Inaugural SCFP Fellows
Six composer fellows of the inaugural Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program were selected from an international applicant pool. The fellows participated in seminars, workshops, and rehearsals with resident performers to present their music at the Composer Fellowship Concert on September 5, 2023. This concert, co-presented with ensembleNEWSRQ, will be rebroadcasted on Classical WSMR and other radio stations around the United States in November on Tyler Kline’s Modern Notebook show. Learn about the inaugural composer fellows below!
Nicholas Bentz
Nick Bentz (Charleston, SC) is a composer, violinist, and multimedia artist whose work is drawn to the remote fringes and recesses of experience. He seeks to render intimate spaces imbued with narrative. Inspired by historical materials, Nick's work explores the destructive relationship between sound artifacts and time. His art centers on the blurring, juxtaposition, and amalgamation of stylistic idioms. Nick is currently pursuing a doctorate in Music and Multimedia Composition at Brown University. His mentors include notable composers such as Anthony Cheung, Wang Lu, Eric Nathan, Butch Rovan, Nina Young, Donald Crockett, Ted Hearne, Andrew Norman, Kevin Puts, Felipe Lara, and Yiorgos Vassilandonakis.
Zachary Konick
Zachary Konick is a San Diego-based composer, music instructor, and performer. His works have received notable performances by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the newEar Ensemble, the Florida Orchestra, The Conjunct Contemporani del CSMIB (Palma, Spain), the McCormick Percussion Group, the JACK, Ethel, Spektral, and Mivos String Quartets, as well as many others. He is currently a PhD candidate in music composition at the University of California San Diego, where he studies with Roger Reynolds. His past mentors have included Thomas DeLio, Chinary Ung, Lei Liang, Katharina Rosenberger, Baljinder Sekhon, and Paul Reller.
Angela Elizabeth Slater
Angela Elizabeth Slater is a UK-based composer and Director of Illuminate Women’s Music. She has an interest in musically mapping aspects of the natural world into the fabric of her music. Recent significant achievements include being selected for the Royal Philharmonic Society Composer programme for 2021-22, as a 2020-22 Tanglewood Composition Fellow, and a 2017-18 Britten-Pears Young Artist through which Angela worked with Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews and Michael Gandolfi. Angela was the 2019 Mendelssohn Scholar at New England Conservatory and continues to have performances across the US, including the world premiere of Roil in Stillness by the New England Philharmonic.This year she will be developing a new accordion concerto working with accordionist Sanja Mlinarič, writing new works for Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, CoMA and the Mostly Modern Festival.
Claire Hu
Claire Hu is a composer and performer based in Princeton, NJ. Described as colorful, expressive and imaginative, her award-winning works have been performed in the US and Europe. Her music explores textures and rhythms, reflecting her interest in visual art, languages, storytelling, psychoacoustics, and philosophy. She enjoys multimedia collaborations with visual artists, engineers, architects, sculptors and art museums for sound art projects. She also writes and produces electronic, indie pop, and EDM, and has released three EPs.
Chris Neiner
Chris Neiner is a Cleveland-based composer. His recent commissions include Time Machine Hyperboles for NO EXIT New Music Ensemble; Red Riding Pictures Proudly Presents for Stars in the Classics; and Aurora Fanfare & Dance for the Aurora School of Music. Neiner’s works have been praised by Cleveland Classical for "incorporating the zazzy colors of the current new music dialect," and "pleasant shocks and melting cadences."His music has appeared on programs by the Grammy award-winning Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Sinfonia, American Modern Ensemble, Boston New Music Initiative, and many more. Currently, Neiner is the composition faculty for the Aurora School of Music and artist-in-residence for Solich Piano.
Yangfan Xu
Yangfan Xu is a US-based Chinese composer from a musical family in Lanzhou. She has received commissions from the New Juilliard Ensemble, New York Choreographic Institute affiliated with the New York City Ballet, and many more. Her works have been performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, Friction Quartet, Hausmann Quartet, amongst others. She has studied with notable composers such as Steve Mackey, Phillip Lasser, Xiaofu Zhang, Jin Ping, and Michel Merlet. Xu began her compositional study in 2014 and holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at the New England Conservatory of Music with Kati Agócs.