Spencer Arias (b.1990) is a composer, improviser, and educator based in Arizona who creates people-centered music based off shared and contrary experiences focusing on themes of social, political, and environmental changes. They believe that community should be put at the center of music and art and that it should not live within a hierarchy. The composer, performer, conductor, and audience do not have any more or less to offer, and all these spheres are essential to creating new and old music. At the center of this are questions of identity, with a particular interest in Queerness, Gender, and Inclusivity. They have had performances throughout the US and Europe, having been performed by musicians such as the JACK Quartet, The Columbus Symphony Woodwind Quintet, Quartetto Indaco, the Rogue Trio, The Lotus Trio, The New Thread Quartet, PRISM Saxophone, Quarte, and Nick Photinos. They have won numerous awards, including the Music Now Competition, The Jere Hutcherson Large Ensemble Competition, and the Most Inspirational Performance Art Award at the 2020 Michigan State University Social Justice Art Festival. Spencer recently finished their Doctorate in Music Composition at Michigan State University, where they studied primarily with David Biedenbender, Alexis Bacon, and Lyn Goeringer.

Visit Spencer’s website at www.spencerarias.com

Photo by Nick Zoulek.

Bringing together Afghan folk music, Western classical, and Indie Folk scenes, Seare Ahmad Farhat creates music connecting listeners to the visceral imagination, energy, and transformation within narrative forms, while challenging notions of textual, historical, and cultural boundaries. He has been commissioned by the JACK and Flux Quartets, Indiana University New Music Ensemble, Quintessence Wind Quintet, and Oberlin Sinfonietta; served as Young-Composer-in-Residence of the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings; and had residencies at Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Copland House, Banff Center, and Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. He has recently received awards of recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Charles Ives Scholarship) and BMI.

Visit Seare’s website at https://searefarhat.com

Kakia Gkoudina, from Thessaloniki, Greece, is an international doctoral student in Composition at Michigan State University. She has ample experience in composing music for plays, films and documentaries and was a finalist in the 2019 Kaleidoscope Call for Scores. One of her main interests is creating multimedia works involving acoustic instruments, electronics, film, experimental theater and sound design. Gkoudina earned her Master’s Degree in Composition at Michigan State University under the guidance of A. Bacon, D. Biedenbender and L. Goeringer, and her doctorate degree with a focus on composition and audiovisual narrative, under the guidance of Dr. Mark Sullivan (Music Composition) and Dr. Alison Dobbins (Integrated Performance Media design).

Visit Kakia’s website here

The creative output of Anthony R. Green (b. 1984; composer, performer, social justice artist) includes musical and visual creations, interpretations of original works or works in the repertoire, collaborations, educational outreach, and more. Behind all of his artistic endeavors are the ideals of equality and freedom, which manifest themselves in diverse ways in a composition, a performance, a collaboration, or social justice work. As a composer, his works have been presented in over 25 countries across six continents by various internationally acclaimed soloists and ensembles.

Visit Anthony’s website at www.anthonyrgreen.com

Photo by Loghaven Artist Residency

Tyler Kline (b. 1991; he/him/his) is a composer, audio engineer, and radio broadcaster whose work is deeply influenced by the ideals of Wabi-Sabi, a Japanese aesthetic and worldview that values transience, imperfection, and impermanence. This manifests in Tyler’s music in a variety of ways: the use of extended sounds/techniques in order to obscure musical textures; rhythmic dissonance that disconnects melodic and harmonic lines from the overall pulse; and fleeting gestures that evoke the natural world.

In addition to his work in composition, Tyler curates, hosts, and produces a weekly contemporary-music radio program called Modern Notebook.

Visit Tyler’s website at www.tylerklinemusic.com

Photo by Susanna Hancock

Lila Meretzky is a composer, educator, and visual artist born and raised in New York City. She works primarily in chamber, vocal, electronic, and electroacoustic mediums, as well as in music for dance, film, and installation. Her work is often concerned with (the warping of) memory and language, and subjective experiences of time. Recent and ongoing collaborations include new works for Sandbox Percussion, Unheard-of//Ensemble, icarus Quartet, Omer Quartet, and the Yale Philharmonia, and for the dance companies New Dialect, X-Contemporary Dance, and the Nashville Ballet.

Visit Lila’s website at www.lilameretzky.com

Daijana Wallace is a composer and educator based in Wichita, KS. Her music is an outward reflection of her own introspection, drawing inspiration from any and every thought that crosses her mind from the mundane aspects of daily life to specific memories about a percussive upstairs neighbor. Wallace’s compositions have been heard at venues such as Wichita Art Museum, and MASS MoCA, as well as PASIC and International Society of Basses conferences. Daijana holds Bachelors’ Degrees and a Master’s Degrees from Wichita State University and Michigan State University respectively. When she’s not busy composing, she’s teaching music in the greater Wichita area.

Daijana is pronounced Day-on-a, like spending a day-on-a beach.

Visit Daijana’s website at www.daijanawallace.com

Photo by Julian Kincaid.