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Jane Meenaghan (she/her) (age 21) is a composer, vocalist, and songwriter who frequently explores spiritual philosophy and states of consciousness through works that incorporate electronics and theatrical elements. Under the tutelage of Andrew Norman, Jane studies theology and music composition at Columbia and Juilliard respectively as a dual-degree student. A recipient of multiple ASCAP and BMI awards as well as the highest honor from National YoungArts, Jane has worked with ensembles and venues including Los Angeles Philharmonic, International Contemporary Ensemble, Seattle Symphony, Lyris Quartet, HOCKET, and members of New World Symphony, Houston Symphony, and Orlando Philharmonic. She is also an alumnus of Luna Lab, Hear Now Festival, National Young Composers Challenge, and NextNotes Awards. Most recently, Jane is preparing for a Carnegie Hall debut with American Composers Orchestra and collaborations with Bergamot Quartet.
mentor: Mari Kimura
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photo by Jill Steinberg |
Mari Kimura is at the forefront of violinists who are extending the technical and expressive capabilities of the instrument. As a composer, performer, researcher, and entrepreneur, she has opened up new sonic worlds and new musical possibilities for the violin. Notably, she has mastered the production of pitches that sound up to an octave below the violin's lowest string without re-tuning. This technique, which she calls Subharmonics, has earned Mari considerable renown in the concert music world and beyond. She is also a pioneer in the field of interactive computer music. At the same time, she has earned international acclaim as a soloist and recitalist in both standard and contemporary repertoire. Her most recent efforts involve entrepreneurship, bringing her prototype motion sensor MUGIC™, (pronounced "mu" as in music +"gic" as in magic) to the market.
composer: Azalea Twining
compositional goal: writing for a group of 'same instruments', likely four saxophones
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Azalea Twining (she/her) is a sixteen-year-old composer, vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter from Harrisonburg, VA. As a 2020-2021 fellow of the Luna Composition Lab at Kaufman Music Center, Azalea studied composition with Ellen Reid and composed Under Her Voices for piano trio, which was the winner of the 2021 G. Schirmer for Luna Lab Prize. She has continued to study composition with Gity Razaz and create pieces with a focus on singing her own work. Azalea's most recent projects include Evelyn/Evelyn, a dance/opera written and performed by her family, Ensemble InterTwining, "Echo" for solo flute commissioned by Intersection, and a song cycle set to the poetry of the Brontë sisters. She also composes and performs original work for voice, string quartet, prepared piano, and more through her school's Fine Arts Academy. Azalea has been studying voice with Eileen Clark since 2014. An alumnus of the WNO Opera Institute and Eastman Summer Classical Studies programs, Azalea has a passion for art songs and arias. More recently, she has fostered a love for performing small vocal ensemble music- both early and experimental. She hopes to one day compose and sing in her own experimental operas.
mentor: Erica Lindsay
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photo by Jean Laffitau |
Erica Lindsay, composer and tenor saxophonist, is an Artist-in-Residence at Bard College where she teaches jazz composition and improvisation. She has toured and appeared in the U.S. with jazz legends including Dizzy Gillespie and Melba Liston and made guest appearances with Frank Zappa and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. She has performed and recorded with Baikida Carroll, Oliver Lake and many others and has led her own jazz ensembles. Inspired by her work as a jazz improviser, Lindsay attended the first ever Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute, leading to writing orchestral works for the American Composers Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony. She has also written musical scores for two Off-Broadway plays, the television series Tales from the Darkside, and collaborated with choreographers. Lindsay is a featured artist in Sally Placksin's book American Women in Jazz and Burrill Crohn's PBS documentary Women in Jazz. Her recent recordings include Initiation, a collaboration with Sumi Tonooka and three recordings from Alchemy Sound Project: Further Explorations, Adventures in Time and Space and Afrika Love. Lindsay is a San Francisco native.