Alistair Coleman
Composer-in-Residence
“…a fantastic young composer with a unique voice and imagination.”
– Midori
A rising young composer from Washington, DC, Alistair Coleman’s recent commissioning projects have included a concerto for violinist Soovin Kim, a concerto for Grammy-award-winning cellist Zuill Bailey, and a sonata for Joseph Alessi, Principal Trombonist of the New York Philharmonic, premiered on tour in China and Japan. His string quartet, Moonshot, was premiered by the Abeo Quartet in collaboration with the Glenstone Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.
As a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, PA he has written new works for the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and a solo piece for the 2022 Curtis violin auditions under the guidance of internationally acclaimed violinists Ida Kavafian and Midori. As winner of the 2020 Juilliard Gena Raps Chamber Music Prize, Alistair’s piano trio was premiered at Alice Tully Hall in May 2022. He has also composed solo piano works for Janice Carissa in collaboration with Steinway Spirio. In summer 2022, he was the protege composer-in-residence at Chamber Music Northwest.
During the 2022-23 season Alistair’s composition activity included a work for pianist Amy J. Yang, a cello sonata for Zhu Wang and Tate Zawadiuk, performances of his work by the Viano String Quartet, a song cycle for Hyunah Yu commissioned by the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, and a work for violin and piano commissioned by Chamber Music Festival of Lexington for violinist Nathan Cole and pianist Alessio Bax. During the 23-24 season Alistair will compose a new vocal work commissioned by Young Concert Artists for bass-baritone Joseph Parrish that will be premiered at the the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC in February 2024.
Alistair has collaborated with violinist Alexi Kenney, flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, violist Teng Li, trombonist Carlos Jiménez Fernández, and baritone Randall Scarlata. His music has also been performed by “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Orchestra, National Cathedral Choral Society, and the Washington Master Chorale. He is the composer for Vestibule, a short film directed by Julian Elia (Spielberg’s West Side Story).
Alistair was recently appointed as the 2023-2025 Composer-in-Residence for Young Concert Artists, and is winner of two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2020, 2021), the 2020 Brian Israel Prize from the Society for New Music, and awards from the American Composers Forum, NPR’s From the Top, and the National YoungArts Foundation.
During the summer of 2020, Alistair founded an annual composition mentoring program with NYC’s Opportunity Music Project. In partnership with Carnegie Hall’s PlayUSA, over thirty students receive mentorship on their pieces, engage in weekly seminars taught by Alistair and Njioma Grevious, and hear their pieces workshopped by professional musicians.
Alistair holds a BM from the Curtis Institute of Music and an Undergraduate Diploma from The Juilliard School. At Juilliard, he was recipient of the George Gershwin Scholarship, took academic coursework at Columbia University, and engaged in mentorship with President Emeritus Joseph W. Polisi. He is pursuing an MM at Curtis where his teachers include Richard Danielpour, Nick DiBerardino, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Steven Mackey. His mentors include Jennifer Higdon and David Serkin Ludwig.
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YCA represents composer Alistair Coleman for worldwide engagements. Please contact us for more information.