Alexis Bacon is a composer recognized nationally and internationally for both her acoustic and electroacoustic music. Her work draws inspiration from a diverse array of sound worlds, including vanishing American oral traditions, medieval Provençal poetry, Norwegian fiddle music, and Afro-Brazilian religious ceremonies. Throughout her career, she has won awards including the IAWM Search for New Music Pauline Oliveros Prize, the Ossia International Composition Prize, the ASCAP/SEAMUS student composition commission, and most recently an honorable mention in the 2018 Hildegard Competition. Her work has been supported by awards and grants from the Indiana Arts Council, the Percussive Arts Society, the American Music Center, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and commissioned by ensembles and artists including National Sawdust, Burning River Baroque, Due East, the Bro-Fowler Duo, violinist Robert Simonds, and several commissioning consortiums comprising dozens of commissioners. A Fulbright scholar in France, she completed undergraduate studies in music composition and viola performance at Rice University and graduate studies in music composition at the University of Michigan. She is currently Assistant Professor of Music Composition at Michigan State University.

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Nicole Murphy’s music has been described as “exquisite and sensitive” (Sydney Morning Herald), “strong and compelling” (Loudmouth) and “full of exhilarating tension” (Arts Knoxville). She has been commissioned by eminent arts organisations including the Australian Ballet, the Royal Academy of Dance (London), the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Experiments in Opera/Symphony Space (New York), Orchestra Victoria, Wild Rumpus (San Francisco), Chamber Sounds (Singapore), and the Definiens Project (Los Angeles). Her music has been performed by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, NOWensemble (New York), Alarm Will Sound, Ars Nova (Dallas), and Halcyon (Sydney), and has been programmed at numerous festivals, including the Mizzou International Music Festival, the Norfolk/Yale Chamber Music Festival (Connecticut), the Dallas Festival of Modern Music, the Nief Norf Festival (Tennessee), the Risuonanze Festival (Italy), and the Vox Feminae Festival (Tel Aviv). Nicole is the recipient of various awards, including the inaugural Layton Composer Fellowship at the University of NSW (2018), Ensemble Offspring’s Noisy Women Commission (2019), the MAFB International Commissioning Prize (2015), and the Theodore Front International Orchestral Prize (2013). Nicole is the Composer-in-Residence at the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries and teaches composition at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. She holds a PhD from the University of Queensland.

Patricia Lopes is a Brazilian composer and pianist with a multiple rooted musical identity. Her latest works as a composer are “The feminine in Pessoa”, a set of compositions based on poems by Fernando Pessoa, for voice and ensemble, performed by OCAM (Chamber Orchestra of the University of São Paulo) and “Hortensia”, for woodwind and string ensemble. In October 2017 she performed, in Portugal, the concert “The feminine in Pessoa” at the International Jazz Festival of Caldas da Rainha and at Casa da America Latina in Lisbon, with the violist Lyda Chen Argerich as her special guest. Patricia Lopes has recently pursued a PhD in Music, with her research focused on the musical universe of the Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim at University of São Paulo (USP), and performed in 2016 Jobim’s song Matita Pere (1973) alongside Dori Caymmi and the Chamber Orchestra of the University of São Paulo, with the conductor Gil Jardim. Throughout her academic education, she has studied with the concert pianist Linda Bustani, and holds a Master’s Degree in Musical Composition from the Federal
University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), having Marisa Rezende as her Principal Advisor.

Rosita Piritore (Agrigento, 1996) is an Italian pianist and composer. From a very young age, she shows distinct improvisational and creative skills. In 2019 she achieved the piano master’s degree with top marks, honors and honorable mention at the Conservatory A. Boito in Parma – where she is now continuing her composition studies – presenting the thesis From shadow to sunlight: stories of women composers from past to future. ‘Polyhedral and sensible musician’, she performs a heterogeneous artistic activity as a soloist and with many ensembles in Italy and several European cities. In 2020 she becomes part of the Toscanini Next Orchestra in Parma. She was awarded several times in National and International Composition Competitions (1° Concorso Internazionale di Composizione Il casale di Riardo, 17° Concorso di Composizione Città di Barcellona P.G., 1° Concorso Internazionale di Composizione A.Gi.Mus. etc.). Her interest involves in different musical genres like prog, jazz, ambient and electronic music. Her works have been performed in many Italian festivals and concert seasons, as well as broadcast on radios in Italy and America. Some of her compositions are published by Studiomusicalicata Edizioni Musicali and EROM.