Read the bio, watch videos, and explore the composition catalogue at www.tonysolitro.com | honorific / pronouns: Dr. / he, him

Natsumi Osborn (b.1999) is a Japanese-American composer from Tokyo, Japan. Finding her interest in composition at a young age, she has since written for film and ballet as well as concert music. Her works have been performed at various venues in the USA and Canada including the Houston Ballet Academy, the Society of Composers, Inc. Region conference, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Houston Public Media Classical Radio. She was named Winner of the 2017 American Composer’s Forum NextNotes Awards and of the WCSMS 2017 Promising Young Composer’s Competition. She also received an Honorable Mention from the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Awards and the 1st Prize from the 2017 Carson Thomas Miller Texas Emerging Composers Competition. Previously a student of Daniel Knaggs and Benjamin Krause at Rice University, Natsumi now studies composition at Oberlin Conservatory under Stephen Hartke, Elizabeth Ogonek, and Jesse Jones.

Sohyun Lim (b.1991) is South Korean composer currently based in Tampa, FL. Her music has been featured at the Electroacoustic Barn Dance Festival at Jacksonville University, Florida; Space City New Music Festival, Houston, TX; International Computer Music Conference, Daegu, Korea; Oregon Bach Festival, Eugene, Oregon; and Sao Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil. In Korea, she worked as a full-time conductor, arranger, and accompanist at Jeomchon Jae-il Church. Also, she worked as a production intern for K-pop Star (similar to American Idol) at Seoul Broadcasting System. She received her bachelor’s degree in Music Composition and Arts; Television and Film from Ewha Womans University where she studied with American composer Dr. Michael Sidney Timpson in addition to private studies with Korean Composer Dr. KyungShin Im. She is currently a master’s composition student at the University of South Florida under the tutelage of Dr. Baljinder Sekhon and Paul Reller. She serves as a music theory TA and current Vice-President of New Music Consortium, School of Music, USF.

Composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.

SCORES for all pieces can be found on my website:
www.josephfosterharkins.com

SHORT BIOGRAPHY:
Joseph Foster Harkins (b. 1995, Harrisburg, PA) writes concert music intimately related to and inspired by water, geographic landmarks, and notable topographic features, especially those from his native state of Pennsylvania. His music harbors influence from rock, jazz, and minimalism of its many forms, and is most often designed for individual performers and small chamber groups. Harkins’ work has been performed and disseminated throughout the American continents, has been recognized by the ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, American Prize, and American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was featured at the Etchings, RED NOTE, and Fresh Inc Festivals and Cortona Sessions. He received his doctorate from the Peabody Institute where he studied with Oscar Bettison and is currently an Elementary Music Teacher for the West Perry School District based in Perry County, PA. He currently resides in Carlisle, PA.

Laura Whitney-Johnson is a composer based in Kansas City. Her music has been called “neat!” by her dad.

Kunal Gala (b. 1998) is a composer and percussionist based in Queens, NY. His work explores the convergence of tradition, technology, and rhythm. He investigates the humanity within nature and the relationships between resonance, fragmentation, and virtuosity.

He has worked with Ensemble Signal, Argus Quartet, and Hypercube Ensemble, among others, at festivals such as the Bowdoin International Music Festival, June in Buffalo, and New Music at the Point. His awards include the John Bavicchi Memorial Prize (2021) and Vuk Kulenovic Memorial Prize (2020). He won the Da Camera Content (2018) and Rachel Moore Contest (2017), and was selected for MainStage after collaboration with choreographers at the Boston Conservatory.

Gala studied percussion with Nancy Zeltsman and is a founding member of neither/nor (2018), a Boston-based ensemble focused on contemporary improvisation. He studied jazz drum set through high school and grew up playing in musicals, jazz band, wind band, drum corps, and orchestras. Previous to his matriculation at Berklee College of Music, he studied Hindustani Classical music for ten years.

Last fall, he began a masters in composition at Juilliard, in Andrew Norman's studio.

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