Andrew Willette and Guillermo Najarro, violins
Margaret Allen, viola
Sasha Wemmie, cello

Disquietude attempts to reflect the raw emotions of uneasiness and anxiety. As a result of this inspiration this piece became an exploration of ordered states and disordered states. Throughout the piece we explore transformations from a united state of sound to a state of deviation of musical ideas, rhythmic syncopation, density of sound, & the isolation of silence.

Bernard Short (b. 1979, Harlem, NYC) was raised in Far Rockaway Queens, NY; he earned a BA in music with a focus in composition at Morehouse College in 2007, and a Masters in Music Education at The University of Georgia in 2012. He is currently in the PhD music composition program at the University of Iowa. He was awarded a Dean’s Fellowship, currently; he is working as a research assistant for the Center for New Music, and is studying with Lawrence Fritts and David Gompper.
    From 2008-2014 he was the Director of Bands and Orchestra at Cross Keys High School in Atlanta, GA. While Director, he was responsible for the rebirth of both programs, which are thriving today, and the programs awarding of Grants from many organizations, which helped fuel his success; including one from The Grammy Organization. In 2015, he received a commission from The Julien Chamber Winds Ensemble at The University of Dubuque. In 2017, he was commissioned to compose a piece to have its world premier in Mykonos, Greece at the Delian Academy for New Music’s International Summer Academy for Composers and Sound Artists. To Bernard, music is the expression of a person’s soul that is best used as a way to communicate with someone without allowing words to obliterate the message.

Allyson Kegel, oboe
Melanie Long, clarinet
Bethany Wheeler, harp

20th century Iranian poet, Ahmad Shamlou (1926-2000), depicts somebody in this poem (probably the one to whom the poem is dedicated) at an old, quiet house on a warm midday. There is an abstract sense of nostalgia and homeland. The poem consists of three main parts. The first two of them share a closing verse. In the third part, there can be found a lexical development based on what is heard/read in the first two parts. Its closing verse references the first two but is transformed. The music neither follows the poem’s structure strictly nor embellishes it.

Ramin Roshandel (b.1987) started studying the setar (an Iranian classical music instrument) at the age of 14. He completed his Bachelor’s in Iranian Music Performance at the Tehran University of Art, and his Master’s in Music Composition at the University of Tehran. He is currently in the first year of his Ph.D. in composition at the University of Iowa, working with Josh Levine.

Lou Barker, violin I
Tori Cassady, violin II
Anj Droe, viola
Andy Swiston, cello

"snapshots" started with many sheets of paper and on each was a separate snapshot of what the larger piece could be. Upon being combined, each small snapshot aggregates to create one larger, panoramic picture.  Most of what I composed was a framework for improvisation and much of the musical surface is determined by the performers choices and discretion.

Anastasia Scholze is in the first year of her undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa as a vocal performance major. She is currently studying composition with Jeremy Maas.

Benjamin Wolfe, countertenor
stereo fixed media

From the perspective of three characters this piece reflects on different aspects of the armed conflict in Colombia mixing facts occurred along the last 80 years.

The X Train

Carlos Toro-Tobón, a composer born and raised in Colombia, received his MA degree in composition from the Universidad EAFIT in 2011. Since 2005, he has been a professor of music theory and composition at the Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia, where also coordinated the music education program. In 2014 Carlos Toro-Tobón was granted a Fulbright scholarship to study in the U.S., and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition at the University of Iowa.     His composition teachers have been, Andrés Posada S, Moisés Bertrán, Marco Alunno, Lawrence Fritts, Nomi Epstein, and Josh Levine.

Maeve McGonigal, flute
Christine Burke, clarinet
Paul Downing, percussion
Hongwei Cai, piano
Jenna Ferdon, violin
Will Yager, double bass
Carlos Cotallo Solares, conductor

Within the rigid and static sections (or scenes), foreign actions appear, ultimately overpowering the initial material. These actions are obscene in the etymological sense, meaning that they do not belong on stage. The hierarchy shift is eventually questioned, since the seemingly rebellious actions are reabsorbed into the original structure.

Carlos Cotallo Solares (b. 1989) is a Spanish composer. His work deals with subjects such as the relationship between music and language, quotation, and meter and tempo polyphony. His pieces often focus on a single concept or technique that is interpreted in multiple ways.
    Carlos is currently pursuing a PhD in composition at the University of Iowa, completing previously a Master's degree at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and a Bachelor's degree at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. He works as a teaching assistant in music theory and composition and is one of the organizers of the concert series iHearIC.

The Way Life is 

Jack SIMPSON 

Agnus Dei 

Jinwon KIM 

A Winter’s Tale 

Greta LARGET 

A_ciR0 

Alexander TOTH 

Overcast 

Lucas PREUTH 

The Brook 

Andrew NOVITSKIY 

Entrance at the End 

Christine BURKE