LisaAtkinson2023@u.northwestern.edu

Lisa Atkinson is a Chicago-based composer whose work explores interiority through the tactile nature of live performance and the emotional context of gesture while examining issues of fragility, memory, and perception. 

Atkinson's works have been performed by ensembles such as Wet Ink, loadbang, the Amaranth String Quartet, and the International Contemporary Ensemble and by soloists Ammie Brod, Gregory Oakes, and Amber Evans. She has participated as a composition fellow at the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice, the Cortona Sessions for New Music, New Music on the Point, and Ensemble Evolution at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity.

Atkinson is pursuing a PhD in Composition at Northwestern University under the guidance of Alex Mincek and Jay Alan Yim. She completed her MA at Montclair State University, working with Marcos Balter and Nathan Davis, and her B.Mus. at Arizona State University.

CarlosBandera2025@u.northwestern.edu

Carlos Bandera is a composer whose music searches for a feeling of transcendence and reflects on aspects of the human experience. He often draws on a deep appreciation of the music of the past and experiments with the interplay of seemingly disparate musical materials.

Carlos received the Underwood Commission to write a new work for the American Composers Orchestra after his piece Lux in Tenebris was performed at the 2018 Underwood New Music Readings. His music has been performed by groups such as the Illinois Philharmonic, Hastings Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Dogs of Desire, Hotel Elefant, Earspace, Hebrides Ensemble, Nebula Ensemble, Omnibus Ensemble, and Now Hear This. He has attended Composers Conference, Copland House’s CULTIVATE program, the Delian Academy for New Music, and Time of Music.

In 2015, Carlos earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Montclair State University, where he studied with Elizabeth Brown, Dean Drummond, and Marcos Balter. Carlos received his Master of Music degree in 2017 from Peabody Conservatory, where he participated in masterclasses with Christopher Rouse and Georg Friedrich Haas and studied privately with Kevin Puts. Carlos is currently pursuing a PhD in Composition and Music Technology from Northwestern University.

KonstantinosBaras2026@u.northwestern.edu

Konstantinos Baras, a Greek composer with a passion for complex and saturated sound, embarked on his musical journey following a diagnosis of HanDL syndrome at the age of 18. Baras is recognized for creating works that convey intense emotions and delve into the complexities of trauma, employing visceral, chaotic sounds marked by a continuous energy flow and aggressive gestures.

Utilizing digital signal processing, noise, distortion and live interactivity, Baras extends the timbral profile of traditional instruments and seamlessly blends disjunct materials into unified structures. With interest in site-specificity and interdisciplinary collaboration, he works often with dancers and movement artists and engages creatively with space, lights, and visual effects.

His continued entanglement with black metal and techno contributes to an arrestingly distinctive sound palette, exploring the potential of repetition and bodily mechanics to intensify a sound’s impact on the listener. Toward that aim, Baras organizes his compositions through various processes of iteration and fragmented circularity, manipulating duration and density, often utilizing repetitive material but subtly altering it with every reappearance. The end result is driving, gripping, and grave.

His music has been performed and commissioned by Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain Moscow Contemporary Ensemble (MCME), Ensemble Nikel, and Ensemble Multilaterale, with performances in festivals and conferences such as, IRCAM ManiFeste, MIXTUR, Darmstadt, reMusik, ilSuono, Ticino Musica, and DICE.

Currently pursuing a PhD in Composition at Northwestern University, Baras holds a Masters degree from Boston University, and Bachelors degree from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. 

https://soundcloud.com/baras_composer

PedramDiba2028@u.northwestern.edu

Pedram Diba (b.1993) is an Iranian-American composer of acoustic, acousmatic, and mixed music residing in Chicago, IL. Diba's music has been showcased in festivals and conferences such as, SEAMUS, IRCAM Forum, CIRMMT-ACTOR Symposium, Festival Temporel, NOVA Contemporary Music Meeting, and New Music Gathering among others.

Since 2019, Diba has been a member of the Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration (ACTOR) Project. Through ACTOR, Diba has participated in and initiated various research-creation projects such as the CORE Ensemble Project, Musicians Auditory Perception (MAP) and Space As Timbre (SAT). 

Diba completed his B.M. in composition at the University of Oregon where he received the prize of Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar in Composition. Later, he received the Max Stern Fellowship in Music to attend McGill University, where he completed his M.M. in composition under the supervision of Philippe Leroux. Currently, Diba is pursuing his Ph.D. in composition and music technology at Northwestern University with Alex Mincek and Jay Alan Yim. He is also one of the selected composers to participate in the Cursus de composition et d’informatique musicale at IRCAM in Paris for 2023-2024, where he will be a resident composer of the Cité internationale des arts. 

Diba's music is published by BabelScores in both digital and printed formats.

https://www.babelscores.com/PedramDiba
https://www.ircam.fr/person/pedram-diba
www.soundcloud.com/pedram-diba-865722734

MeganDiGeorgio2028@u.northwestern.edu

Megan DiGeorgio is a composer, violist, vocalist, educator, and arts administrator based in Chicago. As an artist, Megan believes in collaboration and community over competition, and strives for full integration of her various artistic pursuits into one comprehensive creative practice.

Megan is pursuing a PhD in composition and music technology at Northwestern University. She has been commissioned by Duo Entre-Nous, Natalie Groom, Bryan Young, Concertia, University of Maine Farmington, Joanna McCoskey Wiltshire, and Fear No Music, among others. Her music has been performed across the United States by ensembles and performers such as the International Contemporary Ensemble, Duo Entre-Nous, Syracuse University Singers, Bryan Young, Trio Lunaire, Hypercube, Artifice, TURNmusic, Fear No Music, Jackie Glazier, Invoke, the Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra, the Pennsbury Community Band, Kylwyria, loadbang, and the Euphonic Syndicate, and at events such as Boulanger Initiative’s WoCo Fest, SCI’s Region II Conference, International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest, TURN UP Multimedia Festival, Fear No Music’s HEARINGS, District New Music Coalition’s New Music DC Conference, and Megan’s own composer-performer show, Equilibrium.

She has been selected for opportunities such as the Out of Our Shells project, facilitated by American University’s Humanities Truck, and Concertia’s Emerging Composer Fellowship for 2021-2022. Megan is the former Director of Education Advancement for Boulanger Initiative, a Washington, DC-based organization that advocates for women and gender marginalized composers. She was also part of the leadership team of District New Music Coalition, an organization that works to facilitate the new music community in the Washington, DC area. And, she was a founding member of Artifice, a contemporary music choir in the Washington, DC area.

She holds degrees in music composition and viola performance from Vermont College of Fine Arts, University of Delaware, and The Catholic University of America.

Visit Website

johnhamill2021@u.northwestern.edu

Jack Hamill (b. 1999) is a multimedia artist primarily focused on sound. His creative practice ranges across a variety of art forms, spanning electro-acoustic music, noise, experimental film, digital visual art, and more. He has worked with a broad variety of aesthetic media, such as computer-generated scores, Disklaviers, DIY electronics, an ultrasound fetal doppler, video projections, and acoustic ensembles. His recent work tends to focus on disparate modes of expressive intensity: seriousness and irreverence, deliberation and intuition, jibberish nonsense and vigorous manifestos. He pursued his undergraduate studies at Oberlin College, where he received a BM in Technology in Music and Related Arts and a BA in philosophy.

https://soundcloud.com/jack_hamill

WanHeo2025@u.northwestern.edu

Born in South Korea, Wan Heo is a composer and a violinist whose works have been performed in South Korea, Italy, Singapore, Spain, and the United States by artists including Tony Arnold, Keuris Quartet, John Pickford Richards, Philippe Spiesser, and yMusic. Her percussion solo piece Unveiled Future has been selected to be published by Alfonce Production. Wan’s recent commissioners include line upon line, New Music On the Point, highSCORE festival, VIPA (Valencia International Performance Academy), among others. Her works frequently explore timbre and spatiality along with non-traditional notation that realizes her interest in the linear approach to each part and their combination.

Recently, she began her own research on Korean ancestors’ appreciation to nature by touring and recording sounds at historical sites in South Korea, which are located in mountains. Her first work on this project, From Air to Mind, was presented at Composition In Asia conference at University of South Florida.

Wan holds B.M. in Composition from Ewha Womans University in South Korea and M.M. in Composition from Florida State University. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Composition and Music Technology at Northwestern University under the guidance of Alex Mincek and Jay Alan Yim.

WookhyunKwon2029@u.northwestern.edu

Wookhyun, a Korean composer currently residing in Chicago, works between what is seen and what is fixed, between sensation and perception, and between sound and form. By delving into the potential of sonic parameters as perceptual variables and making decisions, she takes on the role as a mechanic.

She is pursuing a PhD in Composition and Music Technology at Northwestern University under the guidance of Alex Mincek and Jay Alan Yim. She previously studied with Hans Thomalla. She holds an M.M. degree in composition from Manhattan School of Music and B.M. degree in composition from Kookmin University in Seoul.

jacklangdon2028@u.northwestern.edu

Jack Langdon (b. 1994, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) is a musician, filmmaker, and writer with concentrations in experimental music, minimalist documentary, and cultural politics. Across mediums, Jack’s work stages elusive, complex encounters with commonplace subjects, scenes, and sounds. As a musician, he has created extensive work for pipe organs, and regularly performs on a variety of keyboard instruments as well as the Ojibwe bibigwan. His films focus on landscape and memory. He writes on the political economy of cultural production and the workplace politics of American independent music making.

Jack has composed works for Yarn/Wire, Schallfeld Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, Talea Ensemble, Prague Quiet Music Collective, Southland Ensemble, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Trio SÆITENWIND and has developed works in close collaboration with Yoshi Weinberg, Jack Yarbrough, Miroslav Beinhauer, Sara Constant, Jon Hannau, and Graeme Shields. His works have been supported by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, the Fromm Foundation, MISE-EN_PLACE, and the Prague City Gallery.

His recordings have been released by IMPREC, Sawyer Editions, and Lobby Art Records. His written work has been published by Sound American, Cacophony, and Shred Magazine. Jack is a founding editor for Culture as Care Journal with Eli Namay and John Pippen. He runs an independent record label and music journal called Empty Stage.

Jack holds a Master of Arts in Digital Musics from Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Saint Olaf College.

www.jacklangdon.info

ZouningLiao2029@u.northwestern.edu

Born in Guangdong, China, Zouning is a composer, electronic music improviser, and sound artist whose work draws inspiration from nature and noise. She is passionate about DIY electronics and enjoys field recording in the woods.

Her music has been showcased across North America, Europe, and Asia. In 2024, her work has been featured in festivals such as The Espacios Sonoros in Argentina, NoiseFloor in Portugal, Klexoslab Workshop in Spain, MISE-EN Festival, Splice Festival & Institute, Cube Fest, IRCAM Forum Workshop, SEAMUS/Sweetwater at Charlottesville, Performing Media Festival as well as Electronic Music Midwest. In previous years, she was honored to be featured in festivals such as Musicacoustica Hangzhou Electronic Music Festival, CampGround, Turn Up, and New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. Zouning was named a finalist in the ASCAP/ SEAMUS Student Composer Commission Competition in 2021.

Zouning is a first year PhD student at Northwestern University. She recently completed her master’s degree with double majors in electronic music composition and music theory at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She also served as an Associate Instructor of Music Theory and taught written and aural theory at undergraduate level.

ElliottLupp2024@u.northwestern.edu

Elliott Lupp is a composer, improviser, visual artist, and sound designer whose work often invokes images of the distorted, chaotic, visceral, and absurd. This aesthetic approach as it relates to both acoustic and electroacoustic composition has led to a body of work that, at the root of its construction, focuses on the manipulation of noise, extreme gesture, shifting timbre, and performer/computer improvisation as core elements. 

Elliott has received a number of awards and honors for his work, including a 2019 SEAMUS/ASCAP Commission, the 2019 Franklin G. Fisk Composition Award for Chamber Music, and Departmental and All-University awards in Graduate Research and Creative Scholarship. His music has been performed at a variety of electroacoustic festivals including N_SEME, CHIMEfest, Electronic Music Midwest, MOXsonic, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, SEAMUS, and Electroacoustic Barn Dance, and by such ensembles as the Dutch/American trio Sonic Hedgehog (flute, clarinet, and electric guitar), the Atar Piano Trio, Found Sound New Music Ensemble, various members of MOCREP, The Chicago Composer's Orchestra, Fonema Consort, and Ensemble Dal Niente. 

Elliott received his MM from Western Michigan University, where he studied composition and music technology under Christopher Biggs and Lisa R. Coons, and his BM from Columbia College Chicago, where he studied under Eliza Brown and Kenn Kumpf.

Visit Website

BenjaminPenwell2022@u.northwestern.edu

Benjamin J. Penwell (he/him) writes/performs music and lives in Chicago. // He is a PhD candidate in Composition & Music Technology at Northwestern University, and holds degrees from Boston University (M.Mus, Composition & Music Theory) and University of Oregon (B.Mus, Composition). // His music explores texture & timbre, drone & sustain, quiet & silence, noise & consonance, beating & acoustic phenomena, and tuning & microtonality. He likes fermatas. // He is interested in extreme metal, ambient & drone music, soundscapes, harsh noise, and early music. // He likes guitar pedals & digital sound processing, distortion & power chords, reverb & delay, synthesis & sound design, and recording & audio editing. // His current written dissertation work focuses on the musical characteristics & compositional approaches of extreme metal, with his dissertation composition focusing on solo performance featuring 8 string guitar, hardware electronics (pedalboard, MIDI controllers), and software electronics (Ableton Live, Max for Live, Max/MSP).

Visit Website

CatherinePhang2021@u.northwestern.edu

Catherine Phang is a composer and educator currently based in Evanston, IL. She has collaborated with artists and ensembles including Vasko Dukovski, Unheard-of// Ensemble, Either/or Ensemble, New Asia Chamber Music Society, Mise-en Ensemble and Tactus Ensemble. Her orchestra pieces were conducted by David Hoose and Kalena Bovell. 

Catherine received her MM from Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Richard Danielpour and Reiko Fueting, and her BM from University of Hartford - the Hartt School, where she studied composition with Larry Alan Smith and Ken Steen, and piano with David Westfall, Paul Rutman and Susan Cheng. Catherine was selected for a Kountz Fellowship 2013-14 based on her commendable work during the course of studies as a BM composer at the Hartt School.

Catherine is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Composition and Technology at Northwestern University under the guidance of Alex Mincek and Jay Alan Yim.

gentanaka2027@u.northwestern.edu

Gen Tanaka is a Japanese composer, producer, and sound artist. He firmly believes in the social function of art as that which loosens and subverts the status quo.  In recent years, his work has been characterized by just-intonational frameworks and a desire to portray or facilitate transpersonal experiences. Gen’s fascination with nature, American counter-culture, pharmacology, and theosophy serves to inform his musical activity. The visceral and embodied qualities of sound are of utmost importance to his creative approach.

JasmineThomasian2023@u.northwestern.edu

Originally from Astoria, Oregon, Jasmine Thomasian (they/them) is a Chicago-based composer passionate about sound, identity formation, and the interpersonal dynamics of Western art music. While their artistic output spans a range of musical aesthetics, they particularly enjoy taking on projects that challenge them to think and create in new ways.

Jasmine’s compositional process is driven by their love of collaboration. Current and recent collaborators include Katie Amrine (trumpet) and Ford Fourqurean (video), Lane Champa (violin), Claire DiVizio (poet & soprano), Fuse Quartet (saxophones), and Zhen Piao (organ). Jasmine has been commissioned by the American Guild of Organists and OSSIA New Music, and their music has been performed on programs by Chicago Fringe Opera, I/O Fest, Atlantic Music Festival, New Music on the Point, and malai ensemble.

In addition to their work as a composer, Jasmine is an experienced arts administrator. Jasmine is currently Board Operations Manager for Thompson Street Opera Company, a Chicago-based organization which exclusively performs works by living composers. Jasmine has also been a Chair of the Student Composers Committee (NU), Co-Director of the Graduate Composers Sinfonietta (Eastman), and Co-Producer of “Music Matters,” a new-music radio show on WAYO FM (Rochester, NY). Jasmine holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (MA), Union Theological Seminary (MA), and Williams College (BA). In 2020-2021, Jasmine is teaching 2nd-Year Aural Skills.

AlissaVoth2026@u.northwestern.edu

Alissa Voth (she/her) is a composer and adaptive arts educator who creates conceptual works inspired by intersections of language, data, and music. Her composition and teaching practices are guided by exploration, playfulness, collaboration, and facilitating connection through shared musical experiences. She composes mainly for soloists, chamber ensembles, and experimental theater projects.

Her music has been performed at the UT Contemporary Music Festival, Cortona Sessions for New Music, Harvard Music Festival, Isador Bajic School, Rivers School Conservatory, and the Longy Divergent Studio by performers including Loadbang, Sarah Brady, and Antonina Styczén. A frequent collaborator with Boston-based collective Sparkhaven Theater, she has composed, performed, and directed music for multiple original productions both in person and virtually. Upcoming events include performances with the Boston New Music Initiative and the Montreal Creative Music Lab, as well as premieres by Nightingale Vocal Ensemble and cellist Seth Parker Woods.

Alissa is a fourth year PhD student at Northwestern University under the mentorship of Alex Mincek and Jay Alan Yim. She holds a master's degree from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee where she studied with Marti Epstein and Felipe Lara, and was awarded the Roger Sessions Memorial Composition Award. She completed her bachelor's degree at Oral Roberts University in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Alissa also teaches music to students with autism and other cognitive, physical, and behavioral disabilities virtually in the Boston Public School system through Open Door Arts.

carloszarate2028@u.northwestern.edu

Carlos Zárate is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. He was born and raised in Mexico City and is interested in live electronics, audiovisual art, and exploring different ways in which other artistic expressions can foster musical ideas.

Carlos is currently pursuing a PhD in Composition and Music Technology at Northwestern University, under the guidance of Alex Mincek and Jay Alan Yim. He holds a MM in Interdisciplinary Digital Media Composition from Arizona State University, where he studied as a Fulbright fellow with Fernanda Aoki Navarro and Gabriel Bolaños. Carlos got a Bachelor's Degree in Composition and Music Theory at Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música.  He dances to cumbias, trains bjj, and is sick of gentrification, the voracity of capitalism and (self) exotization of Latin American artists.

Visit Website