Composition Masterclass with Alistair Coleman (2025)
Join CMNW multi-commissioned composer and former Protégé Project composer, Alistair Coleman, as he coaches young composers from our region, helping them improve their skill and technique. Whether you are a composer or enjoy learning more about the music-writing process, you’ll be inspired seeing the growth that takes place in such a short time with an expert teacher.
Lincoln Recital Hall, Portland State University
July 14, 12-2 pm | Alistair Coleman
PSU, Lincoln Hall Room 225
Monday, 7/14 • 12:00 pm PT
Artists
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Alistair Coleman
Composer
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Alistair Coleman is a composer from Maryland and the 2023–25 Composer-in-Residence of Young Concert Artists. Recent commissions include concertos for violinist Soovin Kim and cellist Zuill Bailey, a trombone sonata for Joseph Alessi (premiered on tour in China and Japan), and Moonshot, premiered by the Abeo Quartet in collaboration with Glenstone Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.
The 2024–25 season features premieres at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall by percussionist Michael Yeung, a marimba concerto for Ji-Su Jung, and a commission from the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium. Other projects include a European tour of a new chamber work for Philharmonische Gesellschaft Bremen’s 200th anniversary and a bass quintet for the Viano Quartet and Nina Bernat, commissioned by Chamber Music Northwest.
Recent highlights include performances by the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and National Philharmonic; collaborations with pianists Alessio Bax, Gloria Chien, Avery Gagliano, and Janice Carissa in collaboration with Steinway; and commissions from Chamber Music Lexington and the Lake Champlain Festival. He has received three ASCAP Morton Gould Awards as well as prizes from Juilliard, American Composers Forum, the Society for New Music, and NPR.
In 2020, he founded a composition mentorship program with the Opportunity Music Project, in partnership with Carnegie Hall’s PlayUSA. He also serves on the Curtis Institute’s Musical Studies Faculty and teaches at Hidden Valley’s Emerging Composers Intensive.
A graduate of Curtis and Juilliard, Alistair begins PhD studies at Princeton University as a Roger Sessions Fellow in fall 2025.