Dean Kervin Boursiquot, born in 1986, is a
first-generation Haitian-American, and New York native. The
guitar, film music, and music from the twentieth century sparked
his interest in music composition. While in New York, he received
his bachelor’s degree in composition at Mannes College the New
School for Music. Notable awards include: Vox Novus
Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Parhelion Trio 2012, Peter Gross grant
2010, Mannes Orchestra Competition 2009, CRICE
(composer-in-residence Chamber-Ensemble) commission and second
place Jean Schneider Goberman Prize 2009.
The music of Boston-based composer and trumpet
player Stephen Ryan Jackson (b. 1992)
examines and recreates seemingly indescribable sensations. His
music often draws inspiration from careful observation of
everyday phenomena; stretching, distorting, and reexamining them
in order to create works that avoid the concept of narrative and
allow audiences to reevaluate and find beauty in aspects of daily
life that they might overlook.
Trey Makler (b. 1994) is a musical
storyteller. His music creates dramatic, poignant narratives
that take the listener on unexpected journeys through memories of
hope, play, struggle, and triumph. Aside from composing,
he enjoys writing poetry, doodling, and organizing concerts.
He is a doctoral candidate in composition and theory at the
University of California, Davis, and holds degrees from the
Juilliard School and the University of Missouri. His
primary teachers have included Mika Pelo, Melinda Wagner, Stefan
Freund, and W. Thomas McKenney.
Kory Reeder is an American composer and performer whose music,
drawing inspiration from the visual arts and political theory, is
often introspective and atmospheric, investigating ideas of
objectivity and immediacy, while exploring the social
implications of musical interaction with pieces ranging from
symphonic works to text scores and computer-assisted
improvisations.
Phillip Sink composes vocal, instrumental, and audiovisual works
for video and electronics. He seeks to combine the expressive
power of timbre and texture with an eclectic approach to harmony
and form, which is born from his interests in classical and
popular music styles. His music embraces themes of social
awareness, human experience, and science.
Shahrzad Talebi is a composer, sound artist, and educator from
Tehran, Iran. In her work, timbre is the main focus as a means
for exploring new soundscapes, color, time, space, and concepts.
Her work has been recognized and performed at the Electronic
Music Midwest festival, Splice festival, Toledo Symphony
Orchestra reading session, BGSU MicroOpera, Fifteen
Minutes-of-Fame (Drew Hosler), the electroacoustic music
competition “Reza Korourian Awards”; and has been performed
by Unheard-of//Ensemble as part of the Klingler ElectroAcoustic
Residency, and The _____ Experiment Ensemble.
Amber Vistein is a composer and sound artist who delves deeply
into the poetics of timbre, texture, and gesture and has been
praised for their conceptual “acuity” (Big, Red, and Shiny) and
“blooming phrases” (New Music Box). Their compositions juxtapose
visceral sonic gestures alongside evocative textural
constructions. This highly tactile approach to composition works
to unearth invisible events, networks, and histories by
introducing expressive imperfections—a suspended trill, stutter,
or broken-record loop—that expose the submerged complexities of
sound, the labor of its production, and its fragility.
Zoë A. Wallace (b. 1994) is a composer and guitarist currently
based in Northern California. She has performed in concerts
throughout the country and has had pieces performed by such
groups as KAIA String Quartet, Fulcrum Point New Music Project,
and the Fifth Wave Collective, as well as having been featured in
festivals such as the Hot Air Music Festival and the 21st
Century Guitar Conference.
