Former CEMI Staff

Willyn Whiting

Willyn Whiting (b.1993) is a Canadian Composer of concert music, currently pursuing a doctorate of music in the United States. His works, over the years, have been performed/read by professional, student, and ad-hoc ensembles including the Bozzini Quartet, Vaso String Quartet, NOVA Ensemble, and Ensemble Atlantica. His music has been presented at SEAMUS , ICA Clarinetfest and Groundswell Linked, among other festivals/workshops. 

Pak Hei Leung

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Pak Hei (Alvin) Leung’s compositions have been played in the U.S., Italy, Taiwan and Hong Kong by music groups including Transient Canvas, the Rhythm Method String Quartet, Duo Zonda, Trio Mythos, Resonance, Stellar Trio, Music-Joint Association, Hong Kong Wind Kamerata, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Contrast Trio, Hong Kong Saxophone Ensemble and Romer String Quartet.

Aleyna Brown

Aleyna Brown is a contemporary American composer, multi-instrumentalist, and audio engineer based in Denton, TX.  In her role as an artist and entrepreneur in the music industry, Aleyna is an advocate of inclusive concert programming and the exploration of feminism in art.

Rachel Lanik Whelan

Composer Rachel Lanik Whelan writes lyrical, honest, narrative-driven music. Much of her w ork is written in collaboration with living poets. Her instrumental music is an exploration in color and character. Passionate about arts management and administration, she regularly works for summer music workshops and performing arts organizations.

J. Andrew Smith

J. Andrew Smith is a composer, teacher, and electronic musician from the Atlanta, GA area. His works, both acoustic and electronic, embrace the intersections between poetry, acousmatic sound, improvisation, and the idea of personal connection between composer, performer, and listener. These works include A Poem is Not a Memoir for performers Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall, In the Midst of Night for cellist Stephen Marotto, and a darkness carried, for saxophonist Drew Whiting.

Okan Yaşarlar

Okan Yaşarlar is a composer from Istanbul. He has an equal passion for acoustic and electroacoustic instruments, solo instruments and chamber ensembles. He likes to combine multiple digital media (video, live signal processing, patching and coding) in his works as much as writing acoustic pieces, which have been performed by Ensemble Plug of the InterContemporain and often by the versatile international Hezarfen Ensemble. His works have premiered in various places throughout Europe and Turkey.

Marcel Castro-Lima

Marcel Castro-Lima is a Brazilian composer and conductor. His music moves comfortably between traditional writing, deeply rooted in Brazilian styles, and experimental practices involving improvisation, intertextuality, instruction-based pieces, and open forms. He has received prizes for his orchestral pieces such as Diptych: Two Churches of Saint Francis of Assissi, Academic Fantasy, and Overture for the Twelve Prophets of Aleijadinho. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and is currently a Ph.D.

Jinghon Zhang

Jinghong Zhang is a very enthusiastic composer, conductor, singer and dancer who created his own unique multi-media interactive computer music and dance art form. Because of the unique and intuitive beauty of his arts, he calls himself ‘Human Perception Engineer/Artist’. He is currently a Ph.D student of Composition at the University of North Texas. He studied composition and computer music in Wuhan Conservatory of music back in China for 5 years before he went to U.S. in 2013.

Kory Reeder

Kory Reeder’s music investigates meditative, atmospheric qualities, ideas of objectivity, place, immediacy, and stasis while maintaining activity and constant development of material. Kory has frequently collaborated with theater, dance, and opera programs, has been performed across North America, Australia, and Europe, and was awarded by The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. He has been an ASCAP Morton Gould Award finalist, and artist-in-residence at Arts Letter and Numbers, and the Kimmel, Harding, Nelson Center for the Arts.

Christopher Poovey

Christopher Poovey (b. 1993) is a composer and creative coder based in Dallas Texas who creates music and software which produce rich and colorful sound and encourages interactive structures.  Christopher’s music has been played by members of Ensemble Mise-en, the University of North Texas Nova Ensemble, Indiana University's New Music Ensemble, and Indiana University Brass Choir.

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