piano with Marian Hanshaw and Gina Fredericks.

 

Matt's compositions explore the dichotomy that exists between clarity and chaos, and activity and stasis across all musical parameters, while synthesizing improvisational and gestural materials with a refined approach to orchestration and form.  His works have been performed by the Kronos Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, Transient Canvas, the Xelana duo, the Great Noise Ensemble, the Fortunata Trio, the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Percussion Group, among others.  Matt has participated as a composer/performer in a variety of conferences hosted by the Society of Composers, the College Music Society, and the National Saxophone Alliance conference, and festivals such as the West Fork New Music Festival, Connecticut Summerfest, and the Charlotte New Music Festival. As a performer, Matt’s primary focus is the presentation of works from the twentieth and twenty-first century.  He is a regular performer on Clark University’s 20/21 series and as a graduate student, premiered a variety works on the University of Maryland’s New Music Series.  He also served as the artistic director of TEMPO, a student-run new music ensemble at the University of Maryland.  Under his direction, TEMPO became recognized as an integral part of the School of Music and was positively reviewed in the Washington Post.

 

​Currently, Matt serves on the faculty at the College of the Holy Cross where he has taught courses in music theory, composition, surveys in twentieth century music, including American popular music and the History of Rock, and Music of Peace and Conflict.

 

 

Jonathan Graybill

 

Jonathan Graybill is a versatile composer who garners his influences from nature, field recordings, history, and the legends and stories of the indigenous people of North America to his music. His music has been performed and recognized throughout the U.S. and Europe and features at various new music festivals and conferences. Recently, his Nightscape for strings was recorded with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra – this work was premièred by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra with subsequent performances by the Knox/Galesburg Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Butler Symphony Orchestra. Recent projects included a new work for the Kronos Quartet and a large scale wind ensemble work for the University of Maryland Wind Ensemble. Currently, Graybill is invested in an ongoing project, the Ancient Language of Birds, which consists of a series of works that pair a solo instrument with field recordings of the songs and calls of single avian species from North America – the pieces explore and extract hidden languages and meanings buried deep within these songs. The birds are connected with the myths and stories of Native Americans origin, exploring the cultural meanings and early names of these birds in each composition. Find more information on his website.

 

 

Gabriel Mălăncioiu

 

The underlining factor behind every work that I've written in the last few years is the quest of rediscovering the secret power that music has, its capacity to influence the human consciousness. Therefore, many of my works are influenced by texts belonging to ancient or modern mystics, ranging from Lao Tzu and Heraclit to Osho, Eckhart Tolle, Gangaji or Mooji. Lately, the sacred / profane relation has intrigued my musical thinking, and the complementarity of the polar opposites has become the main idea in many of my works, irrespective of the aesthetical orientation, be it avantgardistic or traditional, regardless of the medium used, be it live-electronics or the ancient duduk… Commenting on a piece played during ISCM World Music Days, Frank Oteri from New Music Box was saying “Hommage à Papaji contained some extremely lush harmonies that seemed to float beyond consciousness...”

My works have been performed in concerts in Romania and also in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Austria, Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, Ukraine, Scotland, Macedonia, Poland and Hungary by Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Slovenian Chamber Choir, The Boston New Music Initiative, Ensemble Aventure, Hand Werk, L’Arsenale, THReNSeMBle, Trio Contraste, Florian Mueller (Klangforum Wien),  Bjorn Wilker (Klangforum Wien), Richard Craig, Bruce Curlette, Gianluca Ruggeri, Luca Piovesan and conductors such as Huba Hollókői, Michael Wendeberg, Eduardo Narbona, Martina Batič, Filippo Perocco, Remus Georgescu amongst others.  Some of my works were released by Ablaze Records (USA), Col Legno (Austria) (digital release), Stan Music (Germany) and Blowout Records (Italy). I’m is currently teaching Composition Techniques, Orchestration and Musical Analysis at the West University of  Timişoara, Faculty of Music and Theatre.

 

 

Jacob Thiede

 

Jacob (Jake) Thiede is a composer, saxophonist and current PhD student at the University of North Texas. Recently, his music has been championed by the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, the 15.19 Ensemble, STACKS Duo, and pianist Kris Carlisle. Premieres and performances of Jake's music have taken place in Italy and the United States, including Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont. Recent honors and festivals include the Bowling Green State University Graduate Music Conference (2017), the National Student Electronic Music Conference (2016 & 2017), the Electric LaTex Conference (2016 & 2017), New Music on the Point (2015), and the HighSCORE Festival (2014). He received his BME at Murray State University and MM in music composition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has studied with Mike D'Ambrosio, Brian Ciach, and John Fannin at Murray State and with Mark Engebretson, Alejandro Rutty, and Steven Bryant at UNCG. As a saxophonist, he has studied with Scott Erickson and Steven Stusek. Jacob's current interests are grooves and rhythms in metal music, glitch, and the manipulation of sine tones. Jake studies composition with Kirsten Broberg and Andrew May as well as saxophone with Eric Nestler at the University of North Texas.

 

 

Mark W. Phillips

 

Mark Phillips won the 1988 Barlow International Competition for Orchestral Music. Leonard Slatkin has conducted his music with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Japan. His Breaking News for wind symphony was premiered at Carnegie Hall in February 2017. His Violin Power appears on the SEAMUS 2015 conference CD. The World Saxophone Congress commissioned and premiered his What If for 101 saxophones. The Peabody Modern Orchestra opened its inaugural concert with a performance of his Shadow Dancing. His String Quartet No. 2 was performed at the Festival Internacional de Música de Bogotá. Following a national competition, Pi Kappa Lambda commissioned a chamber work from Phillips, which led to the premiere of Bushwhacked! in San Antonio, Texas (September 2006). Commissioned for a 2005 premiere in Memphis, his Dreams Interrupted has received numerous subsequent performances in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Duluth, Baltimore, Dallas, Louisville, South Bend, Birmingham (AL), and Athens (Ohio). In 2004 Phillips premiered Turning Two Hundred, a 50-minute commissioned work for orchestra, jazz band, drum corps, handbell choir, electronic music, eight instrumental soloists, video, and dance. His music has received hundreds of performances throughout the world — including dozens of orchestra performances — and has been recorded by Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lark Quartet, and several solo artists. Mr. Phillips has also received awards from the Ohio Arts Council, the Indiana Arts Commission, ASCAP, Meet the Composer, Ohio University, Indiana University, the Delius Composition Competition, and the National Flute Society.

 

Mr. Phillips is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music at the Ohio University, where he has taught since 1984. From 1982-84 he was a Visiting Instructor of composition at the Indiana University School of Music. Born in Philadelphia, he holds a B.M. degree from West Virginia University and both an M.M. degree and a D.M. degree from Indiana University.

 

 

 

 

 

Vaibhav Mohanty

 

Born in 1998, Vaibhav Mohanty, is a composer, arranger, pianist, saxophonist, and music theorist from Charleston, South Carolina currently studying at Harvard University. His compositions span classical, world, and jazz domains and are performed across the United States and internationally.

 

Vaibhav’s compositions have been awarded and acclaimed at the national and international level. He has received the Grand Prize from the Sul Ross State University Wind Ensemble Composition Competition (an international contest) and second place in The American Prize for Concert Band Composition. In 2014, Vaibhav was named a winner of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Student Composers Competition, meriting his piece a performance at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee by the NAfME All-National Honor Band. In the 2015 National YoungArts Foundation competition, he was named a Finalist, an award given only to the top two composers that year. In that same year, his music was performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) 50th Anniversary National Conference. Vaibhav is also a four-time awardee in the National Parent Teachers Association Reflections Contest, a finalist in the Music Teachers National Association Composition Competition, and an honorable mention recipient from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Morton Gould Young Composer Awards.

 

Vaibhav has been a member of ASCAP since 2013 and SCI since 2014. His works are published by JPM Music Publications (Missouri), Lighthouse Music Publications (Ontario, Canada), C.L. Barnhouse Music Company (Iowa), and RadnofskyCouperEDITIONS (Massachusetts). In the past, Vaibhav has taught music at the Charleston County School District summer arts program and at a private music studio in Charleston. He is currently Co-President of the Harvard Composers Association.

 

 

 

robert anton strobel

 

Robert Strobel composes fresh and expressive art music for the modern era. In 2017, his music was played or performed at the Source Song Festival, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, the New Music Festival and University of Nebraska-Kearney, the TUTTI Festival, and the SCI Region VI conference. His work Prairie Dog Rhapsody received a special mention at the Alfred Schnittke Composer's Forum and Competition and as a result was published by Aldebaran Editions. His music has been broadcast twice on WPRB Princeton in Marvin Rosen’s 25-hour new music marathon, and once on Hawaii Public Radio, in the program “Singing and Other Sins.” Among the commissions he has received include the LDS Barlow Commission and Mizzou New Music Initiative-funded work for some string players of the St. Louis Symphony. His symphonic work From the Book of the Dead was a winner in the Missouri Orchestra Composer's project, which was also funded by the Mizzou New Music Initiative. Robert has a doctorate degree in composition from Florida State University, as well as degrees from the University of Missouri- Columbia (MM Composition), and the University of Northern Colorado (MM Oboe Performance, BM Composition and Oboe Performance).

 

 

 

 

Keith Kramer

 

Keith Allan Kramer, composer, currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. He has taught at Central Connecticut State University, Towson University, University of Miami, University of Maryland College Park and Harford Community College. His compositions are performed frequently throughout the U.S. as well as recent performances in Italy, Canada and Czech Republic. He has studied composition with Thomas DeLio, John Van der Slice and Stuart Saunders Smith. Keith received his D.M.A. from the University of Miami and his M.Mus. from the University of Maryland, College Park. His music has been performed and recorded by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kirk Trevor, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vit Micka, David Taylor, Anna D’Errico, Leonard Garrison, Martin Jones and many others. Recent performances of his work include two highly successful all-Kramer programs at New York’s Merkin Hall, documented on the DVD Beyond Sonic Boundaries Live!. Additional all-Kramer releases include the critically acclaimed albums Causal Dualism and Emerge on the Navona label. The title track of Emerge is a twenty-minute orchestral work that is also heard on the Navona release Mementos. Keith’s work Sogni was recently premièred by acclaimed British pianist Martin Jones and a recent European première of his work Rinnovo, for piano and percussion, featured internationally renowned pianist Anna D'Errico. Keith’s work Suspension of Disbelief for piano trio is scheduled for its New York City première by cellist Ovidiu Marinescu and Trio Casals at Carnegie Hall in in 2018.  www.keithkramer.org

 

 

 

Matthew J. Jaskot

 

Matthew J. Jaskot is a composer and pianist originally from Middletown, CT.  He holds a DMA and MM in composition from the University of Maryland (College Park, MD) and a BA in music from the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA).  He has studied composition with Osvaldo Golijov, Shirish Korde, Mark Wilson, and Tom DeLio, and piano with Marian Hanshaw and Gina Fredericks.

 

Matt's compositions explore the dichotomy that exists between clarity and chaos, and activity and stasis across all musical parameters, while synthesizing improvisational and gestural materials with a refined approach to orchestration and form.  His works have been performed by the Kronos Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, Transient Canvas, the Xelana duo, the Great Noise Ensemble, the Fortunata Trio, the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Percussion Group, among others.  Matt has participated as a composer/performer in a variety of conferences hosted by the Society of Composers, the College Music Society, and the National Saxophone Alliance conference, and festivals such as the West Fork New Music Festival, Connecticut Summerfest, and the Charlotte New Music Festival.

 

As a performer, Matt’s primary focus is the presentation of works from the twentieth and twenty-first century.  He is a regular performer on Clark University’s 20/21 series and as a graduate student, premiered a variety works on the University of Maryland’s New Music Series.  He also served as the artistic director of TEMPO, a student-run new music ensemble at the University of Maryland.  Under his direction, TEMPO became recognized as an integral part of the School of Music and was positively reviewed in the Washington Post.

 

​Currently, Matt serves on the faculty at the College of the Holy Cross where he has taught courses in music theory, composition, surveys in twentieth century music, including American popular music and the History of Rock, and Music of Peace and Conflict.

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Graybill

 

Jonathan Graybill is a versatile composer who garners his influences from nature, field recordings, history, and the legends and stories of the indigenous people of North America to his music. His music has been performed and recognized throughout the U.S. and Europe and features at various new music festivals and conferences. Recently, his Nightscape for strings was recorded with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra – this work was premièred by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra with subsequent performances by the Knox/Galesburg Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Butler Symphony Orchestra. Recent projects included a new work for the Kronos Quartet and a large scale wind ensemble work for the University of Maryland Wind Ensemble. Currently, Graybill is invested in an ongoing project, the Ancient Language of Birds, which consists of a series of works that pair a solo instrument with field recordings of the songs and calls of single avian species from North America – the pieces explore and extract hidden languages and meanings buried deep within these songs. The birds are connected with the myths and stories of Native Americans origin, exploring the cultural meanings and early names of these birds in each composition. Fnd more information on his website.

 

 

 

Gabriel Mălăncioiu

 

The underlining factor behind every work that I've written in the last few years is the quest of rediscovering the secret power that music has, its capacity to influence the human consciousness. Therefore, many of my works are influenced by texts belonging to ancient or modern mystics, ranging from Lao Tzu and Heraclit to Osho, Eckhart Tolle, Gangaji or Mooji. Lately, the sacred / profane relation has intrigued my musical thinking, and the complementarity of the polar opposites has become the main idea in many of my works, irrespective of the aesthetical orientation, be it avantgardistic or traditional, regardless of the medium used, be it live-electronics or the ancient duduk… Commenting on a piece played during ISCM World Music Days, Frank Oteri from New Music Box was saying “Hommage à Papaji contained some extremely lush harmonies that seemed to float beyond consciousness...”

My works have been performed in concerts in Romania and also in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Austria, Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, Ukraine, Scotland, Macedonia, Poland and Hungary by Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Slovenian Chamber Choir, The Boston New Music Initiative, Ensemble Aventure, Hand Werk, L’Arsenale, THReNSeMBle, Trio Contraste, Florian Mueller (Klangforum Wien),  Bjorn Wilker (Klangforum Wien), Richard Craig, Bruce Curlette, Gianluca Ruggeri, Luca Piovesan and conductors such as Huba Hollókői, Michael Wendeberg, Eduardo Narbona, Martina Batič, Filippo Perocco, Remus Georgescu amongst others.  Some of my works were released by Ablaze Records (USA), Col Legno (Austria) (digital release), Stan Music (Germany) and Blowout Records (Italy). I’m is currently teaching Composition Techniques, Orchestration and Musical Analysis at the West University of  Timişoara, Faculty of Music and Theatre.

 

 

 

 

Jacob Thiede

 

Jacob (Jake) Thiede is a composer, saxophonist and current PhD student at the University of North Texas.
Recently, his music has been championed by the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, the 15.19 Ensemble, STACKS Duo, and pianist Kris Carlisle. Premieres and performances of Jake's music have taken place in Italy and the United States, including Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont. Recent honors and festivals include the Bowling Green State University Graduate Music Conference (2017), the National Student Electronic Music Conference (2016 & 2017), the Electric LaTex Conference (2016 & 2017), New Music on the Point (2015), and the HighSCORE Festival (2014). He received his BME at Murray State University and MM in music composition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has studied with Mike D'Ambrosio, Brian Ciach, and John Fannin at Murray State and with Mark Engebretson, Alejandro Rutty, and Steven Bryant at UNCG. As a saxophonist, he has studied with Scott Erickson and Steven Stusek.

Current interests are grooves and rhythms in metal music, glitch, and the manipulation of sine tones. Jake studies composition with Kirsten Broberg and Andrew May as well as saxophone with Eric Nestler at the University of North Texas.

 

 

 

 

Mark W. Phillips

 

Mark Phillips won the 1988 Barlow International Competition for Orchestral Music. Leonard Slatkin has conducted his music with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Japan. His Breaking News for wind symphony was premiered at Carnegie Hall in February 2017. His Violin Power appears on the SEAMUS 2015 conference CD. The World Saxophone Congress commissioned and premiered his What If for 101 saxophones. The Peabody Modern Orchestra opened its inaugural concert with a performance of his Shadow Dancing. His String Quartet No. 2 was performed at the Festival Internacional de Música de Bogotá. Following a national competition, Pi Kappa Lambda commissioned a chamber work from Phillips, which led to the premiere of Bushwhacked! in San Antonio, Texas (September 2006). Commissioned for a 2005 premiere in Memphis, his Dreams Interrupted has received numerous subsequent performances in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Duluth, Baltimore, Dallas, Louisville, South Bend, Birmingham (AL), and Athens (Ohio). In 2004 Phillips premiered Turning Two Hundred, a 50-minute commissioned work for orchestra, jazz band, drum corps, handbell choir, electronic music, eight instrumental soloists, video, and dance. His music has received hundreds of performances throughout the world — including dozens of orchestra performances — and has been recorded by Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lark Quartet, and several solo artists. Mr. Phillips has also received awards from the Ohio Arts Council, the Indiana Arts Commission, ASCAP, Meet the Composer, Ohio University, Indiana University, the Delius Composition Competition, and the National Flute Society.

Mr. Phillips is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music at the Ohio University, where he has taught since 1984. From 1982-84 he was a Visiting Instructor of composition at the Indiana University School of Music. Born in Philadelphia, he holds a B.M. degree from West Virginia University and both an M.M. degree and a D.M. degree from Indiana University.