Michael Abels is best-known for his scores for the Oscar-winning film GET OUT, and for Jordan Peele’s US, for which Abels won the World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, an Image Award nomination, and multiple critics awards. The hip-hop influenced score for US was short-listed for the Oscar, and was even named “Score of the Decade” by online publication The Wrap. As a concert composer, Abels has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet The Composer, and the Sphinx Organization, among others. His orchestral works have been performed by the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and many more. As guest conductor of GET OUT IN CONCERT, Abels has led orchestras like the National Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. Several of his orchestral works have been recorded by the Chicago Sinfonietta on the Cedille label, including Delights & Dances and Global Warming. Abels is co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group to increase visibility of composers of color in film, game and streaming media. Upcoming projects include the ballet for concert band FALLING SKY for Butler University, AT WAR WITH OURSELVES for the Kronos Quartet, and the Hugh Jackman film BAD EDUCATION for HBO.

Chen Yi

Jennifer Higdon

Chen Yi

Gilda Lyons

GILDA LYONS, (b. 1975), composer, vocalist, and visual artist, combines elements of renaissance, neo-baroque, spectral, folk, agitprop Music Theater, and extended vocalism to create works of uncompromising emotional honesty and melodic beauty. The premiere of A New Kind of Fallout—Lyons’ mainstage opera inspired by the life and work of environmentalist Rachel Carson, written with librettist Tammy Ryan, and commissioned by Opera Theater of Pittsburgh—was described as “powerfully effective” (Pittsburgh Stage Magazine), “haunting” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) and “spot-on at re-creating the atmosphere of the early '60s” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). As composer and vocalist Lyons’ works and performances are available on the Clarion, GPR, Naxos, New Dynamic, New Focus, Roven Records, and Yarlung Records labels. Laura Strickling’s Grammy-nominated 2021 release of Lyons’ Songs of Lament and Praise (Yarlung) was described by Opera News as “plaintive… florid… quietly devastating.” Other recent recording projects as composer include the release of Lyons’ works by Quince (Motherland); and entelechron (The Folk Tune Project); Lindsey Goodman's tour de force performance of Lyons' Chrysalis (reach through the sky); and Sing for Hope’s release of Lyons' Hold On (An AIDS Quilt Songbook). An active vocalist and fierce advocate of contemporary music, Lyons has commissioned, premiered, and workshopped new vocal works by dozens of composers; this season she appears on the rosters of Brooklyn Art Song Society, Lyric Fest, and New Mercury Collective. As vocalist, her collaboration with Laura Ward (Naxos), was described by Opera News as “winning delivery, full of character.” “Gilda Lyons's clear soprano compels admiration” writes David Shengold of Opera, UK of her performance in Hagen’s “Shining Brow” (Buffalo Philharmonic/Falletta/Naxos). Current projects as composer include new works for soprano Caitlin Lynch, Lyric Fest, Musica Viva NY, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Quince, Wintergreen Music Festival, soprano Laura Strickling, and pianist Nic Gerpe. Recent premieres include Lyons’ to know about space, commissioned by Trio Triumphatrix, presented on Voices of Ascension’s ‘Voices of the New’ series; and Sourdough: Rise Up, a chamber opera commissioned by Resonance Works Pittsburgh released on Decameron Opera Coalition’s ‘Tales from a Safe Distance.’ Recent projects include performances by Quince on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW series, curated by Missy Mazzoli; Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek on the Locrian Chamber Players series; Mirror Visions Ensemble on the Bargemusic Masterworks series; and Chautauqua Opera; Chautauqua Symphony, Stuart Chafetz, conductor. Lyons currently serves as Co-Chair of the Composition Program at Wintergreen Music Academy and as Assistant Professor of Composition at The Hartt School. She is the Executive Director of the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series, Founding Director of The Phoenix Concerts, New York's "intrepid Upper West Side new-music series" (The New Yorker), and serves on the Board of Advisors of Composers Now, the Steven R. Gerber Trust, and Sparks & Wiry Cries. Lyons served as Composer-in-Residence of Chautauqua Opera in the 2019 season. In 2021, she returns as composition faculty for Connecticut Summerfest. Past commissions include works for The ASCAP Foundation / Charles Kingsford Fund, American Opera Projects, Amy Pivar Dances, Beijing New Music Ensemble, Carrie Koffman, Chautauqua Opera, ComposersCollaborative Inc., Lyric Fest, entelechron, Fort Greene Park Conservancy, Yumi Korosawa, Kyo-Shin-An Arts, Mirror Visions Ensemble, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Panic Duo, Paul Sperry, Seraphim, Resonance Works Pittsburgh, Trio Triumphatrix, The Walt Whitman Project, Wintergreen Music, and 5 Borough Music Festival, among many others. “Lyons’ command of varied musical textures is masterly.” — Mark Kanny, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Lyons’ music is published by Schott, E.C. Schirmer, and Burning Sled. She received her Ph.D. in Music Composition from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Bard College. Lyons made her professional debut as composer and vocalist with the American Symphony Chamber Orchestra in 1997, performing the world premiere of her orchestral song cycle Feis.

Yaz Lancaster

James Lee III

Yaz Lancaster (they/them) is a Black transdisciplinary artist. They are most interested in practices aligned with relational aesthetics & the everyday; fragments & collage; and liberatory politics. Yaz performs as a violinist, vocalist & steel-pannist in a wide variety of settings; and their work is presented in many mediums & collaborative projects. It often reckons with specific influences ranging from politics of liberation and identity to natural phenomena and poetics. Their ongoing independent studies navigates prison-industrial-complex abolition, Marxist theory, and internet/social media cultures. Their writing appears in various online & in-print publications including I CARE IF YOU LISTEN, Afternoon Visitor, the tiny, and Underblong, where their poem “Ratios” was awarded the 2021 Blongprize, as well as a Pushcart nomination. Yaz has had the privilege & opportunity to build community & create with artists like A Far Cry, Andy Akiho, ContaQt (with Evan Ziporyn), Contemporaneous, Freddie June, George Lewis, Hypercube, JACK Quartet, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Skiffle Steel Orchestra, and Wadada Leo Smith. Most recently, they have been developing the post-genre duo laydøwn with Canadian guitarist-producer Andrew Noseworthy; and working on new music for Beth Morrison Projects, BRKFST Dance Company, and Bearthoven. Yaz has recording credits on recent/upcoming projects with BAKUDI SCREAM, Massa Nera, Miss Grit, Nyokabi Kariũki & Ted Hearne. Their debut album of commissioned music for violin/voice & electronics with video AmethYst is forthcoming on people | places | records in early fall 2022. Yaz holds degrees in violin and poetry from New York University where they studied with Cyrus Beroukhim, Robert Honstein, Joan La Barbara & Terrance Hayes (among others). They currently live in Lenapehoking (NYC) with their bassador puppy Nori; and they enjoy chess, horror movies, and taking boxing lessons.

Raven Chacon

Raven Chacon is a Pulitzer Prize–winning composer, performer, and installation artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation. As a solo artist, collaborator, and a member of Postcommodity from 2009 to 2018, Chacon has exhibited, performed, or had works performed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Renaissance Society, Chicago; San Francisco Electronic Music Festival; REDCAT, Los Angeles; Vancouver Art Gallery; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Borealis Festival, Seattle; SITE Santa Fe; Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; Ende Tymes Festival, New York; The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Biennial, New York; documenta 14, Athens and Kassel; Carnegie International, and Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. Since 2004, he has mentored more than three hundred Native high school composers in writing new string quartets for the Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP). Chacon is the recipient of a United States Artists Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Artist Fellowship, the American Academy’s Berlin Prize, the Bemis Center’s Ree Kaneko Award, and the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage’s Fellowship-in-Residence.

Silvio Ferraz

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate

Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Chickasaw) is a dedicated American Indian classical composer and pianist who expresses his native culture in symphonic music, ballet and opera. All of his compositions have been commissioned by major North American orchestras, ensembles and organizations and his works are performed throughout the world.

Eugenie Rocherolle

Eugenie Rocherolle

Composer, lyricist, pianist, and teacher, Eugenie Rocherolle began an early career in publishing with choral and band music. In 1978, with the success of her first piano solo collection, she soon established herself as one of the leading American composers of piano repertoire. Her music is widely distributed throughout the United States and abroad. A native of New Orleans, she graduated from Newcomb College of Tulane University with a BA in music. Her junior year was spent in Paris where she had a class with the late Nadia Boulanger. She was honored as the 1995 outstanding Newcomb alumna. A "Commissioned by Clavier" composer, she was also one of seven composer members of the National League of American Pen Women whose works were chosen to be presented in a concert at the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. Awards from the Pen Women include a first place for both piano and choral in biennial national competitions. Mrs. Rocherolle's creative output also includes works for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra; musical theater; and chamber music for a variety of mediums. She is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); Connecticut Composers Inc.; and the National Federation of Music Clubs. Her biographical profile appears in the International Who's Who in Music, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Classical Musicians, International Encyclopedia of Women Composers, Who's Who of American Women and Who's Who in the East. Mrs. Rocherolle has released recordings of her piano music, Spinning Gold and Romancing the Piano, and her Christmas arrangements, Tidings of Joy, on an independent label, Aureus Recordings. She maintains a private music studio where she teaches piano and composition.

Augusta Read Thomas

Augusta Read Thomas

Augusta Read Thomas