Meet our 2022 Composers Hub Cohort
Allison McIntosh is a Midwest-based composer. McIntosh graduated with a Master of Music in composition from the New England Conservatory, where she studied under Michael Gandolfi. She graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Arts in music. In 2018, McIntosh began a Doctorate of Music at the University of Kansas. McIntosh has attended festivals such as the Walden School Creative Musician’s Retreat, the Wyoming New Music Festival, the Festival of Contemporary Music at Washington State University. McIntosh’s music often involves influence from literature, and she is particularly interested in interpreting poetry through art song.
Autumn Maria Reed is a Wisconsin-based composer and Berklee alumna. Autumn has composed library and theatrical music for companies in Madison and Milwaukee. She has collaborated on two virtual projects with the Music Theatre of Madison: 2020’s "Beyond The Ingenue: Trailblazers" and 2021’s "An American Mythology." Autumn has just completed the first drafts of orchestrations for a new, full-length musical called “Two Princes” by NYC-based actor/writer Ralph Oscar Selby. In 2020, she released the single "You're *not #Woke.” She currently plays the string bass for The Black String Triage Ensemble, directed by Dayvin Hallmon. She has a creative spirit. Yet, above all, she loves to spend time with her family and friends and tries to honor Her Grand Creator.
Michigan composer, Dinah Bianchi, currently a semi-finalist in the 2022 American Prize Competition. She is currently being considered in two categories: the Professional Division for her orchestral work, “Chasse Noir”; and the Professional Division for her band work, “Snowflakes in April”. Versed in a variety of musical genres, she has composed music for orchestra, concert band, string ensemble, chamber works, solo works, and electronic compositions. Her works have been well received both nationally and internationally and her portfolio includes performances in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Recently, she received a 2021 Global Music Awards "Chasse Noir," as well as for her electronic work,"...Please repeat that.” Winner of the 2021 Craig’s Keyboards/University of Toledo’s Composer’s Contest for her work, “Pelaga: When Sea Encounters Sky,” Dinah was also the recipient of the 2020 SMP Press Composition Competition in the Contemporary Music Solo Division for ”...Please repeat that.” In addition, in 2020 she received a Global Music Award Bronze Medal for “Vitula,” a work for solo violin and orchestra. Other awards include a Global Music Award in 2019 for her orchestral work, “Anaphora,” a work which was also selected as a 2020 Finalist for the American Prize. Previously, she was awarded Second Place in The American Prize for her composition, “The Jackal’s Palace,” a boisterous romp for wind ensemble. It too received a Global Music Award in 2015.
Anne McAninch is an emerging composer and recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin where she completed her DMA in Music Composition. She made her collegiate conducting debut when she led the University of Wisconsin-Madison Concert Band in the premiere of her work Silver Lining. Anne’s compositions have been described as “harmonically interesting” and “rich in orchestral color.” Anne’s work Seven was selected to be presented at the Society of Composers, Inc. 2018 Region VI convention, she was the guest composer at the Caroga Lake Music Festival: InterArts Symposium and has had a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Anne’s work Fanfare for Orchestra was selected as the winner of the Mead-Witter School of Music 2018-2019 Symphony Showcase.
Xu Zheng is a Chinese composer currently working in Lawrence, Kansas. She enjoys exploring the confluence of Eastern and Western elements merging with modern ideas, and the experimentation in the electronic-acoustic field. Her music involves influence from multiple other disciplines such as literature, language, and mathematics. She received the Eugene & Mary Mingle Scholarship Award (2020) and the Edward & Nancy Mattila Electronic Music Composition Award (2021) at the University of Kansas, where she earned a degree in music composition (B.M.) in May 2021. Her composition teachers included Profs. Ingrid Stölzel, Bryan Kip Haaheim, and Forrest Pierce.
Kayla Spellenberg is a composer and guitarist based in Boston, Massachusetts. Kayla is Composition major at Berklee College of Music, and has been mentored by Allen LeVines, Marti Epstein, and Richard Carrick. Her compositions include extended notational techniques and avant-garde musical aesthetics. Influenced by composers such as Messiaen and Schoenberg Kayla has participated Carrick’s composer ensemble, spontaneous composition, and modern writing ensemble. Kayla is only current Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadet from Berklee in Northeastern University’s Liberty Battalion. She is currently the Executive Officer of the Company, and is enlisted in the National Guard in the 182nd Infantry Company.