This year, our composer participants are J. Anthony Allen, Abbie Betinis and Justin Merritt, and we will celebrate their work on Thursday, July 16 at 7:30 p.m.

The youngest winner of the ASCAP Foundation/Rudolph Nissim award, Merritt is assistant professor and composer in residence at St. Olaf College in Northfield. He has worked as composer and musical director in dozens of theater productions, ranging from Shakespeare to DaDa. Merritt doesn’t typically employ improvisation in his music and is looking forward to exploring this aspect in the workshop.

At 29, Betinis is one of the Twin Cities most promising young composers; her music has been reviewed as “most audacious, edgy and thrilling.” Most of her work, which has been commissioned by more than 40 music organizations across the United States, has been in the realm of choral music where she is known for her fluent and capable text settings. During our workshop, she will create the beginnings of a chamber music work for Zeitgeist.

A prolific composer, dabbler in interactive media and proponent of the sociological aspects of performance art, Allen recently completed his doctoral studies in music composition at the University of Minnesota and will explore his electro-acoustic work during the workshop. His work as been called "a study in ominous sound and motion," (Baltimore Sun) "an aural hallucinogen," (Minnesota Public Radio) and "a standing ovation" (Grand Valley State University Lanthorn).