2025 Composers
Jessica Rudman
JESSICA RUDMAN
Jessica Rudman’s music inspires empathy for social issues through stories of myth, magic, and the modern world. Described as a “new music ninja” by the Hartford Advocate, she blends lyrical melodies and dramatic narrative structures with sensual harmony and vibrant color to draw the audience into the world she has created.
Her works for the concert hall, dance, and opera often differ in musical language and approach, with the common thread always being expressivity. She believes that the ability to reach one’s audience is of extreme importance in our current social, economic, and political environment.
Rudman’s compositions have been presented across the United States, Europe, and South America by ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Cadillac Moon Ensemble, The Omaha Symphony’s Chamber Orchestra, the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, and the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra.
Rudman also writes extensively for student and community ensembles, recently completing commissions for the Connecticut Region 14 Band program, the Connecticut Children’s Choir, the First Unitarian Church of Portland (OR), and the Astoria Choir. Many of these commissions involved collaborative residencies: for example, Masks for concert band is based on melodic fragments that the students composed, and Of Equality for children’s choir combines a text by Walt Whitman with responses by the students.
In 2018, Jessica’s chamber opera Marie Curie Learns to Swim (libretto by Kendra Preston Leonard) was premiered by Hartford Opera Theater. The work explores the life the notable scientist through flashbacks during a vacation with her daughter, and focuses on her experiences as a woman in a male-dominated field and an immigrant in her adopted country.
Other recent compositions focused on social justice themes include the mini-opera Trigger, which features a woman’s response to domestic violence; A Curious Incident with the Queen, which uses a children’s story to explore economic oppression and political powerlessness; and Gaslight Variations, a solo for microtonal flute with glissando head joint that treats thematic variation as an analogy for the phenomena of gaslighting. Upcoming projects include a song cycle inspired by Slavic mythology and an opera about the gorgons.
Highly involved in the new music community as a concert organizer and music educator, Rudman is a co-founder of Teaching Composition: A Symposium on Music Composition Pedagogy. She also volunteers with SCI and CMS, as well as the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, where she runs the student workshop.
Honors include winning the Riot Ensemble’s Commissioning Competition, the Robert Starer Award, the Boston Metro Opera’s Advocacy Award, the College Music Society Student Composer Award, the NewMusic@ECU Orchestra Composition Competition, and IAWM’s Libby Larsen Prize. She was a 2019 Connecticut Artist Fellow, with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts. She also was a 2019-2021 Fellow in American Opera Project’s Composers and the Voice program.
Jessica is currently Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of Utah. She previously was the Chair of Academic Studies and Composition at The Hartt Community School, where she also directed the Hartt Preparatory Academy. She has taught at The Hartt School, Central Connecticut State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, and Baruch College. Jessica holds a B.A. with Distinction in Music from the University of Virginia, a M.M. in Music Composition from The Hartt School, and an A.D. in Music Composition, also from Hartt. She completed her Ph.D. at the City University of New York, where she studied with Tania León.
Joseph Sowa
JOSEPH SOWA
Joseph Sowa grew up playing violin, listening to orchestral broadcasts on NPR, and geeking out on the film music of John Williams, James Horner, and others. Surrounded by these sounds, Joseph wanted to make more of them.
His concert works have been played across Europe and the US, including performances by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente, the PRISM Quartet, Hub New Music, Collage New Music, the Genesis Chamber Singers, the Lydian String Quartet, and many others.
He has been commissioned by performers including Hub New Music, the Awea Duo, the Tower Duo, the Genesis Chamber Singers, Douglas Bush, Carolyn Hove, Neil Thornock, and Arianna Tieghi as well as foundations including the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition and the Laycock Endowment for Creative Collaboration in the Arts. His piece Motion Lines was recorded by the PRISM Quartet on their album Surfaces and Essences.
Joseph’s sacred music, including originals and arrangements, has been performed in congregations across the United States and in London. His arrangement of “For the Beauty of the Earth” was recorded by soprano Charity Tillemann-Dick on her album American Grace, which debuted no. 1 on the Billboard “Traditional Classical” chart.
Joseph received his PhD in music composition and theory from Brandeis University. As founder of the Wizarding School for Composers, he teaches live, online courses in music composition. As a scholar and clinician, he has recently presented at the Midwest Clinic and Teaching Composition: A Symposium on Composition Pedagogy. He has also served on the faculty of the Del Mar International Composers Symposium and the Music Creators Academy. He co-designed and co-taught the class “Star Wars: How Long Ago? How Far Away?” and dreams of writing a piece for tuba ensemble.
Texu Kim
TEXU KIM
Texu Kim (b.1980) is “one of the most active and visible composers of his generation” (San Francisco Classical Voice), writing music that’s fun, sophisticated, and culturally connected.
Drawing on his personal affinity for humor, his background in science, and his fascination with everyday experiences, Kim’s work radiates positivity, offering “major-league cuteness” (Broadway World) while demonstrating “surprising scope.” (San Diego Story) As a Korean-American, Kim explores the localization of imported traditions, incorporating cross-cultural elements into his work in “impressive and special” ways so that “many orchestras and conductors around the world are taking an interest in [his] music.” (KPBS) By highlighting the interaction between folk culture and external influences, Kim creates meaningful depth while maintaining a signature playfulness and exuberance that is listener-friendly and engaging. Characterized by “exuberant, colorful washes of sound… punchy bass lines, snappy brass fanfares, and suave… solos” (San Diego Story), Kim’s music is at times “explosively virtuosic” (Wall Street Journal) but always uplifting and rewarding for both listeners and performers.
Kim’s work has enjoyed an impressive international performance history from a roster of top orchestras and ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Oakland Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the San Diego Symphony, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Korea, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Reconsil Vienna, New York Classical Players, Ensemble 212, AsianArt Ensemble Berlin, Ensemble Mise-en, Fear No Music, Ensemble TIMF, Northwestern University New Music Ensemble, Indiana University New Music Ensemble, C4: Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, NOTUS, Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, the Verona Quartet, and more. Having served as the Composer-in-Residence of the Korean Symphony Orchestra (2014-18), Kim has appeared at Yeowoorak Festival, Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, PyeongChang Music Festival and School, Bruckner Festival, SONiC Festival, Mizzou International Composers Festival, June in Buffalo, Aspen Music Festival, SCI National Conferences, Composers Conference, and Oregon Bach Festival. The Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games and the Piece & Piano Festival featured Kim’s balanced and well-crafted arrangements, which may also be heard on numerous commercial albums. A frequent collaborator with choreographers, filmmakers, and educators, Kim has received awards and honors from the Barlow Prize, American Modern Ensemble, Copland House, SCI/ASCAP, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and Isang Yun International Composition Prize, to name a few, in addition to winning a Silver Medal in the 1998 International Chemistry Olympiad (Melbourne, Australia).
Kim’s recent/upcoming projects include the world premiere of fffanfare!! commissioned by the San Francisco Opera in September 2022; performances of Dub-Sanjo by the Korean National Symphony Orchestra during their Europe tour in October 2022; the world premiere of Ritus Sanitatem by the Verona Quartet in March 2023, co-commissioned by Texas Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Austin with support of the Kahng Foundation and for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in honor of its 2023 centennial with support from the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series Endowment; the world premiere of Welcome Home!! by the San Diego Symphony (also a part of the California Festival) in November 2023; and Spirit Dance commissioned by the Barlow Endowment that will be premiered in 2024 by Alarm Will Sound, the London Sinfonietta, the Oakland Symphony, and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
An assistant professor of music at San Diego State University, Kim formerly taught at Syracuse University, Portland State University, and Lewis & Clark College. Kim is the Artist-of-the-Year of the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra and the director of the Korean Symphony Orchestra’s Composers’ Atelier program, educating and commissioning up-and-coming composers; he has also served as co-director of Ensemble 212’s ‘New Music for Young Audience’ series, and acted as a curator and board member for the Korean Cultural Society of Boston’s ‘New Music Symposium.’ Having earned his D.M. from Indiana University and prior degrees from Seoul National University, Kim’s greatest mentors include Unsuk Chin, David Dzubay, Sven-David Sandstrom, Claude Baker, and Sangjick Jun.
Reinaldo Moya
REINALDO MOYA
Reinaldo Moya is a graduate of Venezuela’s El Sistema music education system. He is the recipient of the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two McKnight Composers’ Fellowships, the Van Lier Fellowship from Meet the Composer and the Aaron Copland Award. He was the inaugural winner of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Composer Award.
His Piano Concerto was recently premiered by Joyce Yang and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra in October 2021, to great acclaim: Bangor Daily News wrote “[The concerto] demonstrated that Moya is a composer who has much to say about the human condition in the 21st century, and should be listened to often.” The concerto was performed with the same soloist a second time in June 2022 by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Rafael Payare at the Rady Shell in Jacobs Park in San Diego.
He is the Composer-in-Residence of the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra from 2021-24, where he will compose new orchestral and chamber works and serve on the artistic board. His work Polo Romanesco was premiered at the Harris Theater for Dance in Chicago in March of 2022. Cellist Joshua Roman premiered Moya’s Rise for cello and orchestra with the Chicago Philharmonic in January of 2023.
His work Guayoyo Sketches was commissioned by Alisa Weilerstein as part of her Fragments project with performances at Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, and throughout the US and Canada.
As the Composer-Residence at The Schubert Club in Minnesota from 2017-19, he was commissioned to write a chamber opera. This work, Tienda, was hailed by the Star Tribune for its “proud individuality… [and] textures of pulsing vibrancy, subtly shading harmonies to trace the fragile emotional arc of his central characters.” His opera Memory Boy, with a libretto by Mark Campbell, was commissioned by the Minnesota Opera and premiered in 2016.
His works have been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra (with Osmo Vänskä, Sarah Hicks, and
Chia-Hsuan Lin), the San Diego Symphony (with Rafael Payare), the Juilliard Orchestra (with Carlos Miguel Prieto, and Jeffrey Milarsky), the Chicago Philharmonic (with Scott Speck), the South Dakota Symphony (with Delta David Geir), the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (with Joshua Dos Santos), the New Jersey Symphony (with JoAnn Falletta), the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra (with Matthew Kraemer), the Lakes Area Music Festival Orchestra (with Gemma New), the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra (with Ben Rous), Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra (with Raphael Jiménez), the Orquesta Sinfónica de San Juan, Argentina (with Emmanuel Siffert), the Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes in México (with Ludwig Carrasco). Other performers include the Jasper Quartet, the DaPonte String Quartet, , the Da Capo Chamber Players, the Lysander Piano Trio, and the Grammy-winning Attacca Quartet.
He is a graduate of The Juilliard School with master’s and doctorate degrees, studying with Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. He received his undergraduate degree in Music Composition from West Virginia University, where he studied with John Beall. Mr. Moya has taught at St. Olaf College and the Interlochen Arts Camp, and Augsburg University in Minneapolis. As of the fall of 2023, Mr. Moya is an Associate Professor of Composition and Music Theory at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.