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Locally Sourced Sounds Reading Marathon

September 26, 2025 | 5:30 - 9:30 PM | Reed College Eliot Chapel

Elaina Stuppler

  • Elaina Stuppler is a composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist from Portland, Oregon. She performed at the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, and Grammy Museum. Her compositions were honored by Juilliard, Disney Theatrical Productions, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, National Endowment for the Arts, ASCAP, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Northwest, Third Angle, DownBeat Magazine, and Oregon Symphony. She is a 3-Time YoungArts Award Winner in Classical Music/Composition and Voice/Singer-Songwriting. Elaina is a Luna Composition Lab alumna, recipient of a Salon de Virtuosi Grant, and plays trombone with the Portland Youth Philharmonic. She was All Classical Radio Station’s Young Artist in Residence, Young Composers Project member, and received the U.S. President’s Education Award.

  • "Vertex" draws inspiration from the mathematical concept, which can signify either a high or low point on a curve. The string quartet's duality is reflected through soaring peaks, a slower, reflective middle section, and sharp rhythmic hits that punctuate the ongoing pandemonium.

Metta Mayes

  • Metta Mayes is a violist, violinist, and composer who was born and raised in Seattle, Washington and moved to Cornelius, Oregon as a teenager. She started composition studies with Todd Kovell in 2017 and worked with him throughout high school, then moved to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She is studying viola performance and music education, and continues to compose for fun.

  • I wrote this quartet on the way home after my first year of undergrad at Lawrence University. The entire quartet was composed in under 24 hours, on the Amtrak train the Empire Builder. The first movement, Allegretto Cantabile, conveys the hopes and excitement I brought into my first year of college, tempered with the anxiety and melancholy of leaving home. The work is heavily inspired by my first year theory classes, specifically the time spent learning counterpoint and small scale formal analysis.

Michael Johanson

  • Michael Johanson’s music has been described as “luminous and exuberant” and “spectacular, thrilling” [Oregon Arts Watch]. His work reflects a deep interest in integrating materials drawn from a wide range of styles and approaches, often informed by explorations of diverse harmonic and timbral possibilities. Johanson’s compositions have been performed by distinguished soloists and ensembles throughout the states and in England, China, Switzerland, Thailand, France, and Australia. His music has been performed by groups such as the International Beethoven Project; Portland Piano International; Fear No Music; Third Angle; Post-Haste Duo; June in Buffalo; Resonance Ensemble; the Lewis & Clark College Orchestra; Portland Percussion Group; The Yoko Greeney/Susan DeWitt Smith Piano Duo; NACUSA; Cascadia Composers; Festival of Contemporary Artists in Music; and the Indiana University New Music Ensemble. Johanson has received awards/fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the American Music Center, ASCAP, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He is the 2016 recipient of the Oregon Music Teachers Association Composer of the Year Award, and one of only two recipients awarded an Honorable Mention in the 2016 MTNA Distinguished Composer of the Year Award. He serves as Director of the Composition Program at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

  • The title of my composition, "The Musical Woods," refers to the forest located in the Fiemme Valley in the Italian Alps. Known as "Il Bosco Che Suona," this forest provided the wood which the famed 17th-century luthier Antonio Stradivari used to make the highly valued Stradivarius instruments. My work draws inspiration from this wonderful connection between the natural world and musical sound.

Addison Kearbey

  • Addison Kearbey has been composing with YCP for two years and she is in eighth grade at Valley Catholic Middle School. She plays viola in the Portland Youth Conservatory Orchestra, part of the Portland Youth Philharmonic, and plays some violin as well. Last year, she was incredibly honored to have been asked to compose a piece for the string ensemble for PYP. Outside of music, she enjoys playing soccer and traveling with her family.

  • The first movement, Waltz, from String Quartet No. 1 begins with a simple waltz and theme that it takes into different variations and tempos. In general, it carries a wistful feel, as if one is remembering the past. While listening to the piece, here are some things you can look for. At one point, a nine chord is used (a seven chord plus a third!), and yes, the tension is intentional :). In the middle of the movement, there is a point when everything stops, and the first violin plays the original theme, this time exposed and alone. Finally, the piece is almost set up like a reflection or a mirror: five bars of the first theme before almost doubling in tempo, a slower section in the middle, the double tempo again and similar ideas from that section, and finally the original theme with a bit of a variation that takes the movement to its conclusion. This piece has never been performed before, so tonight’s performance will be the world premiere.

Lisa Ann Marsh

  • My music is inspired by the natural and supernatural worlds, the complexity of human emotions, and the artists I collaborate with. Compositions I have written have been performed by the Northwest Piano Trio, The Ensemble, Choral Arts Ensemble, Portland State University Chamber Choir, and Delgani String Quartet.


    I have always sought ways to promote women composers. In 2012, I helped form Crazy Jane Composers, a group of women composers within Cascadia Composers. From 2016-2018, I co-founded Burn After Listening with Portland women composers. Most recently, I have been involved with a concert series titled Concert Mosaic. This series brings women composers and artists together.


    Another of my interests is the use of unusual instruments. These range from an ice xylophone featured in Will We Remember to seashell instruments played in White Coral.
    My performing experience includes 20 years with the Marsh-Titterington Piano Duo and 10 years as Principal Keyboard with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra.


    I am a member of the piano faculty at Portland State University and direct the wellness program there.
    My belief is that all human beings have creative powers and that these powers help us unite and face the challenges of our world.
    https://lisaannmarsh.com

  • White Coral is my tribute to the dying coral in our oceans. As the waters warm, the coral blanches and loses color. The middle section is played entirely on white keys, to resemble the lack of color in the dying coral.

Ajit Phadke

  • Ajit Phadke is an amateur pianist and composer in the Portland area. As an undergraduate, Ajit studied composition and orchestration with Alan Stout, as well as others, and piano with Carmen Or and Sylvia Wang. In addition to his Bachelor of Music in Composition from Northwestern, Ajit also has degrees in Electrical Engineering (Northwestern) and law (Lewis & Clark). Ajit's compositions are rooted in his background as a (Western) classical musician, and his composition portfolio ranges from short pieces for solo piano to tunes for jazz ensemble to a symphony for a late-Classical-era orchestra. Contact at justamuzer@gmail.com.

  • This is the second movement of a four-movement string quartet. The first movement is in Sonata Allegro in F Major, and this somber movement follows it, representing the emotional center of the quartet. The third and fourth movements are lighter, and back to major keys. The note on the score for Movement 2 reads "Tragedy; Estrangement and solitary mourning; Gradual understanding and reconciliation; Shared grief, and taking strength from each other; Facing the memories of trauma together."

TJ Thompson

  • TJ Thompson is an active composer & performer based in Portland, Oregon. He is inspired by subconscious ideas that flow through movement, active listening, and the collaborative nature of music. With an ear towards experimenting, he especially enjoys composing for specific people & getting to work directly with musicians on a project. As a performer he has long term collaborative partnerships with writer Diana Oropeza, in the experimental voice & drums project The Social Stomach, as well as playing vibraphone in the koto centric, Multiverse-Ensemble, with members of the Oregon Koto-Kai, respectfully. He has studied composition with Renée Favand-See, and drumset with Pete Magadini.

Thomas Proctor

  • Thomas Proctor is a composer and singer from the Portland, Oregon area whose path to composition began in high school with an electric guitar and a rock band. This eventually led him to earn a Bachelor of Music in composition from Portland State University. Thomas is especially drawn to composing choral music, with a sweeping and lyrical style, exploring the contrasts between tender and intense. He has composed music on commission for local high school, college, community, and church choirs. He currently sings baritone with several choirs, including the Oregon Repertory Singers, as well as directs and composes for his own local church choir.

  • This trio for clarinet, viola, and piano was inspired by a pre-dawn walk in the Central Oregon countryside, where I was surrounded by the sound of hundreds of doves cooing in the dim, early morning light. The uneven rhythm of their call fascinated me, and I decided that it would make a really nice motif for a piece of music. The first movement of the Mourning Dove suite features this imitation of the doves' cooing, which is set in a 5/8 time signature. The second and third movements are developments of this theme; and here in the 3rd movement, "Rest," the motif is rendered into 12/8-time.

Theresa Koon

  • Theresa Koon composes music primarily for the voice, emerging from an international vocal performance career, including several years at the Thüringerlandestheater in Germany. Operas, song cycles and choral music comprise the center of her work, generally inspired by issues of humanitarian concern. MOTHER OF EXILES is a setting of Emma Lazarus’ poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, welcoming refugees. I COME FROM WATER is concerned with missile testing in the Pacific Ocean that may cause deafness in dolphins and whales. WHERE EVERYTHING IS MUSIC explores Sufi Muslim poetry, hoping to open western minds to its compassion and wit. WRITE US A BLACK GIRL POEM is a setting of Bella Hall’s powerful poem, arranged by request for BIPOC ensembles. YOU CHOOSE is a setting of a poem in translation showing Russian attitudes towards war from a Ukrainian perspective.
    Collaborators have included Fear No Music, 45th Parallel, Artists Repertory Theater, Sinfonia Concertante Orchestra, The Ensemble of Portland, the Resonance Ensemble, Cascadia Composers, NACUSA, MN Nautilus Music Theater, the Detroit Institute of ART, and the National Opera Association. Mother of Exiles was recorded in Prague and released by NAVONA Records in 2020. Recordings of Koon's work can be heard by visiting: https://tikkunmusic.com/

  • Much of the music in I Come from Water is intended to evoke impressions of existence in the element of water. The piece is meant to explore and celebrate a communal universe that humans only glimpse in isolated visits. Images, sensations and sounds of water life are expressed throughout the piece as salmon smolts make their way from streams to rivers to the ocean.
    The piece was inspired by news that the US was planning to perform missile tests in the Pacific Ocean near the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Scientific research speculates that these tests could be harmful to water creatures over a large area surrounding the testing sites. In particular, scientists are concerned the tests may cause dolphins and whales--who communicate and orient themselves through sound waves--to become permanently deaf.
    In I Come from Water, the music eventually arrives at a period of quiet communion when the salmon reach the ocean. This calm is interrupted by three explosions, heard here in the Bass Drum. The water creatures respond with panic, followed by mute silence. The final section is intended to express grieving.

Betty Booher

  • Betty Booher studies composition at Portland State University with Professor Renée Favand-See and jazz voice with Professor Sherry Alves. She has played soprano and alto sax with the PSU Jazz Band and multiple jazz combos and sang with the PSU Briar Choir at Carnegie Hall this past June. In addition, she identifies as the ‘squawk’ half of the jazz duo Bellows & Squawk.

    Betty holds a BA in Music from Reed College, where she played oboe and English horn, and is an alumna of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. When she worked in the corporate arena, she continued to play in several Portland-area community orchestras. She studied with Karen Wagner, of the Oregon Symphony.

    In adding jazz studies to her classical background, Betty combines these varying influences in her approach to composition, and often incorporates vocal parts into her chamber music.

    Her double reed quartet, The Emmett Variations, was selected last year as one of the International Double Reed Society’s ’50 for 50’ composition competition winners, and was featured at the IDRS conference in Flagstaff, Arizona.

    Returning to school had been a longtime goal. Betty is delighted to have the chance to tell stories through the medium of music.

  • Memorial for the Victims of War was inspired by two poems by Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford from his book, ‘As the Sky Begins to Change.’ The poems, ‘Mother Russia, Wounded by the Modern Tsar,’ and ‘Calling Home,’ touch on the ravages brought about by the current Russo-Ukrainian war that began in February of 2022.

    I chose the viola to represent the anguished voice of the soldier on the battlefield.

    These poems were especially meaningful to me since my grandfather, an amateur singer and cellist, fled Odessa during the Russian Revolution, barely escaping a Red Army firing squad, according to the family stories.

    Mother Russia, Wounded
    by the Modern Tsar

    Why are boys dressed in drab and given guns?
    Sparrows peck spilled grain.
    Why is steel the color of choice?
    Crows haunt smokey fields.
    Why does grandfather let his tea grow cold?
    Frost gripped sprouting wheat.
    How much rain to fill the Volga?
    Not soon, the end of weeping.
    Late snow at Zima Junction.
    Which ravine will hold the bones?

    Calling Home

    How can we kill them -- they look like us.
    --soldier in Ukraine

    An old man, who limped like uncle Alexi, stumbled,
    and we shot him. He had a gun, yes, but he wore a cap
    like the one you knit for me. One wore a coat like father’s.
    we shot him off a bridge into the river. When I shot one running
    into the forest, his hands flew up like brother Oleg, twitching.
    I remember grandfather Sasha shouting when he was disturbed
    too early, before his tea. Here a greybeard shouted as we passed,
    and my commander shot him on his doorstep. One, my age, when he
    was hit, cried out, “Arina!” Who will have to tell her? If I die,
    who will tell you? I can’t sleep—I see these faces everywhere.
    When my gun is cold, I am afraid. When it is hot, I am ashamed.
    What will happen to the children here, like our Slava, our Ksenia?
    And if I live, after I have a hero’s welcome, tell me, mother,
    after you hold me in your arms, what will happen to me?

    Kim Stafford
    ASCAP
    Used with permission

Salvador Wallin

  • Salvador Wallin (b. 2003) is a composer, guitarist and songwriter based in Portland, OR whose music connects classical traditions, contemporary rock, and experimental electro-acoustic aesthetics, and takes influence from broader disciplines such as visual art and mathematics. A Reed College alum, Sal’s recent projects include a composition thesis of chamber works performed by Fear No Music, as well as many collaborations with the Reed College Dance and Theater departments. He is a 2023 recipient of the Jim Kahan Music Performance Summer Fellowship, for which he composed a song cycle entitled Reverberations that was performed and recorded with Lina Gaylord, Brandon Azbill, and Emily Lau. Influential teachers include Cameron O’Connor, Bora Yoon, Emily Lau, Shohei Kobayashi, and Theo Brown.

  • The first half of Patterns in Tree Bark is headed "Process", after the process pieces of minimalist composers that foreground repetition and gradual change over time. It presents two contrasting sound worlds that could be heard as contrasting textures of tree bark; one that is smooth and thin, and one that is rough, with thick ridges. It is my hope that the music will evoke the feeling of peering curiously into the cracks and crevices of the bark of these two trees, and seeing what little insects or other mysteries live within its dense topography. The piece ends with a "Lullaby" inspired by Rebecca Clarke’s Lullaby and other slow, lyrical pieces for viola and piano, as well as Erik Satie’s Gnossiennes and Gymnopedies. The Lullaby depicts a space that is more atmospheric and open; its colorful, meandering sonorities might evoke the feeling of wandering through tall, silent trees under a starry sky, or an infant’s dreams of confusion and tranquility.

Maxwell W. Evans-McGlothin

  • Maxwell W. Evans-McGlothin is a composer from Portland, Oregon and is a senior at Cleveland High School. Max began composing in 2017 in Brooklyn, at PS39 with the NY Philharmonic Young Composers program under the guidance of Daniel Felsenfeld. At Cleveland, Max is a member of the National Honor Society, founder of the Dungeons & Dragons club, and is on Student Council. In November 2025, Max’s first orchestral piece will premiere as part of FNM Authentic Voice program, performed by the Metropolitan Youth Symphony (MYS). In the summer of 2025, Max participated in a Masters Workshop sponsored by Chamber Music Northwest with composer Allistair Coleman. In April 2024, Music for an Imaginary Cartoon, part of the FNM Authentic Voice program was performed by the OR Symphony for their Celebration Gala. In November 2023, Music for an Imaginary Cartoon, had its premiere performed by MYS. Earlier scores have been performed and commissioned by Bang on a Can and MYS-Camerata. Max’s other interests include playing soccer, politics, artmaking, reading, and going on hikes. Max studies composition with Dr Ryan Francis and piano with Dr Stephen Lewis and has been a member of the FNM-YCP for eight years.

  • This piece was inspired by a raven which had unusual white feathers. It appeared as if it had been in a fight. This piece is about building tension filled with instruments- trills, fast staccato notes, quiet staccato notes, and most importantly climatic shifts. In the first half you hear bell like sounds, reminiscent of a death knell. The atmosphere drenched in chromatic cords falls into an eerie drawn out tension. The instruments hum back to life while the bell-like sound returns in a steady rhythm. It crescendos into a hunt, characterized by violent short attacks, heard in the cello, which symbolizes the raven. The tempo builds with the cello supported by the other instruments. The famous “Dies irae” (Day of Wrath) piece motif appears from the cello signifying, death is near. The motif repeats with all instruments, cumulating with the cello playing an octatonic scale leading to the finale. The raven finishes its dance of death.

I'lana Cotton

  • I'lana Cotton has created works for a broad range of ensembles, from solo piano to small chamber groups to large choral and instrumental ensembles. She holds a Master of Arts degree in composition from the UCLA. A California resident for many years, she was active in multi-art collaborations and performance. Since moving to southern Oregon in 2003, she has written over 35 works for Rogue Valley ensembles, including four commissions for the Siskiyou Singers. The Rogue Valley Symphony commissioned Cantus, a large-scale work for orchestra, in honor of its 50th anniversary season, which was premiered in October, 2017. She now lives in Florence, on the Oregon coast. You may visit her website at www.notimemusic.com

  • This is a description of my journey to a new home on the Oregon coast.

Lucie Zalesakova

  • Lucie Zalesakova is a Czech violinist and composer from Prague.
    Based in Portland, Oregon, she has performed widely in the United States and Europe as a soloist and chamber musician.
    As part of Renew Music, a contemporary group she founded with fellow musicians in Reno, NV, she has commissioned and recorded dozens of new works, including some of her own.
    She is a former Concertmaster of the Willamette Falls Symphony and Assistant Concertmaster of Salem Chamber Orchestra. She performs regularly with the Portland Opera and the Reno Philharmonic.
    Lucie and guitarist Stephen Osserman have released two albums: Evening Songs (2012) and On An Overgrown Path (2015) which feature their own original arrangements for violin and guitar (LyricalStringsDuo.com)

  • Prowl is a piece for B♭ clarinet, violin, cello & piano.
    The staccato opening motif is based on a fragment of a Czech recording from my childhood. Though I no longer recall the singer’s name, her music has stayed with me.
    As I remember that song, the singer’s voice was a lonely cry into the wilderness. But in my piece, the clarinet’s voice is not alone—it is answered by the piano, with the strings grounding the scene harmonically. This is followed by a lyrical, four-voice texture that grows in intensity.
    The tension is resolved by the arrival of an animated section, with syncopated piano and a lively violin melody. This melody is then taken up by the cello, but now in a more stately, elegiac setting, becoming more and more introspective.
    The return of the staccato clarinet motif signals the piece’s close, and the four voices drive towards a joyful, almost frenzied finish.

Rossá Crean

Liz Nedela

  • Liz Nedela, MM, MEd, BA, teaches piano and composition in Vancouver WA. She is fond of contemporary composition techniques, counterpoint, ethnic, modal and early
    music, and weaves these aspects into her compositions. She writes music in many genres, instruments and voice, completing commissions from music teachers organizations, church, orchestra, chamber music, Women’s Music festivals. She has earned an MM in composition at University of Montana (winning a Composer Showcase award and scholarships); and a BA and MEd with focus on piano, composition, English,
    and theater, devising a program for teaching composition. For several years, she served as the Montana State and the Northwest Division chair of composition for MTNA (Music Teachers National Association). In 2014, Liz was awarded the WSMTA
    (Washington chapter of MTNA) Composer of the Year. She is an active member of Cascadia Composers and other music organizations, and has served as adjudicator in piano and composition. Liz currently chairs the Commissioned Composer project for
    WSMTA, and the Monthly Presentations for Cascadia Composers.

  • “Night Clouds” is slow and mysterious as the clouds form and take on their life during the darkness of night. The tonality of the piece is generally in Gm with slight variations. The melody is transferred between the parts, with Viola maintaining a “solid ground”.

Skye Neal

  • Skye Neal is a 15 year old composer and musician from Portland, Oregon who is inspired by the rich landscapes and abundant wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. She has participated in Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project since 2018 and she is the 2024-25 Composer in Residence for the Junior Orchestra of Yamhill County (JOY), a program providing elementary school students with free access to music education.
    Skye's pieces have won recognition by Webster University's Young Composers Competition, Music Teachers National Association, National Federation of Music Clubs, National Young Composers Challenge, Tribeca New Music, Young Women's Composition Competition, and Oregon Music Education Association.

  • Elegy for Lost Time is a reflection on all the days that have come to pass, all the realities that could have been, and the freedom that comes with letting go. The piece begins in C minor, with a solemn, reminiscent theme first introduced in the clarinet, later repeated in the cello. This theme is meant to represent the sadness of knowing you can never return to the past. As the piece goes on, it moves to a more hopeful theme in the relative major of E flat, representing the nostalgia of returning to forgotten moments. The piece then takes a turn into a more tumultuous section, with lots of arpeggios in the piano and clarinet, as memories begin to swim and blur. In the end, a variant of the first theme returns, with a new sense of clarity and direction as it begins to move forward from the past.

McCabe Grove

  • McCabe Pythaea Astrodeus Grove is a neurodiverse, non-binary chicanx college student currently pursuing their bachelor's of music in composition at Portland State University. Their time is almost solely dedicated to their craft and their love for helping others realize and achieve their musical aspirations. Growing up in rural NE Oregon for most of their life, they lived in constant fear of judgement from the other townsfolk, so they ended up hiding their true self until they could get away and be safe. Their childhood was very full of trauma and ridicule, just for being who they were, and they had nowhere else to go, so they turned to music as their safe haven, which saved their life in the long run, so they vowed to dedicate their whole livelihood to music. Now that they are pursuing their education, they have blossomed into an exemplary student and member of society, by also spending their time providing community outreach and volunteering to serve the queer community of the Greater Portland Metro Area, as well as educating the future of the music industry through music lessons at Oregon Music Academy in Tigard, OR.

  • Dreamscape is a piece that is very personal to me. As a neurodiverse individual, I am used to hearing things like "You've always got your head in the clouds!" and "You're dreaming your life away!" Naturally, I did what I always do and ran with it! When mulling over the specifics of this
    piece, a question that popped into my head was, "What does 'dreaming'
    sound like?" That is when I remembered that in mainstream media, the whole-tone scale was often used for initiating flashbacks or dream sequnces, due to its tonally ambiguous nature and lack of harmonic tension, giving a
    very distinct eerie and mysterious quality to the music. I decided to use
    both iterations of the whole-tone scale, not only to add chromaticism, but to help create a sense of harmonic motion as well! Now, close your eyes and picture yourself walking through a dimly moonlit forest, full of starkly-cast shadows and things unimaginable. You feel this sense of anxiety as you stroll along the overgrown path, as if
    someone were watching your every move, that is when you hear a rustling
    from behind you, and you start to run, but uh oh, you trip and suddenly
    you're face to face with your worst nightmare!

Cody J Wright

  • Cody Wright is a versatile composer, musician, and educator whose career spans both the academic and corporate worlds. With a rich background in composition, Cody’s music has been performed at prestigious venues including La Schola Cantorum in Paris, New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall in Boston, and Carnegie Hall in New York City. His works have been brought to life by distinguished performers such as the yesaroun’ Duo, Izumi Tateno, and Sergey Schepkin.

    After a successful career in Learning & Development at companies like Apple Inc. and founding his own
    consulting agency, Cody is now returning to his roots in music composition and education. He has remained musically active, performing as lead guitarist in Portland-based cover bands including Time Machine, one of the top-tier cover bands in the Portland area. He is currently working on a piano quintet inspired by Metallica’s Master of Puppets album.

    Cody holds a B.M. in Composition from New England Conservatory and an M.M. in Composition from
    Carnegie Mellon University, with additional studies in Composition New Media at California Institute of
    the Arts. His principal composition teachers include Alan Fletcher, Leonardo Balada, Morton Subotnick,
    James Tenney, Philip Lasser, Lee Hyla, and Michael Gandolfi.

  • The Pieces for Amelie were commissioned by pianist Izumi Tateno in celebration of the birth of the composer' s daughter. The three pieces are based on a well-known lullaby, and all motivic material has been derived from it. The listener may be able to hear fragments of the lullaby in each piece, and the very end of the work will yield the answer to those still seeking it.

Li Tao

  • Award winning composer Li Tao 李陶 was born and raised in Beijing, China and currently based in the U.S. working on her second Doctoral degree in Data-Driven Music Performance & Composition at the University of Oregon. The philosophy, literature, and spirituality of the ancient East play a formative role in the aesthetic of Tao’s work. Her music consists of vivid soundscapes, colorful timbres, and interdisciplinary elements that often lead her audiences on a multi-dimensional journey full of imagination. As an Asian female musician, Tao is devoted to promoting gender equity and cultural diversity through her music as well as through collaboration with other artists.
    Tao’s music has been performed at concerts and music festivals throughout the world including China, Japan, Korea, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, Ukraine, Brazil, and the U.S.A. Her primary interests include acoustic and electroacoustic composition, performance practices, and analysis of compositional techniques, aesthetics, and intercultural dialogues. For more information, please go to taolimusic.com.

  • The title Qin Xiao Yi translates to Friendship of Qin and Xiao. Qin is zither and Xiao is vertical flute: both are Chinese traditional instruments. Since imperial China, the two instruments often performed in a duo because of their complimentary timbres. The timbres of clarinet and piano share some similarity to Qin and Xiao, so this piece takes the concept of a Qin Xiao duo into Western instruments.

    In addition to the similar timbral quality, this piece adopts some signature textures of Qin and Xiao. For example, the use of feathered beam represents the characteristic liberal rhythmic flow of Chinese traditional music. For another example, the use of fast fluid runs in the piano evokes the texture of Qin. In this piece, the interplay between clarinet and piano demonstrates the ancient friendship between these two timbres cast in a modern setting.

Bill Whitley

  • Known for his innovative hybrids, award-winning composer Bill Whitley’s work bridges the boundaries between progressive rock, classical music, and raga traditions. Born into a multi-generation cattleman culture and a native of the Pacific Northwest, Bill draws inspiration from the region’s rural lifestyle and legendary landscapes. His music features intricate and hypnotic modal patterns, complex rhythmic interplay, and an expressive melodic core. At the center of all of his work is an abiding fascination with meditation traditions and mysticism.
    ​
    ​Whitley’s music has been performed primarily in Italy, Russia, and in the U.S., by ensembles ranging from Symphony Orchestra to Solo Electric Guitar. Commissions consist of chamber, choral, vocal, and orchestral works. Recent commissions include Matilde alle Fontane (2022), with Big Mouth Society in Portland, Oregon and Meditazioni sulla Dharmachakra (2017) by KUBIN in Milan. The title track for his 2019 EP Then Elephant Speaks was written for Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado's "Crossover Ensemble", Milan.​
    ​
    His recordings have been reviewed in Fanfare Magazine, American Record Guide, Take Effect Reviews, Aural Awakenings, Review Graveyard, Cinemusical, Infodad, and Midwest Record--and have been broadcast live on Radio Horizon 93.9 (Johannesburg, South Africa), CKUW (Winnepeg), WPRB (Princeton, NJ), WTUL (New Orleans), HRT (Croatia), KALX (Berkeley), WRUV (Burlington), and WMBR (Cambridge).
    ​
    Bill’s music is recorded on Da Vinci Edition, Navona Records, Ravello Records, and Teal Creek Music and some of his sacred choral works are published by Trinitas Choral Series.​

  • Agnisvara is a Sanskrit term:
    • Agni - Meaning fire, referring to the Vedic fire deity, Agni, who represents transformation, energy, and divine illumination.
    • Svar or Svara - Meaning sound, tone, or voice.
    So, Agnisvara can be interpreted as "The Voice of Agni/The Voice of Fire" or "The Sound of Fire" a powerful phrase suggesting something both fiery and resonant, like a roaring blaze, mystical fire, or divine energy:

    -Bill Whitley

James Lee

  • James Lee is a pianist, percussionist, and composer from Wilsonville, Oregon. He studies composition with Jennifer Wright and through Fear No Music’s Young Composers Project, where he has written chamber works in collaboration with professional musicians. James has also composed for school ensembles, jazz band, and percussion group, and recently worked with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony on a score for a student animation.

    As a musician, James enjoys moving between classical, jazz, and contemporary styles. He plays piano and percussion in his high school ensembles and runs a student jazz club to share and explore improvisation with friends. His writing often blends rhythmic energy with contrasting textures, drawing inspiration from storytelling, film, and the people he plays music with. He is currently considering a future in film scoring and contemporary composition.

  • Prime Instincts was written at the close of James’ junior year of high school, a time filled with energy, reflection, and anticipation for the summer ahead. The piece draws on the musical influences and emotions surrounding him during that period, channeling a spirit of triumph, playfulness, and forward momentum. Originally composed for string orchestra and later arranged for piano trio, Prime Instincts captures the optimism of youth on the verge of change, looking toward a final year of high school with excitement and curiosity.

William Ashworth

  • William Ashworth holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Whitman College (Walla Walla, Washington, 1965) and an MA in theory and composition from Washington State University (Pullman, 1967). His teachers included William H. Bailey (a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg), William Brandt (a pupil of Howard Hanson), and Loran Olsen (a pupil of Nadia Boulanger). His meditation for cello choir, “The Island of Woods,” has been set as a dance by choreographer Vicki Lloid; his piece for recorder consort, “Papillon,” took second place in the American Recorder Society’s 2007 international competition. Ashworth’s work is characterized by lyricism, tight organization, and a highly personal use of chromatic inflection, often built around carefully chosen twelve-tone rows. He is a five-times finalist for the American Prize and an Honorable Mention laureate for the 2024 Charles Ives Award in vocal chamber music composition, and is immediate past president of the Southern Oregon Chapter of the National Association of Composers-USA. He lives in Medford, Oregon.

  • This little neoclassical romp began life as a sonatina for piano in the fall of 1965. At the request of a friend, trombonist Ron Langlo, it was transcribed for flute, bass trombone, and piano for a spring 1966 recital - which it ended up being dropped from the concert (the flautist rebelled). In the fall of 2016, the flute/bass trombone/piano version was converted to a clarinet trio version for a concert sponsored by the Southern Oregon Chapter of the National Association of Composers-USA, which I was then serving as president. That particular trio consisted of flute, violin, and piano; for this concert, I've converted the violin part to a more conventional cello part, a process which required almost nothing more than dropping the violin part two octaves.

    The work is in four movements, to be played without pause. Stylistically, it borrows heavily from the works of Stravinsky, Auric, Milhaud, and others who were active in Paris in the 1920s.

Jan Mittelstaedt

  • Jan Mittelstaedt, NCTM holds a B.S. in education, Bucknell University; B.A. in music, Marylhurst University; and M.M. in composition from The University of Portland. Honors include: Ernest Bloch Composers Symposium, 1993; OMTA Composer of the Year, 1994; ASCAP special awards; published piano music; piano pieces in two NFMC Festival bulletins; and 2020 semi-finalist in the vocal chamber music division TAP in Composition and finalist in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2025.
    A teacher of piano, Nationally Certified by MTNA, Jan has adjudicated many student compositions, given workshops on composition pedagogy to teachers, and in 2023 received the Nellie Tholen Excellence in Teaching award from OMTA. She is founder and former chair of OMTA’s educational program, Extended Study of Musicianship and Repertoire (ESMAR) and is on the OMTA syllabus adjudicating staff. A former president of Cascadia Composers, she remains on the board and is chair of Cascadia Composer’s annual In Good Hands student concert.

  • This piece explores the flow of energy as when different emotions are felt at the same time, creating a new emotion similar to rivers converging to form a new river. The music contains four parts: A. Excitement - Sun sparkling on a river confluence; B.Stress - Storm at the river confluence; C. Depression - Gloomy day at the river confluence, with some sprinkles; D. Surprise - The new channel might have a visible contrast in color to the original bodies of water.

Dianne Davies

  • Dianne Davies is a pianist, composer, published arranger and teacher. In her piano studio, students develop piano performance and composition skills. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in piano performance from Lewis and Clark College and K-12 public school music instruction certification. She is a Nationally Certified Teacher and Adjudicator through Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).
    Dianne has created, performed and produced shows for multi-generational audiences. Dianne Davies Has Fallen Off Her Bench, a two-hour concert of her own arrangements from a plethora of Classical favorites to vernacular gems, echoing Liberace, Victor Borge and more. Attachments & Detachments; Tragedy to Triumph, a 75 minute show integrating new compositions with dance, live art and theatre to tell her story. SOLI DEO GLORIA featuring her original vocal solos, choral pieces, piano solos and arrangements including her published work, A Romantic Christmas Suite, which combines six Chopin Nocturnes with well-known sacred carols. The Promised One, an original Nativity musical that brings the Christmas story characters and their emotions to life.
    Memberships include Cascadia Composers of NACUSA (National Association of Composers USA), Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers, Oregon Music Teachers Association, and MTNA. Check out Dianne and her music at www.musiqPOWER.com.

  • Reflection Set: This set of three pieces map my journey through and out of a depression pit in 2017.
    Mirror Reflection is about me looking in the mirror and not understanding who I saw in my reflection. Seeing a person with no joy, drive or gratitude was disturbing. The music patterns depict me looking at myself as the movement in the hands are mirroring each other. What the right hand formation is on black keys, the left hand has the opposite movement formed on white keys and vice versa. The crashing block chords of the intense B section is symbolic of my fight to break the current reflection and give room for a healthy one. As the A section returns, the harmonies are more calm showing the return of peace that passes all understanding and a renewed state of mind.
    Muddy Waters is in rondo form and depicts the continual healing after a mental crash. The nagging A theme returns again and again to depict the process of getting well emotionally is like taking two steps forward and one step back. It can be slow and excruciating. During this time I was studying Alberto Ginastera’s Argentine Dances for piano. His rhythmic and harmonic language resonated with me and influenced this piece.

Betty R. Wishart

  • Betty Wishart was inspired to begin composing while studying piano with Richard Bunger. After earning degrees in piano performance from Queens University and the University of North Carolina, she pursued further studies in both piano and composition in New York City. Her music, lauded as "exceptional", "beguiling", and "intriguing" has been performed in Italy, Greece, France, Germany, Russia, South Korea, and throughout the United States at diverse venues including concert halls, universities, and programs of the Society of Composers, Inc., NACUSA, International Alliance for Women in Music, and the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers.

    Wishart has received awards from the National League of American Pen Women, Composers Guild, American College of Musicians, Neue Musik Frankfurt, ASCAPlus, Regional Artist Project Grants from the Arts Council of Fayetteville and Cumberland County, an Artist Support Grant from the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County and the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in Music. She has been a finalist in the American Prize Competitions for orchestral music, instrumental and vocal chamber music. https://bettywishart.com.

  • "Ballade" portrays three emotions: peace, passion, and contentment.

Michael Drayton

  • Michael is a Freshman at West Linn High School. He plays the viola in the Portland Youth Conservatory Orchestra. He enjoys composing outside of school and last year, he got runner up in OMEA Middle School Composition Contest with his mixed instrument Octet. This year, he started a Chamber Music Club at his school. He enjoys composing and is currently working on his ninth composition.

  • Michael Drayton wrote the first movement with inspiration by Mozart and Haydn, while adding a modern style to it. The second movement was inspired with the romantic period in mind. He really enjoys writing music and this piece was fun to write and play.

Brian Magill

  • Brian Magill is a composer from Portland, OR. After a life spent composing music for educational films and live theatre, He seeks to combine his interest in Jazz, Classical, Blues and Un-popular popular music with classical forms and instruments.

  • This is the last two movements of my 2nd String Quartet, "Life of a Forest". These movements are designed to be played without break As a lifelong Oregonian, I am inspired by this state's natural beauty and also the tragedy of fire. Forests have always been capable of regenerating from the aftermath of fires and creating a new forest from the ashes of the old one. This piece attempts to represent this musically.

Paul Henerlau

  • In his youth, Paul Henerlau became interested in music through folk and popular genres. Midway through college, he heard Béla Bartók’s Dance Suite, which became Paul’s “gateway composition” to the world of classical music. Paul still enjoys both folk music and dance, and he delights in asymmetrical rhythms.

    With a primary focus on strings, Paul has played bowed instruments, mandolin, and Turkish oud. He was also a “bell ringer” at the UC Berkeley Campanile for ten years. During his career in technology, music was somewhat put aside, except for writing occasional small lullabies and waltzes for his family.

    Since retiring, Paul has been taking classes at Portland State. A class in music history soon led to other music classes—including composition, where he  discovered the great satisfaction to be found in writing music. He has written for a variety of small chamber ensembles: trombone duo, wind trio, string quartet, and reed quintet.

  • This piece grew out of a string-writing class at Portland State. Inspirations came from my appreciation of folk music—specifically the musical vocabulary of Piazzolla—as well as a deep affection for the classical quartet literature, with references to Beethoven’s late Opus 131 quartet. The time signature is mixed—8/8 (or 4/4) for the first part, and 7/8 for the second half—thus the somewhat enigmatic title “Tango 8:7”.

Gary Lloyd Noland

  • One of the founding members of Cascadia Composers, Gary Lloyd Noland (known by the nom de plume Dolly Gray Landon as a writer of plays and fiction) was born in Seattle in 1957 and raised in Berkeley. As an adolescent, he lived for a time in Salzburg (Mozart’s birthplace) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (home of Richard Strauss), where he absorbed a host of musical influences. Having studied with a long roster of acclaimed composers, he earned his undergraduate degree in Music from UC Berkeley in 1979 and his graduate degrees in Composition from Harvard in 1989. His catalogue consists of hundreds of piano, vocal, chamber, orchestral, and experimental works, as well as full-length plays in verse, novels, and "chamber novels." Approximately 36 CDs of his compositions have been published by 7th Species and North Pacific Music, with many more CD albums slated for release in the near future. Approximately one thousand performances of his compositions are available for listening on many of the major streaming platforms online. His fourth novel THE ARTS COUNCIL is scheduled for publication in December. Stay tuned!

  • “Pipe Dream” is the title of the ninth movement of my String Quartet No. 2 (Op. 32), which I composed in 1993, shortly after having moved from California to Oregon. It belongs to a ten-movement quartet whose first movement is a slow-motion fugue in quasi quarter tones titled “Zombie Vigil,” which was composed for the purpose of trying the patience of its listeners with interminably lengthy held notes and silences, the impetus behind which was a presentation of a 90-minute tone of virtually zero variation by an un-named guest composer at Mills College I attended a year or so prior to composing this piece. The entire ten-movement quartet is mischievously designed to thwart the expectations of complacent listeners (i.e., those breathing in the era during which it was composed, a time when it was still possible to break rules of compositional decorum, which is about as different from the present day as the early 1990s were from the late nineteenth century). In the context of the entire quartet, the ninth movement is one of the more “shocking” moments of the piece, insofar as a listener would, presumably, be hard pressed to suspect as much when hearing it out of context (especially in the current milieu, where blaséness and apathy, coupled with short attention spans, are the order of the day). Even so, the ninth movement is self-contained when heard outside of its original context and is intended to mollify the jangled nerves of listeners who’ve made it in one piece through the first eight movements.

Lance Brown

  • Lance Brown (b. 2003, Oregon) grew up in a boisterous countryside home in the willamette valley. Despite his rural upbringing, he developed a keen interest in Western classical music and sought to express both himself and his world, it's people, nature, philosophy, and religion, through this music.

    Brown is currently currently at the University of Oregon studying composition with Robert Kyr and David Crumb and trombone with Henry Henniger. Brown’s music has been performed by notable ensembles and performers such as the Delgani String Quartet, Esteli Gomez (of Roomfull of Teeth), Post-Haste Reed Duo, and the Achelois Collective.

  • My piece, The Sky Moved Quickly, set for String Quartet is my reflection on the natural world and the beauty that surrounds us in everyday life. I am struck by the continual change in weather and the often overlooked natural movement of the world around us. This movement is perpetual, and I often pause to experience the subtleties of this phenomenon. This piece is reflective of one such occasion, perhaps in springtime or fall, where clouds drift across the sky, the sun interjects here and there, and there is always a threat of rain. The piece, in a similar manner, insists to move, new ideas interrupting like a rush of wind from some unexpected direction, and dark clouds casting shadows.

Kent Darnielle

  • Kent Darnielle received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Composition from Willamette University and a Master’s degree in Music Composition from the University of Southern California. Kent has written and performed works for radio drama, industrial video, television news, exercise video, film documentary, and commercials (1985 to the present). He also has written original music and performed on Bruce Kaphan’s Hybrid CD (2009). He has composed
    concert works for various ensembles, including “Then the Words Just Blew Away” for chamber orchestra; “Tell,” “Roof Tunes,” and “Side Steps” for chamber ensemble; “City Adventures” for string quartet; “Amrita” for orchestra; “Clackermonkey,” “Carpenter Bypass” and “Junk Box
    Transfer” for concert band; and “La Sera Domenicale” for chorus and string orchestra. He taught piano privately in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1980 to 2021 and continues teaching in Oregon.

  • My piece, The Sky Moved Quickly, set for String Quartet is my reflection on the natural world and the beauty that surrounds us in everyday life. I am struck by the continual change in weather and the often overlooked natural movement of the world around us. This movement is perpetual, and I often pause to experience the subtleties of this phenomenon. This piece is reflective of one such occasion, perhaps in springtime or fall, where clouds drift across the sky, the sun interjects here and there, and there is always a threat of rain. The piece, in a similar manner, insists to move, new ideas interrupting like a rush of wind from some unexpected direction, and dark clouds casting shadows.