Meet Our Composers

Sam Adams is a multi-instrumental composer and performer currently based in Kentucky. He graduated from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky with a Bachelor’s of Music Education and currently works as a high school and elementary school orchestra director. Sam maintains a busy schedule as a teacher, guest clinician, composer, and performer, and lately, he has begun producing virtual content for students of all ages. In the last decade, he has written more than ten original pieces and over twenty arrangements for various instrumentations. His pieces have been played by high school and college groups across the country.

June Violet Aino is a composer, trombonist, and performer based in Hartford, CT. They recently
completed an undergraduate degree in Music Theory and Composition from Central Connecticut State University studying under Charles Menoche and Brian Kershner. There they began to amass an eclectic collection of works, constantly aiming to expand their musical and artistic scope.

Spencer Bambrick is a composer, author, educator, and multimedia sound artist. His work crosses boundaries between a variety of disciplines from standard concert and chamber pieces to interactive multimedia and performance art. Much of his music is rooted in video games, where each performance actually requires player engagement in order to be fully realized. This thread of participatory art is the core of Spencer’s creative process, where he strives to redefine the roles of the composer and listener. His process makes use of a range of traditional and technological methods to create a uniquely immersive experience for listeners/participants, who are then inspired to reflect on society, justice, and on the sounds themselves.

Matthew Curley is a music educator, percussionist, and musician currently residing in Connecticut. Matt is Currently a Middle School Band Director in Darien, CT. He has previously taught in schools of all grade levels in CT and TN. Matthew’s natural talent for teaching and unparalleled percussion performance capabilities provide great benefit to his students, no matter the age or skill level. In addition to his teaching positions, Matthew has performed in ensembles and concerts across the nation. He has performed in a multitude of ensembles including: Percussion Ensembles, Wind Ensembles, Salsa Bands, Symphony Orchestras, Jazz Ensembles, Pit Orchestras, Drum Corps and more. 

Winnipeg native Michael Cutler is a father, partner, composer, arranger, performer, choir director, organist, pianist, accompanist. impresario, amateur author, and video game speedrunner. His music reflects several of these interests.Mike was born in 1982, educated in public schools and by private music tutors, and graduated in 2005 from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Music, earning an Associateship from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto in piano performance in 2001 and becoming an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists in 2010. He has been a church organist (and sometimes choir director) for over twenty years.
A very fast-moving writer, Mike has written a great deal of music for a wide variety of instruments and choirs, but mainly focuses on the organ and piano (instruments he actually plays), music for church choir, and chamber music especially involving the flute. A great deal of his inspiration draws on the German romantics, especially Brahms, Rheinberger, and Reger, and more modern multimedia composers, such as Kenneth Arnold and Nobuo Uematsu.
Mike’s compositions are mainly performed by himself and whoever he can rope in to help out. Many of his church choir works are still in rotation in congregations where he hasn’t worked in years. If you’re interested in his music, he would love to hear from you.

Keeghan Fountain is a 2020 graduate from Ithaca College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Composition. He is an experienced percussionist and composer, and has had a number of commissions, premieres, and performances of his works throughout the United States. While at Ithaca College, Keeghan studied percussion under Gordon Stout, Mike Truesdell, and Conrad Alexander and Composition under Evis Sammoutis and Jorge Grossmann. Alongside his contemporary pieces, Keeghan has worked with NH high schools to arrange marching band shows in the fall and Indoor Percussion shows for the Winter/Spring seasons. His music can be heard in WGI and Nesba circuits throughout New England. 

Eliza Gelinas’ recent music aims to create space for audiences to reflect deeply on issues of social justice, climate crisis and personal relationships. With the use of abstract forms, lush harmonies and layers of palpable texture, her music welcomes vivid imagery. Multimedia collaborations Eliza has written for include: underscore for a production of The Seagull performed by The Hartt School’s theatre department, animation, video, dance choreography, and art installation. 
Electronic music has become her artistic medium of choice, and has studied at the SPLICE Institute during the summer of 2020. Upon graduating from The Hartt School, she hopes to continue working with sound design and the expansive possibilities of multimedia collaboration.

The music of Jon F. Howe (b. 1997) combines a natural, organic, approach to harmony and form as well as striking motivic gestures with an idiomatic approach to the instruments. Howe combines classical and traditional motifs drawing inspiration from his Irish heritage, as well as other folk music idioms with post romantic and impressionistic inspired techniques. Jon is the recipient of the 2018 Georey Gibbs and Sona Aronian Scholarship in Music Composition (University of Rhode Island), and the 2019 College of Arts and Sciences Student Fellowship (University of Rhode Island) where he composed Dullahan’s Ride, a short tone poem for orchestra.

Matt Jacobson is a sound designer, composer, and recording/mixing engineer based in Montreal, Canada. He began playing the saxophone once upon a time many years ago and hasn’t been able to stop thinking about music since! Matt attended Carleton University for Jazz Performance, and most recently graduated with distinction from Concordia University with an electroacoustics and audio engineering degree. His obsession with sound began as far back as the mid 1980’s with his first NES games. When not working on (or listening to!) music, sound, or his ever-changing studio layout, Matt prefers to spend time with his wife and their giant dog and two cats.

Judith Katz was born and raised in New York City, where she was a product of the New York City School system.  After graduating from the famous High School of Performing Arts, she attended Manhattan School of Music, where she earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance on the flute, and later on, a Master of Music Degree in Education.  Her flute studies were with Abraham Silverman, Harold Bennett, Herbert Levy and James Politis.  

Ms. Katz is a veteran of the New York City school system, retired from her full-time position as band teacher at Aviation High School.  As a flutist and piccolo player, she played many concerts with both the Seuffert Band, and Staten Island Musicians Society Band.   In addition, Ms. Katz is a member of the adjunct teaching staff of Hunter College, teaching beginning woodwinds, and mentoring student teachers through the joint Lincoln Center-Hunter program..  Ms. Katz’s mentoring duties also extend to the New York City Department of Education’s Arts Matters Program.  

Judith is a composer and arranger as well, with works published by Imagine Music Publishing, Northeastern Music Publications, and Eastern Hill Music.  

Arthur J. Michaels earned a bachelor of music degree in music education from the Eastman School of Music and a master of arts degree in teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University. He has taught instrumental music in grades 4 through 12 in New York and in New Jersey. His concert band and string orchestra works have won contest awards and were selected in competition for performances. His published works include music for concert band, choruses, string orchestra, and instrumental ensembles. He is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the Florida Music Educators Association, and ASCAP.

Trish Torline is a multi-instrumental composer, singer/songwriter and performer currently based in Kentucky. She graduated from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky with a Bachelor of Music Education and received her Master’s in Music Education from Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky.

Joseph Turner is a freelance drummer, classical percussionist, and educator residing in Connecticut.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in Music Business from Mansfield University where he was a member of the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, and served as drumline captain of The Spirit and the Pride! Marching Band. 

Mike Neumeyer is a versatile musician, educator, and composer based in South Milwaukee, WI. As a composer, Mike has written with one unique focus being marimba and voice. One of Mike’s marimba and voice works, The Power of Music, was used in the documentary In Pursuit of Passion. Mike Neumeyer’s compositions have been published by C. Alan Publications, Heartland Marimba Publications, Eastern Hill Music and through self-publishing. His works have been commissioned by The UWSP Percussion Ensemble, The Oak Creek Percussion Ensemble, and The Adna Percussion Ensemble in Washington.

Composer and percussionist Benjamin Paden strives to create a unique style and language. His music portrays primal intensity and rhythmic complexity, while influenced by an eclectic taste in music, varying from the avant-garde to rock. Originally hailing from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Benjamin holds a masters degree for composition at The Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, where he studied under David Macbride, Dr. Robert Carl, and Ken Steen. Other education includes B.A in percussion performance and composition from Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado, studying under Dr. James Doyle, and Dr. Matthew Schildt. Benjamin is proud to be a co-founder of the Hart Beat Music festival, which is held annually in Hartford, Connecticut. Ben performs regularly with his band POSSM, Playing the drums.

Cole Reyes (b. 1998) is a Brooklyn-based composer, arranger, and performer. He seeks to encapsulate fragments of the human experience through the lens of contemporary classical music.

His music has been played by such as Unheard-of//Ensemble, the Momenta Quartet, Dashon Burton, and Lux Choir, among others. He has recently won accolades for his work by the Lux Choir, newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Huntsville Master Chorale, San Francisco Choral Artists, Six Degrees Singers, and the National Flute Association. 

He completed his undergraduate studies in music and mathematics at Washington University in St. Louis where he studied with Christopher Stark and LJ White. He now resides in Brooklyn where he is pursuing a graduate degree in composition at NYU where he studies with Robert Honstein and Michael Gordon.

Ryne Siesky is a Miami-based composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. His music explores the intersections of art and music, bringing focus to the idiosyncrasies of music creation and sonic processes. His work has been described as “beautifully haunting” (Robert Avalon Competition), “patiently evocative” (George Lewis), and “attractively inventive” (Dorothy Hindman). His work has been performed by Hypercube, Braeburn Brass Quintet, Robert Black, Lindsay Garritson, and Laura Silva, among others. His music has also been featured at several festivals and conventions including the International Trumpet Guild, NYCEMF, and SEAMUS. Siesky is currently working towards his Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Miami – Frost School of Music

Jordan Walsh is a percussionist, audio engineer, and educator based in Austin, Texas. A proponent of electronics and theater in music, he strives in his solo career to perform the most absurd music with the most genuine fervor. Jordan frequently commissions and performs new works in both chamber and solo settings, with upcoming premieres by composers including Elainie Lillios, Akshaya Avril Tucker, and José Martinez.

As a professional musician, Josh Walker has worked in the Carolina region for over 20 years, including as percussionist with the Charlotte, Charleston, and Union Symphonies. In this capacity he has performed with Andrea Bocelli, the Moody Blues, Manhattan Transfer, The Four Tops, Natalie Cole, and many other artists. Josh also frequently performs on timpani, drum set, jazz vibes, marimba, and ethnic and orchestral percussion.

Derek Young is a composer with his Bachelor’s in Music Technology from Mansfield University and soon his Master’s in Music Composition from Binghamton University. His primary instrument is piano, and he has accompanied various ensembles from university choirs and musicals to community theater productions. Over the past two years pursuing his Master’s, he has written a variety of music for mixed ensembles, orchestras, and solo instruments notably for piano. Recently, he digitally released an album of piano solos called “Tales from the Piano.” Other accomplishments include being a finalist for the 2020 SUNY PACC Prize from Performing Arts, Creation, & Curation. His compositional styles utilize a variety of influences from the Romantic era to the post-tonal world as well as Pop/Rock.