Alumni

Michelle David (age 26) is a Haitian-Peruvian composer from Queens, New York, who has a deep love for experimental, cinematic, and ambient music. They like working with timbre, texture, emotion, and decorative devices. In 2021, Michelle completed an undergraduate degree in Music Composition and Piano Pedagogy. They are currently teaching music at Lenox Neighborhood House. Michelle’s recent music projects have involved music production and song-writing. They look forward to creating more experimental and ambient music.

Violet Barnum (age 22) is a composer, songwriter, and pianist from New York City. Her pieces have been performed by Face the Music, Contemporaneous, the Cincinnati Choral Academy, and members of Imani Winds. She is an alumna of the Curtis Young Artist Summer Program and the NYU Summer Songwriters Workshop. Violet is exceedingly grateful to her composition mentors, who have included Reena Esmail, Alex Weiser, Kathryn Alexander, and Jack Frerer. Violet is a senior at Yale University where she studies music. She sings in the Yale Glee Club and other on-campus choirs and is involved in musical theater.

Aliya Salmanova (age 24) is a pianist and screen-scoring composer fro New York City. She has performed as a pianist in numerous concerts and venues across Baku, Azerbaijan. She studied composition with renowned composers Missy Mazzoli and David T. Little at Mannes School of Music and earned her Bachelor’s Degree from NYU, focusing on writing music for film, TV, and video games. Aliya’s passion for creativity extends into technology, and she is now a software engineer and web developer based in Jersey City, NJ. She brings the same dedication and attention to detail from her music career into her work in tech, crafting innovative and functional applications.

Caleb Palka (age 24) is a composer from Portland, Oregon whose work is “inquisitive and creative in an unapologetic way” (Oregon ArtsWatch). He has been performed/commissioned by the Bergen International Festival/Norwegian Soloists’ Choir Academy, Britt Festival Orchestra, Cincinnati May Festival/Cincinnati Men’s Chorus, International Contemporary Ensemble, Opera Omaha, Eugene Symphony, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, Mivos Quartet, Portland Piano International, and others. He has previously studied with Ryan Francis, Kenji Bunch, and Ellen Reid. Caleb currently attends the USC Thornton School of Music, studying with Donald Crockett, Camae Dennis, Ted Hearne, Andrew Norman, and Veronika Krausas.

Carolina Bragg (age 22) is a composer from Brookline, Massachusetts. She finds inspiration in the strangest of places, from epic poetry to tropical birds. Her pieces have been performed in San Francisco, St. Louis, Houston, and New York City. Notable works include her first professional commission from the Friction Quartet and an accompanying radio premiere on NPR’s From the Top. In 2022, Carolina received the inaugural Tidal Shift Award at the Portland Museum of Art for her choral work. Carolina is a junior at Bowdoin College where she is a Biology major, pursuing a career in STEM Education. As a member of the Bowdoin Symphony Orchestra, she remains dedicated to classical and contemporary music. She is grateful to her mentors, who have included Alla Cohen, Reena Esmail, and Eugene Kim.

Helen Lyons (age 22) is a composer, pianist, and violinist from New York City. She writes for ensembles of all sizes, with a special passion for writing for orchestra. Helen is a four-time ASCAP Morton Gould finalist and winner of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME)’s Student Composers Competition. Helen was also named the winner of the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Student Composers Competition, and will have an orchestral work performed at their annual conference in Rochester, NY. Helen is studying at Yale University.

Maya Miro Johnson (age 24) is a composer and interdisciplinary artist from Salt Lake City, Utah, currently based in New Haven, Connecticut. Her work researches cyborgization, bodypolitics, (dis)ability, and feminist futurism. She received her bachelor’s of music from The Curtis Institute in 2024 and is currently pursuing an master’s degree in composition at Yale University. Also trained in dance/theater/video, she has created for Ensemble Intercontemporain, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sarasota Festival, loadbang, Rock School of Ballet, Barnes Foundation Moab Music Festival, Baltic Sea Festival, and Copland House. Winner of BMI Schuman and Surinach Prizes, she appears on albums #What2020LooksLike, This is America, Manuscripts Don’t Burn, and the documentary, The Conductor. She has served as a cover for the Minnesota Orchestra and attended Cabrillo, Aspen, and Tanglewood programs.

Abby Harris (age 20) is a New York City-based composer and pianist. She currently studies with Timo Andres at Mannes School of Music as a composition major, and has studied composition with Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Tamar Muskal, and Kevin James. Abby’s works have earned recognition from MATA, Jr., NFMC, Robert Avalon, and others. A chamber version of Abby’s piece “nature.trail” was featured at the American Composers Orchestra Fall Gala in October of 2022, and her piano trio “Sheva,” written during her Luna Lab Fellowship, was performed in spring of 2023 at the opening of the international art exhibition “Genesis: The Beginning of Creativity.”

Jane Meenaghan (age 24) is a composer from Los Angeles, California who explores spirituality through works at the intersection of classical composition, experimental electronic production, metal, and performance art. Jane received her bachelor’s degree in math, computer science, and theology from Columbia University. She is currently a master’s student in music composition at The Juilliard School. Current projects include a liturgical space opera. In the past Jane has received awards from ASCAP, BMI, and National YoungArts, worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, International Contemporary Ensemble, Seattle Symphony, Lyris Quartet, HOCKET, and members of New World Symphony, Houston Symphony, and Orlando Philharmonic.

Joanna McDonald (age 23) is a composer and guitarist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Houston, Texas, who loves multi-faceted music projects. She is inspired by nature, electronics, dance, the local Tulsa and Houston communities, and the deaf community, which she intertwines in her works. Joanna strives to make any of her compositional projects or performances contain some type of connection to a local community or person, and she loves finding ways to interconnect her work to topics or fields outside of music. She received her bachelor’s degree in music composition from Rice University.

Tiffany Cuaresma (age 24) is a composer and vocalist from San Diego, captivated by music’s ability to resonate with others. Her music has received awards from the National YoungArts Foundation, National Young Composers Challenge, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Texas Young Composers Competition, Guitar Salon International, and the Emerging Young Composers Competition. Tiffany is a Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Composition alumnus. Her music has been performed by International Contemporary Ensemble, Thue Le, Bo Bokyung, Steve Cowan, and Jon Nakamatsu. Cuaresma also enjoys film scoring and multi-disciplinary projects. Tiffany is graduated with a B.M. in music theory-composition and business at Rice University.

Yuri Lee (age 21) is a Korean-Japanese composer and violinist from New York who values imagination and spirit in music-making. She is currently pursuing a music major and conducting certificate at Princeton University. Her compositions have been awarded by National YoungArts, ASCAP, Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra, the American Prize, National Young Composers Challenge, Tribeca New Music, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, and NYSSMA. By founding “Music Around Us Project” that delivers music to her community and aspiring to become an orchestral composer, Yuri strives to achieve her life dream of making people happy with music. She is grateful to her Juilliard Preparatory Division composition professors Manuel Sosa and Daniel Felsenfeld, violin professor Lucie Gelinas, and her Luna Lab mentor Reena Esmail.

Èbùn Oguntola (age 19) is a composer from Syracuse, New York who NPR describes as a “curious and enterprising young artist.” She is currently a sophomore in the joint-studies program at Harvard University and Berklee College of Music. Èbùn has delved deeply into composition, film scoring, conducting, songwriting, production, and multi-instrumentalism. Her works have been performed by numerous musicians across the US, including a commission to write a piece for GRAMMY-award winning violinist Johnny Gandelsman that was featured on the NY Times with the full album, This is America, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart. In 2021, she was featured on NPR’s From the Top, where she was interviewed by Kevin Olusola, the beatboxer from Pentatonix.

KiMani (Key-Mahn-ee) Bridges (age 23) is a composer and flutist from Louisville, Kentucky. She has been commissioned, performed, and premiered by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, among others. KiMani has performed at venues including Indiana University, the University of Louisville, and the Kentucky Center for the Arts. In addition, KiMani has participated in bespoken, the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, and the São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival. She received an honorable mention from the 2022 ASCAP Morton Gould Composer Awards. KiMani earned her B.M. in composition with a flute concentration from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in 2024. She is now pursuing her masters in composition as a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School.

Madeline Clara Cheng (age 21) is a Bay Area-based artist studying composition, business law, and music industry as a Presidential Scholar at the University of Southern California. A 2023 YoungArts Award Winner, she has been commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s May Festival, Ensemble for These Times, the UUCWC Crossing Chorale, and recently Hearing in Color and La Caccina as their 2024-25 Young Composer-in-Residence. Her compositions have been performed at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Norway’s Bergen International Festival, and by ensembles such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Madeline also enjoys designing escape rooms, music directing, and playing saxophone and piano—sometimes simultaneously.

Olivia Bennett (age 23) is a composer and gardener from Southwest Missouri. Olivia received her bachelor’s degree in music composition from Rice University, where she studied with Pierre Jalbert, Richard Lavenda, Kurt Stallmann, and Karim Al-Zand. Olivia has been an active composer for 14 years, attending festivals such as the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland and hearing her music performed by ensembles around the world. She is currently working as an Administrative Apprentice at Juilliard and enjoys the NYC culture. She has a passion for the outdoors and has worked in multiple farms and gardens. Olivia loves the ability to be both an artist and a gardener!

Sage Shurman (age 19) is a composer, orchestrator, and multimedia artist from Los Angeles, California. She is an ASCAP Morton Gould winner, a John Green Prize winner, and a YoungArts winner. She has been commissioned nationally by groups like Hub New Music, the Taos Chamber Music Group, and ChamberQUEER. In addition, Sage’s work has been premiered by the LA Phil String Orchestra, the Southeast Symphony, Sandbox Percussion, and the Thalea Quartet. Sage is currently at Harvard University studying neuroscience and music. At Harvard she has orchestrated and music directed two new musicals and has exhibited a dance performance space with motion triggered audio.

Alisha Heng (age 22) is a composer and multidisciplinary artist from New York City. Her works have been performed by Ensemble Lemniscate, baritone Christopher Herbert, and violinist Barbora Kolářová. Alisha’s passion for composition stems from both her instrumental study and a fascination to create works that provoke the mind—seeking to explore the relationships between music, art, and literature. She is also an avid filmmaker and writer. Alisha currently studies composition at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins.

Azalea Twining (age 19) is a soprano and composer. Recent projects include “Echo” for solo flute commissioned by Intersection, The Red House for saxophone quartet commissioned by Second Stage and Composers Now, and Evelyn: Four Bodies One Life, a dance opera created and performed by her family. Azalea studied voice with Eileen Clark from 2014-2023 and attended the WNO Opera Institute, Eastman Summer Classical Studies program, and NYU MPAP Summer Classical Voice Intensive. Azalea is a music major at Columbia University where she studies voice with Josephine Mongiardo-Cooper and is a member of the early-music choral ensemble, Collegium Musicum. She has premiered works by Elizabeth Hoffman and Cecilia Olszewski and performed at The Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, SEAMUS Festival, and MATA Festival. Azalea hopes to foster a career as a composer/performer.

Jack Gjaja (age 19) is a composer and pianist from New York City. Their works include pieces for small chamber ensembles, solos, and electronic soundscapes. They draw inspiration from the subway, trees, poetry, and dizziness. Recently, Jack explored composing for voice in a commission for contralto with Intersection for LISTEN, and a trio for the Wildflower Composers Festival. They have studied composition and piano with Mary Kouyoumdjian, David Bird, Tamar Muskal, Elena Leonova, and Adrienne Kim. Jack has performed in Montreal, Rovinj, Cremona, Bennington, and New York. They look forward to joining Kaufman’s Face the Music Program in the fall.

Jordan Millar (age 18), from Brooklyn, New York, began composing in the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers Program. Her piece “Boogie Down Uptown” was performed by the Philharmonic, profiled in The New York Times, and awarded the 2019 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award. Jordan has written for the New World Symphony, And Play Duo, Chromic Duo, Mivos, Argus Quartet, O Kwarteto, Intersection Music, Face the Music, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Opera Italiana. Accolades include Mata Jr., Bespoken, New York Youth Symphony, New Music Initiative for Black Voices and a 2022 ASCAP Award for Masquerade. Jordan is entering her first year at Columbia University.

Zola Saadi-Klein (age 22), is an Iranian-American genderfluid composer, vocalist, and artist from Los Angeles, California. For much of their work they draw inspiration from their Persian and European heritage, exploring the cross-cultural bonds of music from the West and of the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. As a member of the Oberlin Buddhist Fellowship (OBF), the practice of mindfulness and concentration meditation deeply influences their musical life. They often collaborate with like-minded creatives at Oberlin, and in the world at large, most recently with artist, violist, singer and mathematician Illana McNamara, I Have Been a Stranger in a Strange Land (2023), and vocalist and poet, Molly Chun, Songs for Those Who Came Before (2024). Zola is currently studying at Oberlin Conservatory.

Alicia Erlandson (age 21) is a composer based in the Bronx, New York, originally from Detroit, Michigan. She has been a part of the Wildflower Composers Program, MATA Jr. Festival, and Great Plains Composers Workshop, studying under Flannery Cunningham, Gabrielle Herbst, and Dawn Norfleet. In 2022, her string quintet Windowpane was awarded the G. Schirmer Prize at Luna Composition Lab, and she was commissioned by the Cincinnati May Festival as part of 25 for 25: A New Time for Choral Music. She is currently pursuing a B.M. in Composition at Mannes School of Music at The New School.

Cecelia Olszewski (age 21) is a composer, violinist and pianist from Wallingford, Pennsylvania. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Her works have been performed by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Cecelia is the founder and president of Cosmia Opera Collective, a student organization providing resources for the funding, production, and performance of new operatic works by historically-marginalized composers at Northwestern University. Her one-act chamber opera, “Devoted,” premiered in March of 2024.

Devon Lee (age 18) is a composer and bassist from New York City. They are a junior at Special Music School and the Juilliard Music Advancement Program, where they study with Daniel Felsenfeld and Huang Ruo. Devon has had their music played by organizations like the New York Philharmonic, The Juilliard School, The Knights, ChamberQUEER, and the New World Symphony, and has been featured on WQXR and in the Cincinnati Symphony May Festival. Devon loves to participate in musical communities and writes pieces that reflect how they experience the world in hopes that resonate with others. Alongside music, Devon likes to draw, knit, and crochet.

Elisa Kain Johnson (age 20) is a composer, pianist, and singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington whose music often explores elements of social justice and identity. Her music has been performed by both professional and student musicians, including the Seattle Symphony, the Thomas More University Chorale, and the ensemble loadbang. Elisa has been honored to receive awards from The American Prize, the Washington State Music Teachers Association, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York. A sophomore at Northwestern University, Elisa currently studies with Jay Alan Yim and is majoring in Music Composition and Biology.

Gabriella Cariddo (age 21) is a harpsichordist and composer from New York City interested in exploring historical performance practice and composing tonal music in the 21st century. She is a graduate of the Special Music School as well as Manhattan School of Music’s precollege program. Gabriella currently is pursuing a triple degree at Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester in Music Theory, Religion, and German while also studying harpsichord with Edoardo Bellotti. As a composer, Gabriella aims to incorporate her knowledge of early music techniques into her original works and bring new light to ideas that have been lost to history.

Rachel Mugemancuro (age 21) is a violinist and composer from Los Angeles, California. She has played violin for 12 years and has soloed with the Spokane Symphony and the Glendale Youth Orchestra, as well as participated in a season of NYO-USA. Rachel has been a fellow at the LA Philharmonic’s Nancy and Barry Sanders Young Composer Fellowship since 2020, writing for ensembles such as the LA Phil and Hub New Music. Rachel deeply enjoys exploring the connection between music and the natural world, often seeking inspiration from complicated topics in biology and physics. Rachel attends Duke Kunshan University.

Hannah Chen (age 18) is a composer and harpist from the San Francisco Bay Area and a graduate of SFCM Pre-College and Oakland School for the Arts. She is an alumna of SF Symphony Youth Orchestra, Wildflower Composers Camp, and BUTI, and was a Featured Composer at the American Harp Society’s National Conference. Hannah has worked with ensembles including Argus Quartet and International Contemporary Ensemble and she has received recognition from ASCAP, YoungArts, Bay Area Creative Foundation, Penn State Ballora Wang Awards, and more. She was recently commissioned by EXTENSITY and ARCO Collaborative. Additionally, Hannah curates concerts at senior homes across the East Bay. She is currently a first year student at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Lucy Chen (age 20) is a composer, pianist, and violinist from Potomac, Maryland who is currently a sophomore at Stanford University. She has studied composition with Wang Lu and Yiming Wu and her works have been recognized in the Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, BMI Student Composer Awards, National Young Composer Challenge, and more. Lucy was a composer apprentice for Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra program, studying with Sean Shepherd to premiere an original composition at venues across North America. She has also premiered three orchestral pieces with the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra under director Kristofer Sanz. Lucy founded the Young Artists Music Society, an organization dedicated to spreading free concerts and music resources.

lili m. namazi (age 18) is a composer from New Jersey interested in synthesizing disciplines and genres to explore somatic experience through their music. They have written for the International Contemporary Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, ChamberQUEER, New York Youth Symphony, Da Capo Chamber Players, and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra. Lili has held fellowships and partnerships with the National Youth Orchestra of the United State of America, Third Coast Percussion, Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and NPR’s “From the Top.” They study anthropology and music composition at Bard College and Conservatory.

Andy Smith (age 17) is a composer, singer, and violinist from Nanuet, New York. They have been composing since March of 2020, playing violin since 2015, and singing since 2021. They have studied under Trevor Weston and Valerie Coleman at Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program. Andy has also studied with inti figgis-vizueta. Andy has recently performed with the New York Philharmonic, Renée Fleming, and Brian Stokes-Mitchel, and has had their works played at Juilliard, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and Wildflower Composers Festival.

Elaina Stuppler (age 17) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Portaland, Oregon. She has performed at the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, and the Grammy Museum. Her compositions have been recognized by The Juilliard School, the Seattle Symphony, Little Orchestra Society, Oregon Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, and the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. Elaina works at All Classical/ICAN Radio Station serving 1 Million+ listeners and is their 2024 Young Artist in Residence. She is a YoungArts Award Winner in Classical/Composition & Voice/Song-Writer, an ASCAP finalist, Co-Principal Trombonist with the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Young Composers Project member, and received the U.S. President’s Education Award.

Isabelle Tseng (age 20) is a composer and violinist from Gainesville, Florida. She draws inspiration from culture and language in her music, which she has been recognized for through awards with ASCAP. Her works have been performed by International Contemporary Ensemble and in festivals hosted by the American Composers Orchestra, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and others. As a violinist Isabelle has played with the BUTI Young Artists Orchestra, All-National Symphony Orchestra, and Honor Orchestra of America. She currently studies composition with Thomas Weaver and has received mentorship from composers such as Veronika Krausas and Seunghee Lee. Isabelle currently studies at Princeton University.

Maria Isabel Emiliano (age 19) is a Dominican composer currently based in New York City. She is interested in ethnomusicology and folk music and has always strived to convey the sounds of traditional folk music while also experimenting with new methods and sounds. Many of her compositions are inspired by Latin traditional sounds, such as Venezuelan onda nueva and Dominican pambiche. Her compositions have been performed by the Arneis Quartet, and she has attended Boston University Tanglewood Institute of Music. She is currently studying composition with David T. Little at Mannes School of Music.

Ilaria Hawley (age 16) is a New York City-based composer and flutist. They are the recipient of a 2019 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award and a Composers Now First Commissions Prize. Their music has been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Kronos Quartet, members of the New York Youth Symphony, Greenwood Music Camp, and Face the Music. As a flutist they have performed at The Kitchen, LPR, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and received the inaugural Pnea Foundation Young Flutist Award and a New York Flute Club award. In their free time they enjoy drawing and going to metal and punk shows.

Haeon Lee (age 18) is a composer and pianist from New York City currently studying at Princeton University. Inspired by colors, numbers, patterns, and wordplay, she writes music that is at once conversational and highly structured—both beautiful (she hopes) and disconcerting (she hopes more). Her work has been recognized by NPR’s From the Top, MATA Jr., ASCAP, YoungArts, Tribeca New Music, and the American Prize, among others. She studied composition with Manuel Sosa at Juilliard Pre-College and also participated in composition programs at the New York Youth Symphony, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Wildflower Composers Festival, and Curtis Institute of Music.

Peyton Nelesen (age 17) is a composer and pianist who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in New York City and Branford, Connecticut. She has been honored by ASCAP three times in both the Herb Alpert and Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. She studies composition with John Syzygy and studied piano with both Penka Rodeva and the late Amonte Parsons. Equally facile in jazz, concert music and other genres, Peyton has scored many student films. Working with her mentor, Grammy nominated producer, Randy Emata, she has had the great fortune to have her music performed and recorded by outstanding Grammy winning and nominated musicians. Peyton attends Northwestern University where she is working on dual degrees in Music Composition at The Bienen School of Music and in Radio/TV/Film at The School of Communications.

Marvel Jem Roth (age 18) is a composer-conductor from Los Angeles, California. She is honored to be recognized by organizations including National YoungArts, Penn State Ballora-Wang Awards, and ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. She was a 2021-2024 fellow in the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program, mentored by Andrew Norman and Sarah Gibson, and a 2024 Apprentice Composer for Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the USA (NYO-USA), mentored by Sean Shepherd. Marvel’s compositions have been performed by the LA Philharmonic, LA Master Chorale, Kronos Quartet, NYO-USA, Juilliard School, Colburn School, Southeast Symphony, and more. Marvel is in her first year at Princeton University.

Hannah Wolkowitz (age 18) is a saxophonist and composer from Chesterfield, Missouri. As a composer, Hannah was selected as an NPR From the Top Fellow (2024) and participated in Indiana University’s Jacobs Composition Academy (2022 & 2023). She was the 2024 winner of the international Young Composers Competition at the Community Music School of Webster University and awarded a top prize at the University of Missouri’s COMP competition in 2023. As a saxophonist, Hannah performed as a soloist with a variety of local orchestras, played alongside the U.S. Navy Band (2023 & 2024), and regularly performs with a St. Louis Klezmer band.