Kirsten Soriano

Kirsten Soriano is an award-winning composer, educator, and academic leader whose music explores connections among voice, poetry, technology, media, and contemporary performance. Her work has been performed internationally by ensembles including the Kronos Quartet, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, and Third Coast Percussion, and has been presented at venues and festivals including Carnegie Hall, the World Harp Congress in Hong Kong, the American Academy in Rome, the Ensems Festival in Valencia, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

An accomplished educator and academic leader, Soriano is a tenured Associate Professor of Music Composition at the University of North Texas. Her academic leadership has included the development of innovative curricula, interdisciplinary programs, and facilities connecting music with media, technology, and contemporary creative practice.

Soriano’s recent work includes The Waters of Time, a ten-movement song cycle setting poetry by Pablo Neruda and featuring Grammy Award-winning soprano Estelí Gomez. The work was released by Resonate Music + Intermedia and has been submitted for consideration for the 69th GRAMMY Awards. Her Dream-Paths cycle was also recorded by Gomez and collaborators. Together, these works reflect Soriano’s ongoing interest in the intersections of voice, poetry, contemporary performance, and interdisciplinary artistic practice. Her music has also been featured in film, television, dance, radio, and multimedia performance.

Her compositions have been performed and recorded by leading contemporary music ensembles and artists throughout the United States and abroad. Her recordings include Breathturn, recorded by Crossing Contemporary Choir and released by Parma/Navona Records; Color and Texture, recorded by TrioPolis and released by Fleur de Son Classics; Flutter, performed by the Crimson Duo; Constellations, performed by pianist Matthew McCright and released by Innova Recordings; Rain Gardens, performed by pianist Matthew McCright and released by Vox Novus; and Echoes, performed by Matthew McCright and released by The Proper Canary label. Her work has also been presented by organizations and festivals including the International Contemporary Ensemble’s ICE Fest, June in Buffalo, Charlotte New Music Festival, Sonic Fusion Festival in Edinburgh, the Nuovi Spazi Festival at the American Academy in Rome, Sonic Impact at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and The Composer’s Voice at Carnegie Hall.

Soriano’s honors include a Fromm Foundation Commissioning Grant from Harvard University, commissioning support from New Music USA, three Encore Grants and the Jerome Foundation Award from the American Composers Forum, selection for the American Composers Forum and Minnesota Orchestra’s Composer Institute, and multiple Creative and Scholarly Awards from the University of North Texas. She has also received awards and grants from Northwestern University and other arts organizations, including a $40,000 award from TACA (The Arts Community Alliance). She served as a founder and the inaugural Executive Director of Ensemble Dal Niente, during which time the ensemble was awarded the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the Darmstadt International Festival for New Music. Her latest initiative is Resonate Music + Intermedia, connecting music, media, technology, and interdisciplinary artistic practice through new live performance, recorded projects, and film.