Parsa Zandi was born in 2004 in Tehran, Iran. He studied composition with Mohammad H. Javaheri, Karen Keyhani, and Armin Sanayei in Iran. At the age of 17, he was accepted at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria and studied composition with Beat Furrer for two years. Now he is currently studying under the supervision of Annesley Black. Parsa has had composition classes with composers such as Franck Bedrossian, Clemens Gadenstätter, Klaus Lang, Pierluigi Billone, Iris ter Schiphorst, Johannes Maria Staud, Chaya Czernowin, Samir Odeh Tamimi, and Mathias Hinke. His music has been performed by such ensembles as Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Zeitfluss, Ensemble für Neue Musik, and Roadrunner Trio in Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, USA, Canada and Spain.

Christoffer Håård is an Oslo-based composer of contemporary music. His music can often be characterized by an exploration of musical spaces between the vulnerable and the banal, where fragile and unstable ranging to abrasive sounds are allowed to live, breath, develop and die out – as well as playful musical idioms, displaying great naïveté, exist in juxtaposition.
Born 1997 in Jönköping, Sweden. Since 2023, he has been enrolled in the Master’s program in composition at the Norwegian Academy in Oslo where he also completed his Bachelor’s studies. Prior to that, he studied at the Gotland School of Composition (Visby, Sweden) in the pre-bachelor program. Additionally, he spent one year as an ERASMUS exchange student at the Carl Maria von Weber Hochschule für Musik in Dresden, Germany. His previous composition teachers include, among others, Asbjørn Schaathun, Eivind Buene, Mark Andre, Trond Reinholdtsen, Stefan Prins, Per Mårtensson, having also received tutorage and masterclasses from Chaya Czernowin, Manos Tsangaris, George Lewis, Carola Bauckholt, and Lisa Streich among others.

Sandra Boss is a Danish-based composer and performer working in the field between instrumental music, electronics, installation and performance. Her compositional tone of voice is distinctly explorative with a strong interest in the timbral potentials of instruments. An important element within her work is the physical dialogue with instruments where the instruments are bent through external objects or modifications.
Sandra Boss has a background in classical music and has later studied electronic music at The Royal Academy of Music in Denmark. She also holds an artistic-based PhD on sound art from The University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Yifan Guo is a Chinese composer, performer, and intermedia artist who specializes in the innovative exploration of multidimensional music perception experiences, employing both sonic and non-sonic elements in performance. Embracing a range of compositional practices from music theater to acoustic music, electro-acoustic music, sound installation, and intermedia performance, Guo seeks to contribute to the innovative landscape of stage works.
Supported by institutions such as UC San Diego, Yu Long Studio, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Opera House, Parkland Foundation, and AEP-CHINA. Guo’s artistic endeavors have graced renowned festivals and venues across East Asia, the Middle East, North America, and Europe. Highlights include performances at festivals such as Beijing Music Festival (China), Ticino Musica Festival (Switzerland), Festival Mixtur (Spain), Le Domaine Forget de Charlevoix (Canada), June in Buffalo (USA), and venues such as David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, Qualcomm Institute (USA), Château de Fontainebleau (France), Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, and the Guangzhou Opera House (China), amongst others.
Recent projects include Dancing to My Shadow, commissioned by the Guangzhou Opera House (concert version and 90-min theater version, commissioned by the Guangzhou Opera House), as well as A String-infused Sonic Activity, a portrait concert, and Listen to Your Inner Ape, a theater scoring commissioned by the Drum Tower West Theatre Company.
Guo’s collaborative efforts extend to esteemed ensembles such as the JACK Quartet, Arditti Quartet, Quatuor Diotima, Ensemble l’Itinéraire, PinkNoise Ensemble, Alinéa Ensemble, Vertixe Sonora Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ensemble Paramaribo, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, and International Chamber Orchestra of America, as well as renowned artists like percussionist Steven Schick and Yongyun Zhang, multimedia artist Shihua Ma, flutist Xiaoyu Lin, clarinetist Vasko Dukovski, violin virtuoso Ruifeng Lin, pianist Han Chen, double bass virtuoso Bowen Qian, soprano Tony Arnold, computer music researcher Zehao Wang and Han Zhang, and lighting designer Shee Hoe Low, among others.
As an advocate for contemporary music and music technology, Guo shares his expertise through lectures and workshops at institutions such as the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, South China Normal University, East China Normal University, and the Guangzhou DaoHe Institute. He also teaches regularly at the X-Institute in Shenzhen.
Earned degrees from Mannes School of Music (B.M. with honors) and New England Conservatory of Music (M.M.), Yifan Guo is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, under the guidance of Michelle Lou. He has also received mentorship from Huang Ruo, Stratis Minakakis, John Maillia, Kaija Saariaho, Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Lei Liang, Marcos Balter, Rand Steiger, and Chaya Czernowin. In conducting, he has been mentored by Daye Lin, Bill Drury, and David Hayes. Guo’s creative works have been recognized with awards such as the Prix Marion Tournon Branly, the Carl Schachter Award, Ise-Shima International Composition Prize, and the finalist of 11th Mivos/Kanter String Quartet Composition Prize.

Nigar Suleyman was born in Azerbaijan in 1999. She studied composition at Baku Music Academy and Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and has written compositions for solo piano, piano trio, string quartet, chamber orchestra, and symphonic orchestra. She has worked with Azerbaijan State Symphonic Orchestra, Cadenza Contemporary Orchestra, and Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble. She has won first prize at the WBM competition (Poland, 2024), first prize in the “Stars’ project” (Russia, 2015), and second place prize at the International Jazz Festival (Azerbaijan, 2019). She received a diploma in “Nizami-romance”(Azerbaijan, 2021) and has participated in seminars with composers such as Alexander Khubeev, Einnike Leppik, Anton Safronov, and Tammo Summer. Festivals she has participated in have included the Uzeyir Hajibeyli festival (Azerbaijan), Uudislooming festival (Estonia), and the 14th International Tchaikovsky festival (Russia). She has also worked with movie directors that led to composing scores for over ten short movies and two TV series.

Aaron Zimmer is a composer dedicated to crafting meaningful and meditative musical experiences. His compositions, performed by ensembles like ICE, JACK Quartet, and Musikfabrik, explore sound, time, and place. As co-founder of Bent Wrench, he champions new music by commissioning innovative works. Also an accomplished performer and audio engineer, Aaron records classical artists in LA, DC, and Baltimore. He holds an M.M. in Composition from Peabody and is pursuing a master’s in Recording Arts.

Tianyu Zou, is a music producer, and composer who primarily engages with sound, performance, installation, and multimedia practices.
In recent years, his projects have been featured at festivals, including Liminal (Salzburg), Rümlingen, and the Lucerne Festival. 

Alisa Kobzar (*1989, Ukraine) is a composer, multimedia artist, and teacher. A 2014 graduate of the Kyiv National Music Academy, she has lived in Graz, Austria, since 2018, studying Computer Music and Sound Art at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Her multidisciplinary works blend electronic music and sound art and have been performed worldwide. In 2019, she co-founded the duo rotkäppchen with Lisa Mc Guire, focusing on interactive multimedia compositions. In 2024, she was awarded the Austrian State Scholarship for Composition. More information at alisakobzar.mur.at.

Hannah A Barnes is a Montréal-based composer, conductor, and performer. Her compositional interests center around thorny harmonies, idiosyncratic and off-kilter materials, and rhizomatic structures. She is concerned with crafting complex music that emphasizes the tension between strict control and austerity and unbridled chaos and expression. Collaboration is essential to her compositional practice.
She is currently pursuing a DMus in composition at McGill University after completing Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in composition with distinction from DePaul University. 

Eunhye Joo (*1996, Seoul) studied composition at Hanyang University College of Music and graduated with distinction in 2019. She studied with Prof. Sidney Corbett and graduated with a Master’s degree at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim. Since 2023 she has been studying composition (Konzertexamen) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Prof. Gordon Kampe.
She was elected to the 28th Daegu International Contemporary Music Festival (South Korea), the Chamber Session of the Darmstadt Summer Music Festival 2018 (Germany), the 46th ISCM Pan-Music Festival (South Korea), the Synthesis Final Concert 2019(Poland), She-lives masterclass Final Concert 2019 (Hungary), reMusik 8th Saint-Petersburg International New Musik Festival (Russia), Stockholm Chamber Brass Academy 2021(Sweden), Anlässlich des 100-Jährigen Jubiläums des Musikwissenschaftlichen Seminars der Universität Heidelberg (Germany), Mannheim City of Music Festival (Germany), Neukölln Originaltöne Festival 2021, 2022 (Germany), Klangwerkstatt Berlin Festival für Neue Musik 2021, 2022 (Germany), Randspiele Zepernick 2022 (Germany), the 32th Daegu International Contemporary Music Festival (South Korea), 3. International Composer’s Workshop 2021/22 Presentation Concert by AsianArt Ensemble (Germany), the International Young Composers Academy Ticino 2022 (Switzerland), Ciel Academy 2022(France), Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele 2023 (Germany), New music week 2023(Italy), Saxofon+ of the Darmstadt Summer Music Festival 2023 (Germany), and the Akademie Kontemporar 2023 (Germany).
Her work was performed by Ensemble SONOR XXI, Ensemble Eins, Ensemble Via Nova, Ensemble Hashtag, Ensemble Impronta, Ensemble Recherche, Munich Tetra Brass Ensemble, Georg Katzer Ensemble Berlin, IEMA Alumni Ensemble, AsianArt Ensemble, Sinfonieorchester TonArt Heidelberg, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Ensemble Linea, mdi ensemble, and Ensemble Ascolta.

Since 2018, she has been resident composer of Ensemble SONOR XXI.

A life in music is often rich with insight, creativity, and moments of transcendence. But it is also an extraordinarily demanding profession, one that can deeply impact an artist’s physical health and emotional well-being. Struggles that can happen to anyone – an illness, an injury – can exert an outsized impact on an artist’s career. “Lost Voices” delves into the challenges of this world, sharing stories of loss, resilience, and transformation. An overwhelming majority of professional musicians confront injuries (such as overuse syndrome or hearing loss), mental health struggles (like depression or severe anxiety), and addictions. Personal and familial relationships are often put under pressure from musicians’ financial precarity and structural porousness that fails to distinguish life from work, and professional pressures can lead to creative blockages or burnout. For some, these struggles mark the end of a career. Many in the music industries hesitate speaking openly about these issues, fearing professional impacts of disclosure in an environment in which success-signaling is a norm, perhaps even an imperative. This lack of transparency often denies artists the possibility of receiving the support they need to recover. “Lost Voices” wants to bring these stories to light—stories of adversity, renewal and transformation. It seeks to inspire understanding and compassion, honoring not just the artistry of musicians but also the courage it takes to endure and overcome the challenges that occur behind the music.

Satori is a Japanese word used in Zen Buddhism. Its meaning translates to a unique moment (extremely rare) of the self awakening – like an illumination – where the whole being enters in resonance with the forces of the Universe… Writing for a soloist melodic instrument has always fascinated me. Indeed I consider “the musical phrase” as a noble and fundamental parameter, whose presence leads to constantly taking up the challenge of the melodic invention. With Satori I therefore tried to bring my own contribution to this universe so fragile, so mysterious… by exploring a personal path. The main idea for Satori is based on the evolution of a process intimately linking two important musical concepts: the interval and the duration. If at the beginning of the score the musical phrases are expressed in small intervals and long durations, very progressively, towards the middle of the score, this binomial will be reversed with big intervals and short durations. This conception allowed me to create strange phenomena pertaining to the perception of time. Indeed, starting from a musical environment in which the durations are stretched-out, the piece gradually breaks with an even chronology, in order to penetrate into the vertiginous spirals of Time, by analogy with those sought by Zen Buddhist monks in their quest of Satori.

Voces amissae (Lost Voices) is a work for vocalist and ensemble which explores different ways in which people have lost their voices, whether for medical, social, political or other reasons, in the context of a musical investigation into the mechanics of playing pianissimo. The idea came out of my ongoing interest in examining the minutiae of instrumental sounds – following on from a series of pieces for small forces, I wanted to take my exploration further in a longerform piece for a larger ensemble and felt that adding a singer would help give this focus. I approached the wonderful Dutch soprano Nora Fischer, with whom I had worked before, only to find that she had been having difficulties with her singing voice. But she still wanted to be involved and this gave us the idea to contextualize Nora’s own struggle in a wider exploration of how people can lose their voice. Nora and I separately interviewed a number of people who had in some way lost their voice and transcriptions of parts of those interviews form the basis of the text that Nora vocalizes throughout Voces amissae. I have also included a number of poems by the little-known but wonderful Serbian poet Draginja Adamović, someone who has also lost her voice since her death in 2000 because no one in her home country seems to be aware of how extraordinary her poems are. Voces amissae was created with funds from an Arts Council of Ireland Music Project award, with support from DICMF and Triskel Arts Centre.

What’s happening to me?
How did I get here?
I’m striving to think.

(“Under the glass of the volcano” no.2 – Draginja Adamović):
The fish-eyed man
He followed my every step
And there behind the narrow gates
A candle was burning in praise of nothing

After the operation my voice seemed fine, and then it started to become painful, like there was a continual sprain in my throat. They put a blade down to intubate and they nicked one of my vocal cords. I carried on singing and I suffered a lot of pain. I just couldn’t stand the pain. I would go for four months without having a conversation of any substance and that was bad for my mental health.

Muscles rigid as a rock surrounding the magical place where sadness and ecstasy transform into sound. Each rigid muscle showing me a burden I am carrying, that is not mine to hold. And with each released burden another muscle starts to move.

(“Under the glass of the volcano” no.3 – Draginja Adamović):
A ship with lowered sails
Enters the night
Chaos and screams in the ship
One chimney is smoking

I won several competitions but it ended soon because dreams and talents will be punished over there. They were torn down by my cousin whom I was forced to marry at eighteen years old. “You say you want to sing? I laugh in your marvellously bruised face.” My mouth closed.

My silence is marvellously untouchable to you. All your screams and swearing vanish in the black hole I have become.

Six months in hospital and all I could say was “yes”, “no”,
and “the possibilities are endless”. I must get better; I must
achieve my goals: I must experience the world whatever
that is…whatever that is.

(“Under the glass of the volcano” no.4 – Draginja Adamović):
The purple-eyed woman
Puts a loaf in the kiln
Is it Golgotha?
A mouth asks behind the black wall.
The crucified sound trembles in the air

I noticed my hand was being weird, like spasming. I didn’t think I was controlling it, it was up and down. Then I tried to call out, it was like grunting noises. I couldn’t speak at all, just gibberish. My baby was really young and I was terrified I would never talk to him or read him a story again. Before the stroke I was very introverted and shy – now I’m regretting not speaking more. It’s given me an appreciation of my voice.I’m very optimistic. I should be more realistic – I’m not. Very optimistic, maybe totally.

It’s the phones. People have always looked away from me but at least they noticed me. It was their own choice not to look me in the eye. And some would come for a chat or to give what they wouldn’t miss. But now, those phones have meant the end for us, their eyes are fixed on that lifeless thing in their hand. And even worse they started to plug their ears as well. I can yell as hard as I want but when everyone around me is blind and deaf what use does my voice have?

(“Under the glass of the volcano” no.1 – Draginja Adamović):
I was lying buried in the sand
And thought of four feet
Dead people were sitting on the shore
I chewed the food they chewed
Tasteless food
Two hands brought out an earthen bowl
I went to stop them
I touch
I give back
I failed
The bowl fell in front of my feet
And transformed into countless bowls

Vocabulary increasing bit by bit; it gives me confidence to get back what I’m trying to say. I want to express my observations on life, what it is to be alive, and to feel a sense of joy.

Thinking about vulnerability, permanence and absence, I created ‘Figure – ground’ from my own phenomenological drawings of walking around the mighty elevation of Uluru in the centre of Australia.
Georgina Bowden

Invoking oceanic elements of depth, density, movement, and separation, this work calls on the sea as a prevalent theme of dream, and spiritual evocation. The unfolding of the piece elicits temporal elements of a stretch of changeable sea, along with its incumbent potential of fragmenting of narrative.
Dylan Lardelli

A blur of lichens is dedicated to my late grandfather Frank, a conservationist who fell in love with the world of lichens at the age of 96. Almost blind, Frank would pore over images in library books with the help of bright lights, magnifying glasses, and giant spectacles. As the pages blurred, shifting in and out of focus, the humble lichens’ world of texture, colour, and pattern captivated my grandfather’s imagination.
Teasing apart this memory of my grandfather, I wonder about the blurring of other boundaries. How much of who I am is inherited from my grandfather? How does light transform into colour? What is it like to live as a lichen at the juncture of decomposition and composition? Where does rock end and sky begin? Where does my breath become the air that you breathe?
Inspired by lichens as symbiotic relationships between fungi, algae and bacteria, a blur of lichens offers structures and vocabulary to support musical reciprocity. Each iteration emerges fresh from the moment of its creation.
A blur of lichens was commissioned by Gordon Williamson with the support of the Ontario Arts Council.
Juliet Palmer

This instrumentation for this piece is inspired by my recent composition Odd Couples, a set of 24 miniatures for unusual and unexpected musical pairings. I found the challenge of composing for a rarely (if ever?) heard combinations of instruments very quickly becomes a fruitful and focused exploration of the few common timbral areas that the instruments do share. It remains an exciting idea for me, as I wouldn’t have otherwise come across these particular timbre combinations: The inspiration of the piece is the instrumentation itself.
In expanding the idea to a trio, Odd Throuple explores a few points of intersection in the trio from multiple perspectives and musical characters, allowing us to rediscover these instruments in a fresh context.
Gordon Williamson

At the age of 15, I became a junior piano student, so despite the age difference of almost 16, Uli and I were in the same piano class, he in his final semester. During the semester break, Uli was given the task of teaching me. While working on a fugue by Bach, he suggested adding text to some of the motifs in order to sing them and thus intensify the expression. This was a very common approach, but unknown to me at the time. For a four-note side motif, he suggested: “you never know” That was so unexpectedly impressive for me and at the same time so fitting that I often remember this moment…
Tobias Schwencke

The word Pomen can be translated as both a mention and a remembrance, but it also stands for a very old Serbian tradition around death, where various rituals were performed and traditional songs were sung for the deceased in a very special – extremely expressive and powerful, yet not pathetic way. Some mourn their loved ones, some celebrate them, some do both, some bring food and drink, some sing…
The play is probably just one of many visits.
Milica Djordjević

Rodolfo Valente is a Brazilian composer who combines musical tradition with the exploration of new sounds. Drama, beauty and expression always play a central role in his music.

Gregor Kulla (born 2000) is a composer, performance artist, writer and model. They studied composition at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and focused on sustainable art at the EU School of Participation. Kulla was honoured as Tartu Noor Kultuurikandja 2020 and has been teaching at the University of Tartu Viljandi since 2021. Kulla’s work focuses on gender studies, feminism, minority cultures and Eastern philosophies.

Bo Huang is a composer from Changsha, China. Her works are performed worldwide. She has collaborated with renowned ensembles such as Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Musikfabrik and is a participant of the Lucerne Festival and ManiFeste Academy. She is currently studying composition at the Eastman School of Music.

Krõõt-Kärt Kaev (1992) is an Estonian composer who lives in Hamburg. She studied composition at the Tallinn Music High School, Georg Otsa Music School and the Estonian Academy of Music (Galina Grigorjeva). She obtained her bachelor’s degree in instrumental and electroacoustic composition at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. She is currently continuing her master’s degree at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz with Prof. Franck Bedrossian.

Njabulo Phungula is a composer from Durban, South Africa. He graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he studied with Jürgen Bräuninger and later with Clare Loveday. His music explores complex forms inspired by the concepts of time, memory and the creative process itself.

Ármin Cservenák is a Hungarian composer and conductor. After studying in Budapest, he continued his training at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz with Beat Furrer, Bernhard Lang and Georg Friedrich Haas. He is a scholarship holder of the Akademie Musiktheater Heute and won 3rd prize and the audience prize at the 76th Concours de Genève in 2022.

Stephen Mulligan comes from Baltimore, Maryland (USA), and began his musical career by studying the violin before embarking on a career as a conductor. During the pandemic, he expanded his focus to composition and graduated with a degree from Jörg Widmann at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin.

Nilufar Habibian is an award-winning Iranian-British composer and kanun player. She holds a BA in Music from Royal Holloway, University of London, and a Masters in Composition from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Anton Bruckner University. In 2023 her work ‘Az Nahayate Tariki’ was nominated for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Chamber-Scale Composition Award.

Dea Ahma was born in 2003 and comes from Gjakova, Kosovo. She is currently studying composition in the bachelor’s programme at the University of Prishtina ‘Hasan Prishtina’ in the class of Drinor Zymberi.

Emre Şener (born 2001) is an award-winning Turkish composer and conductor. He is co-founder and conductor of the London Contemporary Soloists. Şener studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and graduated with highest honours. From autumn 2024 he will begin his master’s degree at the Juilliard School.

Zampia Betty Mavropoulou is a Greek composer who lives in Hanover. She completed her diploma in classical guitar in Greece and is currently studying composition at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. She studies instrumental composition with Aaron Cassidy and Niklos Drelas and electronic composition with Joachim Heintz.

Marie Nečasová lives in Prague, Czech Republic. She studied composition in Prague, Linz and Lyon and is continuing her studies in Vienna. She also studied music publishing, book graphics and early music. In her compositions, she pursues a ‘visual’ approach and combines sound textures with voices and melodies – watercolour abstractions with graphic lines.

Yalda Jahangiri (born 1999) studied music at the University of Tehran. She discovered her passion for contemporary composition during her studies. She is currently studying composition with Maurizio Azzan in order to further develop her artistic voice.

Camila Agosto is an electroacoustic composer, interdisciplinary artist and educator based in New York City. Her work is inspired by concepts such as memory, perception and psychoacoustic experiences. In 2023, she received the Berlin Prize from the American Academy in Berlin and is a Deutsche Bank Fellow in Music Composition. She is currently completing her doctoral studies at Columbia University.

Hsin-Hua Wang is an award-winning Taiwanese composer, pianist and author based in Los Angeles. She was nominated for Best Film Score at the 2023 New Jersey Web Fest and received the 2021 Special Achievement in Music for Animation award from The American Prize. She holds an MFA degree in Composition from CalArts and a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan.

Hyo Eun (Heather) Ahn is a South Korean composer currently living in Baltimore. Ahn studies at the Peabody Institute with Oscar Bettison and Felipe Lara and has previously earned degrees from the Peabody Institute and Ewha Women’s University.

Cem Güven (born 1997) is a Turkish composer from Istanbul. He graduated from the Juilliard School and the Royal Academy of Music and is currently studying for a doctorate at Columbia University on a scholarship. Güven is nominated for the Gaudeamus Award 2024 and has won numerous international prizes. His works have been performed by renowned orchestras and ensembles.