MISE-EN_PLACE (45 Saint Nicholas Avenue, New York, NY 10026)

Program
Ben Dunham (USA/USA): It was just a thought… (2025)

Kiki Xiaoman Liu (USA/China): Mirage (2023)

Mary Simoni (USA/USA): (Don’t)BeMad (2023)

Nicolas Chuaqui (USA/USA): Vox Clamantis in Nemore (2025)

Jee Won Kim (USA/South Korea): Whisperweave (2024)

Treya Nash (USA/USA): whisper (2024)

*The program is subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances. Please note that the listed order is not the concert order.

About the composers

Ben Dunham (USA/USA)
Composer, Vibraphonist, and Improviser Ben Dunham strives to integrate his worlds of jazz and contemporary music with an improvisatory flair and freedom, capturing the unique personal connection found only in music. Recent works include “Kineti~scence” for the ~Nois Saxophone Quartet, “Glass” for pianist Renato Diz, and other works have been premiered by The Rhythm Method, The _____ Experiment, Peridot Duo, FSU’s Polymorphia Ensemble, and the USF Percussion Ensemble. He is currently pursuing a MM in Composition from the Peabody Conservatory working with Dr. Felipe Lara.

Kiki Xiaoman Liu (USA/China)
Kiki Xiaoman Liu is a Chinese composer and pianist currently pursuing a Master of Music in Composition at Mannes School of Music. Her music blends contemporary Western techniques with elements of East Asian culture, drawing inspiration from nature and everyday life. Often described as energetic, lyrical, and atmospheric, the works combine rhythmic vitality with rich harmonies across orchestral, chamber, and solo settings.

Mary Simoni (USA/USA)
Mary Simoni is Professor Emerita at the University of Michigan and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her compositions have been performed worldwide and recorded by Centaur Records, the MIT Press, and the International Computer Music Association. She is the recipient of the Prize in Composition by ArtNET and a semi-finalist for the American Prize. She has authored several books and is Medal Laureate of the Computer World Honors Award for her research in digital Music Information Retrieval.  As a pianist and Steinway Artist, Simoni specializes in the use of interactive performance systems that extend the capabilities of traditional acoustic instruments.

Nicolas Chuaqui (USA/USA)
Nicolas Chuaqui (b. 1990) is a composer of wide-ranging music for instruments, voices, and technology. A performer of voice and piano, his music is influenced by his fascination with musical time, momentum, memory, and impression. His collaborators have included orchestras (the Albany and Oregon Symphonies), ensembles (Ensemble Signal and the Arditti Quartet), opera companies (New Voices Opera) and more. His awards include the Khorikos ORTUS International New Music Prize and Honorable Mention in the Tribeca New Music Young Composer Competition. Chuaqui serves as Assistant Professor of Composition and Electronic Music at Ithaca College, where he directs the Electroacoustic Studios.

Jee Won Kim (USA/South Korea)
Jee Won Kim is a composer based in the United States and South Korea. Her music explores the relationships between time, space, and perception, often drawing inspiration from literature, visual art, and architecture. She creates a personal sound world that extends beyond the auditory, inviting music to be seen, touched, and felt as much as it is heard. Her music has been performed by artists including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Unheard-of//Ensemble, and Jixue Yang. She is a co-founder of ENAE, a collective of Korean women composers, and Overtuned Fest. Jee Won holds a Doctor of Music in Composition from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Treya Nash (USA/USA)
Treya Nash is a composer and web artist whose main area of interest is audience participation in the concert hall. A staple of her practice is the creation of web apps designed for audience performance with cellphones. Her participatory approach extends into her acoustic music, which often invites audiences to play with physical objects such as marbles, rocks, paper, or toothbrushes. Her 40-minute “non-opera” D, Me, You, We features an actor, a chatbot, three musicians, and audience. Treya is a composition lecturer at Ohio State University. She recently completed her PhD at Louisiana State University.