Paul Novak, “hildegard dreams of a garden” (2025)

The "spellbinding" (Washington Post) music of Chicago-based composer Paul Novak immerses listeners in shimmering and subtly crafted musical worlds full of color, motion, light, and magic. His recent projects engage with dreams and memory, queer identity, climate change and the natural world, and psychosomatic illness.

Novak's 25/26 season includes premieres and performances by Orchestra of St. Luke's, International Contemporary Ensemble, Chicago Composers Orchestra, the Balourdet, JACK, Formosa, and Varo Quartets, ZOFO, Blackbox Ensemble, and more. His other recent collaborators include American Composers Orchestra, Reno Philharmonic, Austin Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Music from Copland House, DanceWorks Chicago, Sandbox Percussion, Ekmeles, Quince Ensemble, Decoda, and Left Coast Ensemble. His music has been heard at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, New World Center, and Chicago's Symphony Center.

Novak has received a Barlow Commission and an Underwood Commission, as well as awards from the ASCAP, BMI, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Red Note, League of Composers, and more. He has received fellowships from Aspen, Norfolk, Copland House, Millay, and I-Park, and was featured in the Washington Post's "23 for '23: Composers and Performers to Watch this Year," where he was praised for his "impressive range and restless energy" in a catalog spanning "lithe, elastic vocal pieces...vibrant orchestral works...and evocative etudes for string quartet."

Novak is the co-artistic director and flutist of Chicago-based ensemble Mycelium New Music, which launches its debut season in 2024. Originally from Reno, NV, he is a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago.

Thanakarn Schofield, “Recantation” (2024)

Thanakarn Schofield is a Thai composer based in New York. His work explores the fusion of sonic ritual and drama, seeking an amalgamation of multicultural influences with particular emphasis on geographical sonic elements, historical connotations, and political contexts.

His compositions have been performed across more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe, and America, and featured in major festivals such as Darmstadter (Germany), 80th Composers Conference (USA), Fête de la Musique Berlin, ReMusik(Russia), Dutch Harp Festival (Netherlands), 26th Young Composer Meeting-Orkest de Ereprijs (Netherlands), Summer Sound (Finland), IntAct Festival (Thailand), and among others.

He has collaborated with leading ensembles including Klangforum Wien, Mivos Quartet, Ensemble Linea, TAK Ensemble, Tacet(i) Ensemble, Hezarfen Ensemble, Orkest de Ereprijs, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Athens State Orchestra, and several others. His accolades include the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Prize (2017), the “St. Frank van der Wal Fonds” Prize from Orkest de Ereprijs (2020), Fromm Foundation Composer Fellowship (2024).

Thanakarn holds a Bachelor of Music from the Royal Academy of Music in London and a Master’s in Compositionfrom the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at the CUNY Graduate Centerand teaches at City College of New York under the Graduate Center Teaching Fellowship.

Bobby Ge, “Minutes Between” (2019)

Bobby Ge* is a Chinese-American composer and avid collaborator whose work, often collaborative in nature, focuses on themes of home, communication, and hybridity. Winner of the 2022 Barlow Prize, Ge has received commissions and performances by groups including the Minnesota Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, the Albany Symphony, the U.S. Navy Band, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Harbin Symphony Orchestra, the Sioux City Symphony, Music from Copland House, the Bergamot, Tesla, and JACK Quartets, and Mind on Fire. He has created multimedia projects with the Space Telescope Science Institute, painters collective Art10Baltimore, the Cape May Bird Festival, and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D at Princeton University, and holds degrees from UCBerkeley and the Peabody Conservatory.

*A note on pronunciation: please read Ge as ‘Jee’ in performance contexts.

Learn more about Bobby here and listen to “Minutes Between.”

Geli Li, “Sleeping Light” (2024)

Geli Li is a Chinese-born American resident composer whose music bridges Eastern and Western cultures through her own musical vocabulary. With two decades of professional experience in music composition, she has dedicated herself to the new music realm, embracing both acoustic and electronic media and instruments from both Eastern and Western traditions.

She has collaborated with over 30 ensembles and orchestras, including the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Talea Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Hanatsu Miroir, Chamber Orchestra-Jahrhundert-xx-Österreich, NOMAD Tokyo, Berlin Zafraan Ensemble, 4Sonora String Quartet [Switch~Ensemble], Balance Campaign Ensemble, Tace t(i) Ensemble, Chartreuse Trio, China Broadcast Orchestra, Central Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, and Oregon Symphony Orchestra. Li’s compositions have been performed at festivals such as ManiFeste Ircam, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, UNK New Music Series and Festival, the Florida State University New Music Festival, Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, Intimacy of Creativity Music Festival, Thailand New Music and Arts Symposium, and many others. She has served as composer-in-residence at the Rodamúsic Composers Residency (2024), DeGaetano Composition Institute (2024), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2017), and CHEN Qigang Music Academy (2016).

Li’s academia journey has spanned Asia, Europe, and North America, reflecting her global perspective on music and her commitment to musical innovation and cross-cultural dialogue. She holds a doctoral degree in Music Composition from the University of Texas at Austin, where she received the Academic Excellence Fellowship, Professional Development Award, and Kent Kennan Endowed Graduate Fellowship.

Learn more about Geli here and listen to “Sleeping Light.”

Carlos Bandera, Of Rain and Air (2021)

Carlos Bandera is a composer whose music is characterized by a glacial unfolding of sonic landscapes. He often expands simple elements into large-scale musical structures, through which he explores the interplay of harmony, noise, and texture.

Bandera's orchestral work Materia Prima, premiered in 2023 at Carnegie Hall by the American Composers Orchestra, was described by the New York Classical Review as having “one of the most immersive and elegant transitions from nothingness to complexity that one has heard.” His music has been performed by groups including the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Composers Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Dogs of Desire, Hotel Elefant, Earspace, Hebrides Ensemble, Nebula Ensemble, Omnibus Ensemble, and Now Hear This. He has been a fellow at Copland House’s CULTIVATE, Orchestra of St Luke’s DeGaetano Composition Institute, Composers Conference, and the Underwood New Music Readings, and he has attended the Delian Academy for New Music and Time of Music (Musiikin aika). Recently, his piece Meristem was performed by the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra during their “On the Road” tour across South East England and his piece Spirare II was recorded by Yarn/Wire.

Bandera holds a Master of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music degree from Montclair State University. He is currently based in Chicago where he is pursuing his PhD in Composition and Music Technology at Northwestern University.

Learn more about Carlos here and listen to “Of Rain and Air."

Akari Komura, Inhabited by air (2023)

Akari Komura (b.1996) is a Japanese composer-vocalist whose works center around contemplative engagement with listening and soundmaking. She is interested in curating a participatory performance space that invites a community of musicians and listeners for a collective transformative experience. Her works have been presented at the Atlantic Music Festival, Composers Conference, Montreal Contemporary Music Lab, Nief-Norf, and soundSCAPE. She holds an M.M. in Composition from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in Vocal Arts from the University of California, Irvine. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Composition at the University of California San Diego.

Learn more about Akari here and listen to “Inhabited by Air.”

Cole Reyes, Sprint (2022)

Cole Reyes (b. 1998) is a Brooklyn-based composer, educator, conductor, and performer originally from the Chicagoland Area. His music explores the intersection between personal experience and the world beyond.

He has collaborated with artists such as JACK Quartet, the Rhythm Method Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, Juventas New Music Ensemble, BlackBox Ensemble, Del Sol Quartet, Transient Canvas, Hypercube, and Unheard-of//Ensemble among others. Recent commissions include those from the National Orchestral Institute, Six Degrees Singers, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., and the Victory Players.

His primary composition teachers include Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, Robert Honstein, Christopher Stark, and LJ White. He has participated in summer festivals including the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Connecticut Summerfest, and the Lake George Music Festival. He is co-founder of Telos Consort, a professional chamber ensemble based in New York City. He will begin doctoral studies at the University of Michigan in the fall of 2023.

Learn more about Cole here and listen to “Sprint.”