Rafailia Bampasidou
she/her/hers
Rafailia is a multidisciplinary artist, athlete, and researcher. In 2015, she was awarded third prize at the Competition for Young Composers in Memory of Alfred Schnittke and Svyatoslav Richter and first prize at the International Composition Competition “Donne in Musica”. She was a resident composer at Rick Baitz’s 2018 “BMI Composing for the Screen” 2018 in New York, at Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival 2019 and Breaking Art II Workshop at Athens Concert Hall. Her multimedia works include Pose Transpose and Filotimo, and she scored the short film Gender Production Line. She is currently pursuing her PhD in music composition at New York University under the supervision of Julia Wolfe.
Brandon Connors-Morrison
he/him/his
Brandon Connors-Morrison is Florida-based composer who began his musical career by learning flute. He began composition in high school and has since focused on composition. He earned attended Stetson University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Composition and studied under Dr. Manuel De Murga and Dr. Lonnie Hevia.
He holds a master’s degree in composition and theory from New York University, studying under Robert Honstein and Julia Wolfe. His pieces range from melodic and deep to chaotic and driving. While he enjoys writing for larger ensembles, he has composed chamber and solo works.
Jake Miles
he/him/his
Jake Miles is a California-born composer and performer currently living in New York City. He has served as a fellow of the Los Angeles–based Impulse New Music Festival, as well as composer-in-residence for the Anaheim United Methodist Church Choir. As a saxophonist, he has performed with the award-winning RAJE quartet, and has been featured as a soloist with the Chapman University and California State University, Fullerton orchestras.
He is a member of the NYC-based group kon.trip, which he founded alongside percussionist Leah Michael Whalen and bassist Adrienne Schoenfeld. He holds a master’s degree in music composition from New York University, where he studied with Bang on a Can co-founders Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon.
Hyojin Kwak
she/her/hers
Hyojin Kwak is a Korean contemporary music composer, gayageum player, and music educator. She began her formal music career in New York City and is currently based in Los Angeles.
Her compositions explore creative soundscapes and intricate textures. Her sound spectrum spans from the timbral and rhythmic qualities of Korean traditional music to a distinctive voice that combines with the structures of Western classical music, emphasizing sound and texture in modern styles, and adding a unique interpretation of both traditions.
Hyojin holds a master’s of Music Theory & Composition from NYU, where she studied under Julia Wolfe and Robert Honstein. She holds a BA in Classical Composition from Kyung Hee University in South Korea, where she also studied music education, and obtained the Teacher Certificate of Music from in South Korea.
Eli Tausen á Lava
he/him/his
Raised amid crashing waves, howling winds, and the raw forces of nature, Eli Tausen á Lava channels the quiet fortitude of the landscapes that formed him. As a child in the Faroe Islands, he learned to cherish the silence between the storms—the whisper of the draft at the window, the crackle of the fireplace, the sound of his grandmother’s hum. These intimate moments became the heartbeat of his music, in which every note is intentional, every silence charged with meaning.
Leah Michael Whalen
they/them/theirs
Leah Michael Whalen is a composer and percussionist who strives to expand past conventional music solutions and boundaries concerning how we emotionally engage with music. Inspired by cross-domain art forms, supernatural cognizance, and the connection between individuals, they often confront profoundly personal and challenging issues, resulting in a surreal and reflective aesthetic. Guided by intuition and tactile sensations, Leah Michael’s music contains complex polyphonic structuring, sonic imagination, and unpredictable texturing, producing a unique and potent voice. They obtained a master's degree in composition at NYU, where they studied with Jerica Oblak. While at NYU, they founded an experimental new music trio, kon.trip, with members Adrienne Schoenfeld and Jake Miles.
Nathan Whetsell
he/him/his
Nate is a composer, electronic musician, guitarist, vocalist, and French horn player who has been producing music for 25 years and composing since the age of 6. Nate has taught at Northwestern University and McGill University on topics ranging from sound synthesis techniques to signal processing theory. As a software developer, he has worked with Max, LilyPond, Csound, SuperCollider, and many other languages.