The 2025 Program Fellows
2025 Leslie Bassett Award
Daniel Hagenbuch
Daniel Hagenbuch is a composer and violinist who harnesses the power of music in order to share fresh, bold ideas and develop pathways for connection. As a composer, Daniel aims to cultivate a new appreciation of our world and understanding of each other through his music using polytonality, chromatic harmony, contrapuntal lines, and hocket. Daniel's compositions have been performed by members of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Institute Conductors’ Orchestra, Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra, and the Contemporary Art Music Project. Daniel has written incidental music for the stage and screen; he scored scenes from the short film Polite Wolf (directed by Kurt Oberhaus) and has composed for theatrical productions including Wheaton College's Arena Theater play My Name is Asher Lev. In 2023, he was awarded the Josephine Halvorsen Composition Prize. As a violinist, Daniel has performed with the Peabody Composers Ensemble, Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony Youth Orchestra, Hershey Symphony Orchestra, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. Daniel is a graduate of the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music in Illinois and studies music composition with Dr. Sky Macklay at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
2025 David Stock Award
Sean MacCarthy-Grant2025 Leslie Bassett Award
Sean MacCarthy-Grant is a pianist, percussionist, educator, and composer based out of Washington, D. C. Sean has performed and taught in organizations from public schools to churches to audition preparation programs across the country and beyond as a pianist and percussionist, touring internationally through Italy and Portugal as choral accompanist and principal percussionist with the North Stars Chamber Orchestra in 2018. Sean has performed in ensembles such as the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Capital City Symphony, and America’s national jazz band, the Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra. His compositions have been premiered by ensembles such as the Atlantic Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, Wintergrass Festival Orchestra, and members of the Seattle Symphony, and he currently studies multi-disciplinary music at Howard University with faculty such as Dr. Natalia Kazaryan, Chris Barrick, and Charlie Young. Sean performs, composes, and teaches throughout the DMV area, and carries a mission of lifelong learning and the constant development of one’s voice towards a dynamic and powerful musical identity.
Julia Perry Award
Chloe Smith
Chloe Clarke Smith is a Baltimore-based composer, pianist, and teacher whose music explores narrative as a guide for creating music that processes the expansiveness of human emotions and experiences. She has had the pleasure of collaborating with various new music ensembles including: andPlay, Yarn/Wire, Splinter REeds, Departure Duo, and Sound Icon. In addition, she has received commissions from the ensembles Quartet Iris, Relâche Ensemble, and The Ringers as well from the organization Castle of Our Skins. This season she is looking forward to the premier of her newest work by the Italy-based new music ensemble counter)induction. Chloe is projected to complete her Bachelors in Composition at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee with a Minor in Africana Studies in May 2025.
Julia Perry Award
Maile Pacumio
Maile Pacumio is a Filipino-Thai composer and orchestrator who explores the themes of representation, identity, love and experience through musical storytelling. Her work has been premiered and recorded with several ensembles across California. During her undergraduate at San Diego State University, she wrote works for the symphony orchestra, wind symphony, and concert band. She was also a guest composer for the SDSU's Re:Border Conference in 2023 where she created project proposals with Tijuana artists for designing new opportunities beyond borders. She is a three time winner of the San Diego New Music Emerging Composers Competition, where she was commissioned new works for duets and quartets. In 2024, she became one of the composers for Left Coast Chamber Ensemble's inaugural PATHWAYS fellowship. Currently, she is the composer in residence for Alwani Middle Eastern Orchestra. In addition to ensemble scoring, she has worked on several media projects in both the film and video game industry. She is a member of the Los Angeles and San Diego chapters of the International Game Developers Association, where she participates in game jams to further develop her craft. Maile holds a Bachelors of Music from San Diego State University, studying with Texu Kim and Joseph Waters. She is currently pursuing her Masters of Music at Cal State University of Long Beach.
Yue Ming
Ming Yue is an award winning Chinese composer, and an (ethno)musicologist specilised in Sino-Western Studies. The Chinese Scholarship Council funded her Ph.D at the University of York (UK) and additional awards include a Young Artistic Creative Talent Funding Project (China Art Fund, 2019) and a grant for the revitalisation of SiHui folk Song (2023). Her music conveys deep emotions with new means linking forgotten Chinese indigenous traditions with Western Contemporary Classic and Electronic Music, Her doctoral thesis consists of ten compositions sharing her views on ‘regrounding’ Chinese traditions in new means, contextualised in Contemporary Chinese music aesthetics. Winner of First Prize at the Bruno Maderna Competition Composers (2023), her recent works have been utilised in numerous major projects and has been awarded numerous awards, including two First Prizes at the Twelfth International Online JSFest 2024 Composition Competition in both Instrumental and Vocal Music Categories. Dr. Ming has enjoyed collaborations worldwide with Ensemble Intercontemporain, the KLK Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, the Quatuor Diotima ad the Ligeti String Quarte among others. She is currently working in collaboration with the Choir of School of Music and Dance, Guangdong Business and Technology University (China), on revitalising old Cantonese mountain ballads through bilingual new chorale songs in Chinese and English.
Stephen White
Stephen White has been composing music for more than 30 years. He began working on composition in college and since has been a life-long learner, developing his craft while raising a family. Compelled to composer, White, after becoming semi-retired, decided to pursue a formal education in composition, enrolling at Concordia University in Irvine, California. While he has been working in music his entire life, arriving to composition on a formal scale recently, he still considers himself among his peers as an emerging composer.
Brian Awad
Brian Awad is a composer, educator, and pianist based in his hometown of Miami, FL. Awad’s musical interests include musical expressions based on art, poetry, the human experience, personal struggles, and intertwining his family’s culture into his music. His works have been performed by various ensembles, such as The _____ Experiment and Unheard-of//Ensemble. He has also worked with organizations and projects with New World School of the Arts Chamber Orchestra, MAGIC (Miami Animation and Gaming International Complex), and Moon Nite Productions. Recipient of the Alba Rosa Vietor Fellowship in 2024 from the Frost School of Music, Awad has also received the Mark Richard Scholarship Award from the United Faculty at Miami Dade College in 2022. Awad has studied under Dr. Charles Mason, Dr. Susan Epstein-Garcia, and Dr. Lansing McLoskey. Additionally, Awad has had the privilege of participating in masterclasses led by prominent composers including Chen Yi, David Liptak, Andrea Reinkemeyer, and Joshua Marquez. He earned his Bachelor of Music in composition from New World School of the Arts/University of Florida and is currently finishing his master's in music composition at the University of Miami, where he also serves as a teaching assistant.
Yaxin Liu
Yaxin Liu was born in China and enrolled at the Minzu University of China as a composition and music technology major where she studied with Dr. Yang Yu. During her undergraduate work, she did an internship at Kuwo Company. From her first to junior year, she assisted Dr. Yu in operating and maintaining the WeChat account “Yubo Classroom.” She was mainly responsible for selecting music that aligned with the advertorial themes of the account in order to educate the students. From 2020 to 2023, she attended the Manhattan School of Music earning a Master of Music and Professional Studies Certificate programs in classical composition with Dr. J. Mark Stambaugh. In 2023, she was admitted to the University of Miami’s Doctor of Musical Arts program in classical composition, where she studied with Dr. Charles Mason and is currently working with Dr. Lansing McLoskey.
Brandon Markson
Brandon Markson is a composer with a wide array of musical interests including contemporary-classical, jazz, rock, folk, blues, and music for visual media (eg. film, video games, theatre). A common thematic for his music is to create deep connections with both the audience and musicians performing, finding ways to weave in storytelling and evoking strong emotional responses. His music has received performances and recordings from across the United States, including the BlackBox Ensemble, Re:Duo, TEMPO ensemble, and the UF Symphony Orchestra among others. His orchestration of the musical “Midnight at Midday,” a show celebrating the 2024 solar eclipse, was also featured on Good Morning America, CBS Nightly News, and in the New York Times. One of his biggest interests is the interdisciplinary crossover between music and scientific disciplines, including psychology, physics, math, and especially chemistry. Markson is currently pursuing his Doctorate (DMA) in composition from the University of Florida, studying under the guidance of composers Scott Lee, Paul Richards, and James Paul Sain. He holds a MM in Composition from the New England Conservatory of Music (2023) and two BA’s in Chemistry and Music from Occidental College (2021).
Mark Reyes
Mark Reyes is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Mooresville, North Carolina, that may spend more of his waking hours listening to music than not. He is the composer and music director of the entirely student-run musical project ASHES of Fate, which premiered at the Lang Performing Arts Center at Swarthmore College to excellent reception. As a composer, Mark loves to use tonality, sweeping melodies, suspended harmonies, his sense of rhythm, and his knowledge of various instruments to add both energy and a deep emotional depth to his music. He prides himself on his compositional versatility, having composed for the musical stage, symphony orchestra, marching battery percussion, SATB choir, and various chamber instrumentations. He plays piano, clarinet, bass guitar, and drum set and has performed in many ensembles including worship and rock bands, wind bands, marching band and drumline, and orchestra. He enjoys a broad range of artists and styles, happily switching from Mahler symphonies, to 70s rock, to the Persona 5 soundtrack all with somewhat concerning speed.
Artemis Vasquez
Artemis Vasquez is a queer composer whose work blends video game aesthetics with both the lyrical and technical proficiency of tonal harmony. Artemis currently attends Miami University, majoring in Music Composition with a minor in Games and Simulation. Throughout his studies, he has composed for various chamber ensembles and aims to expand his repertoire to include larger groups, such as orchestras and choirs. Artemis has been recognized with the President’s and Dean’s List awards for his academic achievements. At Miami, Artemis studied under Susanna Hancock, Phil Roberts, and Per Bloland. He remains an active musician, playing viola in the Miami University Symphony Orchestra and participating in the University’s Laptop Ensemble. He also works with Cutting Edge, a local show choir, as a choreographer and member of the combo.
Suzanne Wieland
Suzanne Wieland was named "One of 10 Artists to Watch," by Creative Pinellas Magazine. Her compositions have been recorded by Ablaze Records. Suzanne received her education at Florida State University, University of North Texas, and Florida Atlantic University. Recent performances of original works include a performance by the Marquette University Wind Ensemble and by Duo Zonda at the Charlotte New Music Festival. She is the recipient of the 2018 Emerging Artist Grant. She has written many pieces for band, chorus, and chamber music. In addition, she retains an active schedule as a performer both as a flutist and as a vocalist. Honors include winner of the Florida Flute Association Masterclass Competition and member of the Florida Intercollegiate Band. Suzanne also enjoys conducting and arranging music.