Composer Chats

Born in Australia and raised in an immigrant family, Melissa Dunphy herself immigrated to the United States in 2003 and has since become an acclaimed composer specializing in vocal, political, and theatrical music. She first came to national attention in 2009 when her large-scale work the Gonzales Cantata was featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, National Review, Fox News, and on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, where host Rachel Maddow described it as “the coolest thing you’ve ever seen on this show.” Other notable works include Totality, commissioned by The King’s Singers and VOCES8 and premiered at the BBC Proms 2024, song cycle Tesla's Pigeon, which won first place in the NATS Art Song Composition Award, and What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach? which won the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Competition and has been performed around the country by choral ensembles including Chanticleer, Cantus, and the St. Louis Chamber Chorus.

In 2024, Dunphy was awarded an Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts. She received a 2020 Opera America Discovery Grant for Alice Tierney, a commission for Oberlin Opera Theater that premiered in 2023 and received its professional debut at Opera Columbus. She has been composer-in-residence for the Immaculata Symphony Orchestra, Volti, and the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, and her commissions include works for the BBC Singers, VOCES8, Cantus, Mendelssohn Chorus, Seattle Pro Musica, Chor Leoni, La Caccina, Skylark, Experiments in Opera, and the Kennett Symphony. Dunphy is also a Barrymore Award-nominated theater composer and sound designer, and served from 2014-2024 as Director of Music Composition for the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut.

Dunphy has a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.M. from West Chester University and is on faculty at Rutgers University. She is president of the boards of directors for Wildflower Composers and Lyric Fest. Melissa and her husband Matt are also avid citizen archaeologists and co-hosts of the popular podcast The Boghouse about their adventures in Philadelphia colonial archaeology; they are currently developing the Necessary Museum, which they hope to open in 2026 to showcase their local discoveries.

https://www.melissadunphy.com

Charles Booker (b. 1952), a native of Natchez, Mississippi, is a former U.S. Army Bandmaster, and Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith. He served the university as Director of Jazz Studies, Director of Bands, and Chair of the Music Department. During his tenure at UA Fort Smith he taught trumpet, band, jazz band, conducting, music theory, orchestration and composition. Mr. Booker was a student of Al Sturchio and Dan Schreiber and studied trumpet with Gary Rosenblatt and Jan Roller. He studied composition with Hank Levy (composer/arranger for Stan Kenton), Dr. Steve Strunk and Dr. James Balentine, and conducting with Dr. Robert Garofalo and Dr. Robert Rustowicz. Mr. Booker received his degrees from the University of the State of New York and the University of Texas at San Antonio. He later completed courses for Texas teacher certification in secondary music at Texas State University and holds a Texas Teaching Certificate.

Mr. Booker has over 100 compositions published by Alfred, Kendor, Southern Music Company, Wingert-Jones, Potenza Music, Print Music Source, and Lecta Music. Mr. Booker’s music has been performed internationally by schools, universities, community bands and professional bands and orchestras that include the Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra, The U.S. Army Band and Orchestra ("Pershing’s Own"), the U.S. Army Field Band, the U.S. Military Academy Band (West Point), the U.S. Air Force Band of Mid-America and the U.S. Air Force Academy Band. Mr. Booker’s 21 year career in the U.S. Army included service in the Fifth Army Band in San Antonio, Texas, staff arranger for the Army Field Band, conductor of Army Bands in Louisiana, Germany, New York City, and director of the Jazz Ambassadors in Washington, D.C. As a trumpeter with the Fifth Army Band, Mr. Booker performed for the funerals of Presidents Truman and Johnson. In 1981, as the conductor of the 3rd Armored Division Band in Germany, Mr. Booker conducted ceremonies at Rhein Main Air Force Base for the returning American hostages from Iran. In New York City, he conducted the Army Band of New York City at ceremonies for head of states of the United States, Germany, France, Netherlands, Portugal and China, and his band performed at the centennial activities of the Statue of Liberty. While an associate conductor of the Army Field Band and director of the Jazz Ambassadors, Mr. Booker performed at the Kennedy Center, in 48 states, India, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and marched in the inauguration parades of Presidents George H. W. Bush and William J. Clinton.

He was Interim Director of Bands at Trinity University from 1996 to 1997 and assistant editor at Southern Music Company from 1994 to 1997. Charles Booker has been recognized by the Mayor of Fort Smith (the 2006 "Mayor’s Honors to the Visual and performing Arts"), the North Side Independent School District of San Antonio, Texas (the 2008 "Pillars of Character Award") and received the Arkansas Arts Council Award in music composition for 2009. He is past president of the Arkansas Chapter of the College Band Directors National Association, past president of the Arkansas Chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators, current member of the Texas Bandmaster Association, the Association of Concert Bands and is a past president (2010) of the Arkansas Bandmaster Association. Mr. Booker is also a retired member of the Texas Chapter of Phi Beta Mu.

In 2007, the New Mexico State University Symphonic Winds released their CD entitled "Centra-fuge: The Music of Charles L. Booker, Jr.”, and in 2008, Mr. Booker released his second CD "American Jubilee”. Booker’s CD "Time Remembered” was released in 2009, and his CD "Radiant Blues” was released in 2011. In 2013 Mr. Booker and fellow composer Roger Cichy released a compilation of their latest original music on their CD “Glorious Journey”.

Mr. Booker is married to his wife of 49 years, trumpeter and quilter, Claudette [DeRocher] Booker of San Antonio, Texas. They have three children: Major Erik Booker, U. S. Army (Retired) and Maryland public school teacher; Dr. Adam Booker, Assistant Professor of Double Bass at Appalachian State University, and Dr. Colleen Booker Halverson of Richland Center, Wisconsin, author, English professor and mentor at Western Governors University. Mr. Booker and Claudette have nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

http://charlesbooker.com/

Catherine Likhuta (b. 1981, Kyiv, Ukraine) is an Australian-based composer, pianist and recording artist.

Catherine holds a bachelor's degree in jazz piano from Kyiv Glière Music College and a five-year post-graduate degree in composition from the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory). She is currently [2018] pursuing a Ph.D. in composition at the University of Queensland.

Her music exhibits high emotional charge, programmatic nature and rhythmic complexity. Catherine's works have been performed throughout North America, Europe and Australia by many prominent soloists and ensembles, such as Paul Dean, Peter Luff, The Australian Voices, U.S. Army Field Band Horns, Cornell University Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony, Queensland Conservatorium Wind Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the National Radio of Ukraine. Her pieces have been played at several international events, including two international horn symposia and the World Saxophone Congress. Her concertino for five horns entitled Hard to Argue became the winner of the International Horn Society Composition Contest, virtuoso division.

www.catherinelikhuta.com

Jennifer E. Rose (b. 1978) is an American composer, sound designer, and audio editor. A former band director and music educator of 15 years, Rose is passionate about engaging students through performance. Lately, her genre-breaking scores that incorporate 8-bit sound design and orchestral elements have garnered the attention of ensemble directors worldwide.

​Jennifer holds a Professional Artist Certificate in Composition and Master’s degree in Composition & Technology from the North Carolina School of the Arts as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the University of Arkansas.

www.composerose.com

From the serious to the lighthearted, Spavelko's work inspires deeper connections with one another and ourselves. In equal measure, listeners can find play, curiosity, joy, sensitivity, and empathy.

Her works have been performed across the United States, as well as in Italy, Singapore, and Canada.

She has been commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Central Ohio Symphony, the Johnstone Fund for New Music, and numerous artists & performing ensembles. She arranged Orphée+ with Opera Columbus.

Spavelko has won multiple awards, including the 2017 Gian Carlo Menotti Young Composers Prize in Spoleto, Italy (Baby Book) and the Ruth Anderson Commission Prize from IAWM (Black Box 2.0).

She has been a finalist for the NATS Art Song Composition Award (Baby Book) and for the American Prize in Vocal Chamber Music (Baby Book and From Edna, With Love) and Orchestral Music. (Kéyah)

In addition to composing, Spavelko is a gifted educator.

She operates Musical Life, where she offers lessons in voice, piano, violin, & composition. She is a part-time professor at Otterbein University, where she teaches theory & piano skills for musical theater.

She also presents as a guest composer in K-12 classrooms, designs youth composition workshops, composes for youth ensembles, and delivers lectures on solo entrepreneurship for college students.

Lauren Spavelko performs as a vocalist, violinist, and pianist in both classical and commercial productions. She enjoys collaborating with artists and organizations in Columbus and the greater region. She has performed with opera workshops, professional choirs, chambers orchestras, and as a soloist.

(Learn more and see her work on her performance page.)​

From 2012-2014, Lauren toured with internationally-renowned artist Tajci and manager/producer Matthew Cameron, performing in 100+ concerts as a violinist and vocalist, and learning about concert production, sales, and logistics.

She is a co-coordinator of the Institute for Composer Diversity's chamber music database and a board member of Converging Arts Columbus and the Central Ohio Hot Jazz Society.

Spavelko is a graduate of the University of Louisville (M.M. Composition) and Ohio Wesleyan University (B.M. Music Education). She has studied composition with Steve Rouse, Clint Needham, and Jason Bahr.

She values a balanced life rich in creative work, friendship, self-exploration, and play, and she desires the same for other artists.

You can hear her laughing through Columbus while swing dancing, singing and fiddling, practicing yoga, painting, and making a joyful raucous with her circle

Katie Jenkins is a multi-award-winning Welsh composer and producer, now based in New York City. She is recognised for her ability to weave together sonic textures, influenced by her Celtic background. She draws on her ability as a vocalist and violinist to create her distinctive sound. Katie’s music can be found on stage, in the media and at the concert hall. She is renowned for her strength in collaborative work and ability to form supportive environments where she works closely with fellow musicians to maximize their creative output. Her choral and solo piano music has been published by Hal Leonard in the US and Europe and her instrumental music by Murphy Music Press.

Her musical talent, coupled with her entrepreneurial skills has already left her with an array of awards. Jenkins’ most recent accolades include winning the Grand Prize in the International Women’s Brass Festival: WCFT Competition, the EXPO: New Works Competition, the Composer’s Cordance Generations XI: New Music for Jazz Septet, the LunArt Festival and the New York Federation of Music Prize. Her music has been used by many filmmakers, including festival success at the Berlin Film Festival and New York International Film Awards. Her original score, written in collaboration with Shelbie Rassler, for the docu-series ‘Wright of Passage’ premiered at NASA, The Kennedy Space Center, June 2023. She has been commissioned by numerous ensembles and individuals such as Ensemble Intencomperain, the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of the New York City Ballet and more recently fashion designer Terrence Zhou (Bad Binch Tong Tong); creating original music for New York Fashion Week shows in the fall of both 2022 and 2023. Her music has been performed across the world including venues such as National Sawdust, where she held a fellowship, The Juilliard School, The Curtis Institute of Music, BBC Hoddinott Hall, The DiMenna Center and music festivals in Barcelona, Serbia, Bulgaria and more! Katie enjoys working with a broad spectrum of creative talent. She has composed and produced music for the United Nations, The Female Quotient, The Girls Day School Trust, and Joy of Mom.

She is a 2022 graduate of the Juilliard School where she held the Henry Mancini Fellowship. She has returned to Juilliard where she is currently completing her Masters degree as well as coaching film scoring and music production in the Center for Innovation in The Arts. Katie recently joined the composition faculty at The Juilliard Pre-College where she teaches Music Technology and Screen Scoring.

www.katiejenkinscomposer.com

Nathan Hervey (b. Texas) is an American composer and educator.

Mr. Hervey grew up in Arlington, Texas. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from UT Arlington and his Master of Music in trombone performance from University of North Texas. He currently serves as band director at Arlington High School and also teaches beginners at Bailey Junior High in Arlington.

Mr. Hervey currently serves a band director at Arlington (Tx.) High School. In that role he conducts the jazz ensembles as well as the concert band and assists with the marching band. Other duties include teaching beginner musicians at Bailey Junior High.

Composition has long been one of Mr. Hervey’s passions, and it has grown out of a desire to provide beautiful music for young musicians. His earliest compositions were quartets and piano pieces. He has also done a lot of transcriptions/arrangements for jazz bands that he has conducted over the years. Throughout his teaching career, he began getting ideas for music that he could write for his own ensembles. It started with arranging chorales, warm-ups, etc., and then moved into original music for them to perform. As time went on, his strong desire to write for young ensembles simply grew and students also encouraged me to keep writing.

David Shenton is an English-born pianist, violinist, composer, and arranger based in New York City. As pianist/music director David has worked with renowned members of the music profession in all genres, including Vanessa Williams, Tony Bennett, Norm Lewis, Zach Levi, Sierra Boggess, Denyce Graves, Alfie Bøe, Renée Fleming, Sherrill Milnes, Marilyn Maye, Liz Callaway, Sir André Previn, Michael Feinstein, Amanda McBroom, Katie Couric, Alan Menken, and Stephen Schwartz.

David's proficiency in multiples genres has allowed him to work at prestigious venues, in various guises, all over the world. He gave his Carnegie Hall début in 2014 when he conducted (from the piano) his own orchestra/big band in front of a sold out house. David's Jazz @ Lincoln Center début was at The Rose Theater as jazz pianist in 2008, and two years later he gave his classical piano début at Lincoln Center's Rubenstein Atrium performing Schumann and Chopin as part of the 200th year anniversary celebrations of these two composers. In 2012 David arranged, orchestrated, conducted, and played solo violin and piano for a Lincoln Center-commissioned work to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of Titanic. As a violinist, David has performed frequently as a soloist with leading orchestras and as a recitalist. As a jazz pianist he continues to perform frequently at jazz clubs and larger venues in the USA.

David is one third of the popular musical group Empire Trio that he founded with his wife, soprano Erin Shields. Empire Trio was commissioned by Lincoln Center to create a new show (to premiere at Lincoln Center) about the history of Italian popular music. Empire Trio tours extensively in the US, Canada and Europe.

In 2013 David began a close working relationship with lyricist Martin Charnin (creator and lyricist of, among many others, Annie). David has co-created more than a dozen reviews/shows with Mr. Charnin which have been performed frequently by Broadway stars including Charnin's wife Shelly Burch, John Treacy Egan, Alton Fitzgerald White, Robi Hager, and many others.

A prolific arranger, David has worked for Abbey Road & CTS Studios (London), on Hollywood movies, West End & Broadway shows. He arranged/orchestrated the music for Howard Blake's The Snowman, which has run in the West End since 1998, and has orchestrated several shows in Germany, as well as the newest musical by the 'Annie' team, Robin Hood' The Untold Story. In August 2013 David created and orchestrated the original arrangements for a new and exciting group, Opus X, whose début album featured special guest, trumpeter Chris Botti.

David began writing music at the age of 9 and has written hundreds of pieces including a symphony, 2 piano concertos, 2 violin concertos and 2 string quartets all composed before the age of 11. Recent works include a double jazz violin concerto, several songs, and 5 musicals, all of which have premiered in New York.

David’s CDs are widely available and his solo piano CD, Sunnyside Blues, has won high acclaim as well as several awards. David’s ballet, Ascension, was commissioned by The Pendulum Aerial Dance Company in Portland (OR), who performs this work frequently. David wrote his first film score for Franc Reyes' drama, Beauty, which was screened in Hollywood, Miami and New York.

David teaches extensively and, as a coach, accompanist and teaching professor, has been on the faculties of NYU, The New School, The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, was visiting professor of violin and piano at St. Thomas Choir School for 4 years, and is entering his sixth year as the Music Director at Grace Church School in Manhattan. He is also a composer in residence in the advanced class of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

Born in Rotherham (South Yorkshire), England, David studied violin and piano at The Royal College of Music, London from where he graduated with the highest honours.

https://www.shentonmusic.com/

Praised as "One of the most sought after young composers in the country" (Texas Monthly) and “a composer who clearly understands the orchestra and knows how to take advantage of its many varied colors” (Tallahassee Democrat), composer and conductor Quinn Mason (b. 1996) has distinguished himself as an artist of national and international renown. He previously served a successful tenure as Artist in Residence of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for the 2022-2023 season. He also served as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Classical Roots composer in residence in 2022 (the youngest composer appointed to that role) and as KMFA 89.5’s inaugural composer in residence.

His orchestral music has been commissioned and performed by over 170 professional, regional, community and youth orchestras in the US and Europe, including the San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, ​Kansas City Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, The Syracuse Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony, National Youth Orchestra of the United States (NYO-USA), New World Symphony, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, New England Conservatory Philharmonia, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Experiential Orchestra, Mesquite Symphony Orchestra, Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Symphony San Jose, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the River Oaks, Reno, Mission and Lowell chamber orchestras, youth orchestras of Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Central Kentucky, Vermont, Rhode Island, Memphis, East Texas, Omaha, Seattle and Dallas, Scotland's West of Scotland Schools Symphony Orchestra, Italy's Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, UK's Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra and numerous others.

​As a conductor, Quinn has guest conducted numerous orchestras, including the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, The Syracuse Orchestra, Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, Harmonia Orchestra, MusicaNova Orchestra and the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra. In April 2023, he debuted with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and he also served as the Houston Ballet Orchestra's youngest ever guest conductor. Quinn studied conducting at the National Orchestral Institute with Marin Alsop and James Ross, at the Eastern Music Festival with Gerard Schwarz, José-Luis Novoand Grant Cooper and has worked with Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Edwin Outwater, Carl Topilow, Christopher Zimmerman and Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

His chamber music has been performed and presented by celebrated organizations such as Voices of Change, Midsummer's Music, The Cliburn, One Found Sound, loadbang, MAKE trio, Atlantic Brass Quintet, Axiom Brass, and the Cézanne, Julius, Invoke and Baumer string quartets. His solo music has been championed by distinguished soloists such as David Cooper (associate principal horn, Los Angeles Philharmonic), Lara Downes (pianist), Mark Davidson (principal trombone, Utah Symphony), Holly Mulcahy(concertmaster, Wichita Symphony) and Jordan Bak and Michael Hall (viola soloists).

​His compositions for winds have been performed by renowned bands of Southern Methodist University, University of Texas, University of North Texas, University of Michigan, University of Maryland, Texas Christian University, Penn State, University of Toronto, University of Georgia, Purdue University, University of Minnesota, and Northern Illinois University, as well as the Dallas Winds, Encore Wind Ensemble, Metropolitan Winds and others throughout the United States and Canada.

​His music has also received significant radio play. He served as KMFA 89.5's inaugural composer in residence and has had his music broadcast on NPR in the US, CBC in Canada, BBC in London, ORF in Vienna, RAI in Italy, in countries such as Switzerland, Hungary, Latvia, Israel and many others.

​A multiple prize winner in composition, he has received numerous awards and honors from such organizations as the American Composers Forum, Voices of Change, Texas A&M University, ASCAP, the Dallas Foundation, Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble, National Flute Association, International Clarinet Association, the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, the Heartland Symphony Orchestra and the Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra. In 2020, Quinn was honored by the Dallas Morning News as a finalist for 'Texan of the Year'.​

Quinn has studied composition at the SMU Meadows School of the Arts, with Dr. Winston Stone at University of Texas at Dallas and has also worked closely with renowned composers David Maslanka, Jake Heggie, Christopher Theofanidis, Libby Larsen, David Dzubay and Robert X. Rodriguez.

https://www.masonianmusic.com

Composer/librettist Rachel J. Peters (she/her, b. 1977) writes all manner of works for the stage. Her operas include Lesson Plan (On Site Opera), Companionship (Virginia Arts Festival, Fort Worth Opera), Rootabaga Country (Sarasota Opera), Sketchbook for Ollie (Lyric Opera of Kansas City);The Wild Beast of the Bungalow (Oberlin Conservatory) and Three Amputators with Royce Vavrek (Arctic Chamber Music Festival); No Ladies in the Lady’s Book (Utah Opera), Staggerwing (Opera Kansas), and Men I’m Not Married To (Cleveland Opera Theater) with Lisa DeSpain; Steve (Boston Opera Collaborative), Everything Comes to a Head with Margi Preus and Jean Sramek (Decameron Opera Coalition), Pie, Pith, and Palette with Marvin J. Carlton (The Atlanta Opera), and Welcome to the Madness (complete with live horses) with Leanna Kirchoff (Opera Steamboat). She has the distinct honor of writing the only opera score (so far) containing a barfing cat ever performed at Caramoor. This season, a new, expanded Staggerwing makes its way across the country.

Rachel’s musicals include Only Children with Michael R. Jackson (NYU Tisch, Lincoln Center Directors Lab), Tiny Feats of Cowardice with Susan Bernfield (NYC Fringe Festival), Write Left with John Walch (Playwrights Horizons Theatre School), Tomato Red (UC Irvine), and Octopus Heart (NYU Steinhardt). Her score for Danielle Durchslag’s film musical, Good Shabbos, is currently in development. Scores for plays include the critically acclaimed Stretch (a fantasia) (New Georges) and Tania in the Getaway Van (Flea Theater) by Susan Bernfield, Transatlantic by John Walch (Arkansas Rep), The Bacchae (Asolo Rep Conservatory), and several works by Stan Richardson.

Concert works include mini-monodrama Ethel Smyth Plays Golf in Limbo (Semperoper Dresden, Resonance Works Pittsburgh), If You Can Prove That I Should Set You Free (Albany Symphony), Jack's Vocabulary (Hartt SPASM), I Live Here (Galapagos Art Space), Canon I (Two Sides Sounding), And Then (BayPath College), and Fronds: The Wisdom of Fanny Fern (Walt Whitman Project). Rachel’s extensive catalogue of songs has been performed at Lincoln Center, Second Stage, National Opera Center, Symphony Space, New York Festival of Song, National Sawdust, Ars Nova, Joe's Pub, and cabarets and theatres nationwide. Rachel contributed to the new generation of The AIDS Quilt Songbook and to Michael R. Jackson’s Dirty Laundry and Zachary James’s CALL OUT albums.

Rachel has held residencies as composer and/or librettist at Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Yaddo, Brush Creek Arts, Millay Arts, and Soaring Gardens. She has received Anna Sosenko Assist Trust and multiple ASCAPlus awards. OPERA America awarded her a Female Composers Discovery Grant to write Manor of Speaking…with Kevin Thomas Townley, Jr., the first wholly original work for Stephanie Blythe’s alter ego, Blythely Oratonio; other such grants went to Sarasota Opera for Rootabaga Country and to collaborator Leanna Kirchoff for their opera Friday After Friday. Rachel is a proud alumna of New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio, The American Opera Project’s Composers and the Voice, and the John Duffy Institute for New Opera. She holds a double B.A. summa cum laude from Brandeis University and an MFA from New York University’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. She serves on committees for the Dramatists Guild and National Opera Association, and is a member of the inaugural Jewish Composers Working Group of Asylum Arts/The Neighborhood. Rachel is currently Manager of Programs and Initatives for Composers Now and Visiting Lecturer at the Princeton Lewis Center for the Arts Atelier.

Rachel originally hails from St. Louis, where she grew up singing in children’s choruses at the MUNY, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She has settled in Brooklyn, a borough with an exceptionally high concentration of opera composers. Much to her bewilderment, she is still mistaken for this woman online.

https://www.racheljpeters.com