David Dominique
composer

David Dominique is a composer, performer, and music theorist based in Richmond, Virginia. A recipient of a 2022–2023 Guggenheim Fellowship and a fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute (2021–2022), he composes contemporary music, jazz, electroacoustic music, rock, and works for the stage. His albums *Mask* (2018) and *Ritual* (2013), written for a jazz octet featuring flute, strings, brass, guitar, drums, and electronics, have been critically acclaimed. He has conducted performances of these works in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. David also composes for the theater, including Starcrosser’s Cut (2013)—based on astronaut Lisa Nowak—which was acclaimed in Los Angeles. He has written for Tony Arnold, the Talea Ensemble, ECCE, L’Arsenale, and Killsonic (an experimental collective in LA), and has performed at festivals such as Coachella and Bumbershoot. In 2016, he created Broken Record, a musical show co-produced in Los Angeles. His research focuses on Mingus, Dolphy, sonic chaos, and Beat Furrer, to whom he dedicated his thesis. He has presented his work at Harvard, Wellesley, Virginia Tech, and elsewhere. He currently teaches at the College of William and Mary.

Kate Soper
composer

Kate Soper is co-director and performer with Wet Ink, a New York-based ensemble dedicated to exploring adventurous music that transcends aesthetic boundaries. She is a professor of music at Smith College. Described by The New Yorker as “one of the most original figures of her generation,” composer/performer/writer Kate Soper has been creating deeply inspired and distinctive musical theater works for over a decade. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and Rome Prize fellow, she has received awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim and Koussevitzky Foundations and the American Academy of Letters, and has received commissions from the Miller Theatre, Alarm Will Sound, and the New York Philharmonic. Her works include the monodramas “Voices from the Killing Jar” and “IPSA DIXIT,” as well as the operas “Here Be Sirens,” “The Romance of the Rose,” and “The Hunt.” Praised by The New York Times for her “supple voice and captivating presence,” Soper performs frequently as a soprano specializing in contemporary music. 

Yu-Hui Chang
composer

The multi-award-winning composer Yu-Hui Chang creates a wide range of works that resonate deeply with musicians and audiences alike, thanks to her energy, precision, inventive effects, and vibrant colors. Her work transcends cultural and stylistic boundaries, embracing musical diversity and fluidity. Yu-Hui has received numerous awards, including the Arts and Letters Award, the Charles Ives Fellowship, the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and commissions from prestigious institutions such as the Fromm Music Foundation and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation. Her chamber and orchestral compositions have been performed in many countries, including the Netherlands, Italy, Japan, and the United States, to unanimous critical acclaim. Originally from Taiwan, she has taught in the composition department at Brandeis University since 2006. Her works have been featured at major contemporary music festivals around the world. She has also served as co-artistic director of the Empyrean Ensemble and the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, where she has organized more than seventy concerts. In January 2024, her portrait CD "Mind Like Water" was released.

John Aylward
composer

A composer and pianist, John Aylward grew up in the Sonoran Desert, on the border between Arizona and Mexico, as the child of a mother who had immigrated from Germany (herself a refugee from World War II), under extremely unstable circumstances. His music reflects the rich expressions of converging cultural histories and the deeply intertwined communities of that earlier life, all set against the surreal landscapes of the desert. After initial studies in piano and composition with Nicholas Zumbro and Pamela Decker, John studied music composition in New England with Martin Boykan and David Rakowski, and wrote a thesis on Elliott Carter’s 5th String Quartet with musicologist Eric Chafe, supported by two residential fellowships from the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland. Aylward’s recent awards and fellowships have been granted by the John S. Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, the Koussevitzky Commission of the Congress, the Fromm Foundation, MacDowell, Tanglewood, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.