Composer Chats

Jason K. Nitsch
  • 5.0 (2)
  • MUSIC INTERVIEWS

Composer Chat is a podcast where we talk a little bit about music, a little bit about life, and a whole lot about whatever we feel like at the moment! Each episode I am joined by a special guest composer and we will chat about their pathway towards success in their musical career!

  1. 6D AGO

    3.1 - Jordan Jinosko

    Multi-award-winning composer Jordan Jinosko is celebrated across concert, media and film music industries, gaining international acclaim for the “subtle and powerful” and “cinematic scope” (Wisconsin Public Radio) of her work. Drawing inspiration from mythology, nature, her lived experiences as a trans woman of color, and her social & environmental activism, Jordan’s compositions have been commissioned and performed by leading and Grammy Award-winning organizations and performers worldwide. Her music has been performed in renowned concert halls including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Kimmel Center, and has been featured on radio stations nationwide and at major events such as the Midwest Clinic, ASTA National Orchestra Festival, and Interlochen Arts Festival. Jinosko’s music has also been highlighted and praised in various newspapers and magazines across the nation. Jinosko’s Three Sketches of Unblemished Earth, as recorded on the album Advent of the Symphonina (featuring the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, and Budapest Scoring Orchestra), topped Billboard’s chart of Best-selling Classical Albums in August 2024. Her orchestral piece Tales from the Aviary is scheduled for a European tour in summer 2026 under the Conductor Yun Song Tay. Jinosko’s music has also been performed by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (Grammy-winning), conductors Péter Illényi (“Squid Game,” “M3GAN”), Ronnie Sanders, Ward Stare, Jonathan Glawe, double bassist Jory Herman (LA Phil), concertmaster David Halen (Saint Louis Symphony), violinist Yibin Li (The Juilliard School), and many other distinguished musicians. Jinosko scored Trajectories (2022), a film by Japanese filmmaker Shun Shigeta, which won the Grand Prix of SONY’s Xperia U25 Film Competition. She also composed the score for UNFOUND (2023), a film directed by Australian filmmaker Poom Ariyakusonsuthi, which was nominated for Best International Thriller at Toronto’s Alternative Film Festival. Jinosko’s haunting score for UNFOUND also won the Afterlife Best Film Score Award in 2023. Jordan Jinosko’s work has garnered other accolades. Besides topping Billboard’s Best-selling Classical Album, Best Symphonina of the Year (2025), Golden State Emerging Composers’ Competition, QUO Vanguard Composer Competition, New Conductors Orchestra Composer Competition, Green Dot Composers Competition, Brazosport Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition, and the Arts Midwest GIG Fund Grant. Additionally, Her music has also been honored by The American Prize, Global Music Awards, Music International Grand Prix, and Howard Hanson Young Composers Competition. During her time at Eastman Community Music School, she received the Molly Mulligan Award and John A. Wollaver Award. She has been commissioned by organizations including Strathmore in D.C. and County Hall Arts in London. Jinosko studied music composition and music theory at the University of Michigan and the Eastman School of Music’s pre-collegiate division (ECMS). Her composition mentors have included Michael Daugherty (Grammy winner), Bright Sheng (MacArthur Genius), Evan Chambers, Kristen Kuster, Margaret Henry, and others. She took lessons in NYC with Juilliard professor, Samuel Adler. She has attended masterclasses with Grammy-winning composers (Gabrielle Lena Frank, William Bolcom, Christopher Rouse), Pulitzer Prize-winning composers (John Luther Adams and Shulamit Ran) and renowned film composers Paul Chihara (“The Karate Kid 2,” “The Green Berets,” “The Killing Fields”) and Conrad Pope (“Star Wars,” “Harry Potter,” “Jurassic Park,” “Pirates of the Caribbean”). Jinosko also has participated in symposia led by faculty at Juilliard, Yale, Princeton, and Eastman. Jinosko’s music draws inspiration from her experiences around gender. Her piece, Regeneration, chronicles the struggle of her own transition, ultimately presenting a triumphant celebration of...

    1h 2m

  2. 10/21/2025

    2.39 - Noah Hudson-Camack

    Noah Hudson-Camack (b. 2001) is a composer and arranger native to Cary, North Carolina. Believing firmly in diversity as strength within art, he seeks to blend elements from disparate eras of Western art music, jazz, and popular music in his work. The sewing together of different genre aesthetics is as much an objective in his music as developing strong motivic content, rich harmony, and complex rhythm. He explores these connections in his solo, chamber, jazz, and wind symphony works.  Noah premiered Fanfare and Flight at the 2023 College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Conference with the Vanderbilt Wind Symphony. He also was a finalist for the Austin Symphonic Band’s Young Composer Competition and a winner of Vanderbilt University’s Wind Symphony Call For Scores with his piece Quiet Storm. Sharing his own excitement and joy for what music making and appreciation can bring he considers not just a goal, but a responsibility. Deeply valuing education, Noah is a two time teaching fellow for the North Carolina Governor’s School’s instrumental music program and aims to be a collegiate educator in the future.  Noah graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2024 with a Bachelor of Musical Arts in Composition with a minor in Computer Science, and thanks his teachers Michael Slayton, Stan Link, Michael Alec Rose, and Molly Herron for their guidance. He is pursuing his Master of Music at The University of Texas Austin studying composition. https://www.hudsoncamackmusic.com/

    58 min

  3. 10/14/2025

    2.38 - Mara Gibson

    Composer Mara Gibson is originally from Charlottesville, VA, graduated from Bennington College, and completed her Ph.D. at SUNY Buffalo. She has received grants and honors from the American Composer’s Forum, the Banff Center, Louisiana Division of the Arts, ArtsKC, Meet the Composer, the Kansas Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, the International Bass Society, ASCAP, the John Hendrick Memorial Commission, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the MacDowell Colony and Yale University. Internationally renowned ensembles and soloists perform her music throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Asia, and Europe. Dr. Gibson has had performances of her works at prestigious festivals and universities around the country and the world, most notably Mostly Modern Festival (New York), the Bowling Green New Music Festival (Ohio), Amici Della Musica (Udine, Italy), University of Melbourne (Australia), Thailand International Composition Festival (performances in multiple consecutive years), Reaktorhallen (Stockholm, Sweden), Daegu International Computer Music Festival (Korea) and the Beijing Modern Music Festival. Dr. Gibson has taught at the UMKC Conservatory as Associate Professor where she was the founder of the UMKC Composition Workshop and co-director/founder of ArtSounds. Starting fall 2017, she joined the faculty of Louisiana State University where she is currently Associate Professor of Composition and Area Head with tenure. Mara released her first compilation album ArtIfacts May 2015 with her second, Skyborn released in November 2017 and in 2020, she was selected through PARMA Recordings for their recording project with the Athens Philharmonic Orchestra with Secret Sky (Prisma V). In 2024, she released her third portrait album, Unseen World, GRAMMY eligible. Her compositions span numerous media, from chamber and solo works to electroacoustic music and a collection of works that combine video, electronic music and live performance. In her most recent work she incorporates extra-musical materials into vocal and instrumental performance, and integrates increasingly challenging subject matter with effective (and often unusual) instrumental and vocal delivery styles; these techniques extend performance practice and portray strong emotional content that defines the heart of her overall concept — the arc of the musical and theatrical development.  Recently, she completed her bassoon concerto, Escher Keys (2021) which garnered recognition by the American Prize in two categories, funded through a Louisiana Board of Regents (ATLAS grant). During her sabbatical (fall 2023) she began working on her first opera at the prestigious Moulin a Nef in Auvillar, France. Her opera, The Devil’s Dream (libretto by Ann McCutchan based on the novel by Lee Smith) will premiere spring 2026. https://maragibson.com/

    59 min

  4. 10/07/2025

    2.37 - Charles Rochester Young

    Charles Rochester Young was appointed as the Director of the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2022. At UNC Greensboro he works collaboratively with faculty, staff, students, and leadership to illuminate the lives of listeners and to better support students’ professional aspirations. Prior to his appointment at UNC Greensboro, Young served as the Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer at Baldwin Wallace University’s Conservatory of Music in Ohio. A fifth-generation educator, Young has received awards from the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (Wisconsin Professor of the Year), the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents (Regents Teaching Excellence Award—their highest honor), the University Continuing Education Association (National First Prize for Innovative Programming), Wisconsin School Music Association (Creative Sparks Award), and the College Music Society (Robby D. Gunstream Education in Music Award). As an artist, Dr. Young has received composition and performance awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, the National Endowment of the Arts, the Fischoff National Chamber Music competition, the National Association of Composers USA, the National Band Association, the National Flute Association, and the British and International Bassists Federation. His original works are widely published, recorded, and performed. Currently, Dr. Young serves as the Chair of the Nominations Committee for the National Association of Schools of Music. Young has previously served the College Music Society as a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors, as treasurer, and as board liaison for the Presidential Task Force on Leading Change. Previously, he served in leadership capacities with the North American Saxophone Alliance, the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers, and the Wisconsin Music Educators Association. Prior to Baldwin Wallace University, Young taught at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Central Connecticut State University, and Interlochen Arts Camp. He earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) and Master’s in Music (MM) degrees from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Music Education (BME) degree from Baylor University.

    59 min

  5. 09/30/2025

    2.36 - Jessie Cox

    Jessie Cox is Assistant Professor of Music at Harvard University and received his doctorate from Columbia University. Active as a composer, drummer, and scholar, his work thematizes questions at the intersection of black studies, music/sound studies, and critical theory. From Switzerland, with roots in Trinidad and Tobago, Cox thinks through questions of race, migration, national belonging, and our relation to the planet and the cosmos. His first monograph Sounds of Black Switzerland: Blackness, Music, and Unthought Voices (Duke UP, 2025) addresses how thinking with blackness and experimental musical practices might afford the opening of new discourses, such as thematizing Black Swiss Life.   Jessie Cox makes music about the universe and our future in it. Through avant-garde classical, experimental jazz, and sound art, he has devised his own strand of musical science fiction, one that asks where we go next. Cox’s music goes forward. When he describes it, he compares it to time travel and space exploration, likening the role of a composer to that of a rocket ship traversing undiscovered galaxies. He is influenced by a vast array of artists who have used their music to imagine futures, and takes Afrofuturism as a core inspiration, asking questions about existence, and the ways we make spaces habitable. Known for its disquieting tone and unexpected structural changes, his music steps into the unknown, and has been referred to by the New Yorker (Alex Ross) as an example of “dynamic pointillism,” a nebulous and ever-expanding sound world that includes “breathy instrumental noises, mournfully wailing glissandi, and climactic stampedes of frantic figuration.”   A dedicated collaborator, Cox has worked as a composer and drummer with ensembles and institutions such as the Sun Ra Arkestra, LA Phil, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, and the International Contemporary Ensemble; at Festivals such as the Lucerne Festival, MaerzMusik, and Opera Omaha. For his work as a composer, he has been recognized with a Fromm Foundation commission, the ASCAP Fred Ho Award, and his commissions have been funded by the Ernst von Siemens Foundation, Pro Helvetia, New Music USA, and others.   Cox’ scholarly writing asks new questions about our world through music. Recently, he has published in and co-translated the book Composing While Black, published as a bilingual edition in German and English by Wolke Verlag in 2023. Further texts appear in liquid blackness, Critical Studies in Improvisation, Positionen Texte zur Aktuellen Musik, Sound American, the American Music Review, and others. https://www.jessiecoxmusic.com/

    56 min

  6. 09/23/2025

    2.35 - Roger Zare

    Dr. Roger Zare is an assistant professor of composition and theory in the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University. He is praised for his “enviable grasp of orchestration” (New York Times), and often composes music inspired by science, nature, mathematics, and mythology. Dr. Zare previously taught at Illinois State University. An award-winning composer, Dr. Zare has had his music performed on six continents and has won multiple accolades, including the ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize, three BMI Student Composer Awards, a Copland House Residency Award, and a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His works, such as “The Other Rainbow” and “Green Flash,” have been performed at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall. His piece "Aerodynamics" was premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra. He has partnered with CERN for performances of his particle physics inspired music at the Montreux Jazz Festival and Sofia Science Festival, and in 2023 he was selected as the FRA Guest Composer at Fermilab, the United States’ national particle physics laboratory. In 2021, he collaborated with clarinetist Andy Hudson to write "Elements of Contemporary Clarinet Technique" and "SPACE BASS," etude books on modern clarinet techniques. Dr. Zare has served as composer in residence at music festivals including the Salt Bay Chamberfest and Chesapeake Music Festival, and his compositions are published by Theodore Presser Inc., FJH Music Company, Murphy Music Press, and Manhattan Beach Music. He is a founding member of the Blue Dot Collective. Zare holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan, a Master of Music from Peabody Conservatory, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California.

    55 min

  7. 09/16/2025

    2.34 - Cameron Moody

    Cameron Moody is an American composer, conductor, and trumpeter based in Los Angeles, CA. His distinctive utilization of the symphony orchestra has given way to a varied resume, with project genres in film and television ranging from action and documentaries to romance and comedies. Cameron composed the score for the Hulu original limited series Washington Black. The show, which was created by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, led by showrunner Kimberly Ann Harrison, and stars Ernest Kingsley Jr. and Sterling K. Brown, premiered on Hulu on July 23rd. At 22 years old, he has made history as the youngest person to ever score a 20th Century Television series. He wrote the score to the eight-part documentary series Kennedy, which chronicles the life and legacy of the 35th President John F. Kennedy. It aired on the History Channel in November of 2023, opening to rave reviews and becoming one of the History Channel’s flagship programs for 2023. In the summer of 2024, he completed Patrick Green’s documentary feature film Sincerely, Los Angeles, a love letter to the late Oscar-winning basketball legend Kobe Bryant. Cameron was also a frequent collaborator of Emmy-nominated and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael Abels, composing additional music on scores such as Disney’s Star Wars: The Acolyte—for which he also served as a conductor—Kobi Libii’s The American Society of Magical Negroes, David Yarovesky’s Nightbooks, the Emmy-nominated documentary series Allen v. Farrow, and Jordan Peele’s Nope. As an arranger, he contributed orchestrations and arrangements to the Disney+ anthology series Zootopia+ (score by Curtis Green and Mick Giacchino) a collection of short vignettes based on the 2016 hit film. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Cameron studied at New York University, majoring in Music Composition and Screen Scoring. In 2019, he was awarded a Marvin Hamlisch International Music Award for Best Composition by an Emerging Composer. In 2021, at age 18, he made history by becoming the youngest winner of ASCAP’s Henry Mancini Music Fellowship Award. In 2024, he also became the youngest composer (21) to ever be selected as a fellow in the highly coveted NBC/Universal Composers Initiative. A devoted champion of symphonic music, Cameron has added his voice to the ongoing struggle to keep postproduction work—specifically orchestral recording sessions—in Los Angeles. He hopes to be a guiding light in the current generation of film composers to return scoring back to the sound stages of Hollywood. https://www.cameronmoodymusic.com/

    1h 10m

  8. 09/09/2025

    2.33 - Salvador Alan Jacobo

    Born June 6, 1997 (Portales, New Mexico) is an award-winning composer who has composed music for an array of musical settings from wind ensembles to brass ensembles, marching bands, TV Series, and everything in between. His compositions have acquired attention from notable composers such as John Mackey. He accredits his mentors: Benjamin Fairfield, John Mackey, and Mark Dal Porto as being pivotal to his progressive success as a composer, conductor, and performer. Salvador has also been the guest conductor for various public school bands such as the Portales Junior High Band, the Portales High School Band, and the 30th Biennial Eastern New Mexico University Alumni Band.  When leisure outweighs his typical obligations of composition, Salvador invests his time chronically online watching CaseOh or playing Mortal Kombat. Salvador is also a brother of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity (Theta-Zeta Chapter). https://www.musicjacobo.com/

    1h 2m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Composer Chat is a podcast where we talk a little bit about music, a little bit about life, and a whole lot about whatever we feel like at the moment! Each episode I am joined by a special guest composer and we will chat about their pathway towards success in their musical career!

Information

  • Creator
    Jason K. Nitsch
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    88
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Jason K. Nitsch
  • Show Website
    Composer Chats