Benjamin Taylor – Program Director
Benjamin Dean Taylor (DM, Indiana University) is an award winning composer of concert music. With a catalogue of more than 100 works including music written for orchestra, wind band, opera, choir, and jazz big band, he enjoys frequent performances of his compositions all over the world
Don Freund – Honorary Guest Faculty
Don Freund is an internationally recognized composer with works ranging from solo, chamber, and orchestral music to pieces involving live performances with electronics, music for dance, and large theatre works. Freund is Professor of Composition at IU’s Jacobs School of Music.
Corey Chang – Assistant Program Director and private lesson faculty
Corey Chang (M.M., The Juilliard School), described as “a major composer…of his generation” by The Millbrook Independent, is a composer, pianist and educator based in Bloomington, Indiana. As the recipient of an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award and a nominee for a 2022 Academy of the Arts and Letters music award, Chang has had his music workshopped and performed by many top musicians and ensembles, both nationally and internationally.
Alexey Logunov – Administrative Assistant and private lesson faculty
Born in Russia, Alexey Logunov is a composer and pianist whose music explores textural density and timbral complexity. His compositions have been consistently performed by internationally recognized ensembles at numerous festivals such as MISE-EN, Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend and reMusik.org. He is a winner of the 2023 Georgina Joshi Composition Commission Award at Jacobs School of Music.
Jamey Guzman – private lesson faculty
Jamey Guzman (M.M. Composition and M.M. Music Scoring for Visual Media, in progress, Indiana University) is a composer and storyteller who tells necessary underrepresented stories with experimental and innovative techniques. Jamey has received major commissions from The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana; Really Spicy Opera, Opera Arlington, Strange Trace Opera, ENAEnsemble, Paradox Opera, and SONIT.
Laura Pacheco Nieto – private lesson faculty
Laura Pacheco Nieto is a Colombian composer and singer whose work blends Latin American traditions and ornithological inspiration. Winner of multiple composition prizes, her music has been performed by the Bogotá Philharmonic, the Colombian National Symphony, and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. She is pursuing a master’s in composition at Indiana University, studying with David Dzubay and Aaron Travers.
William E. Hawkins – private lesson faculty
Equally inspired by science and spirituality, William E. Hawkins (b. 1997) stretches and condenses music in the search for new paths toward catharsis. Hawkins has had works performed by chamber groups including the American Modern Ensemble, Neave Trio, Mivos Quartet, and Momenta Quartet. His song cycle Looking Up won third place in the 2023 American Prize for professional vocal chamber compositions. Hawkins holds a BA in Music from Brown University and is pursuing a Masters in Music at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, studying with Don Freund, Gabriel Jenks, Chi Wang, and John Gibson.