NO EXIT
New Music Ensemble

FOUNDER

2025 Virginia Center for Creative Arts Wachtmeister Award Fellow and Ten-time American Prize winner Douglas Knehans (b. 1957) has received awards from the American Music Center, the NEA, the Australia Council Performing Arts Board, Yale University, the MacDowell Colony, Opera Australia, The Cannes Film Festival, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The National Symphony Orchestra, The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Meet the Composer, and a host of others.

His music has been praised by The Washington Post as “beautiful” and that “tells an exciting story;” by The New Yorker, saying “the sounds of nature course through the orchestral pieces … with a primitive force and melodic insistence that recall Stravinsky.”, by Gramophone Magazine as “a composer of considerable fluency and instrumental imagination;” and by Fanfare Magazine as “… astonishingly visceral … and hauntingly beautiful.”

A noted composer of opera, vocal and choral music, Knehans' one hour operatic monodrama Backwards from Winter was premiered at the New York Opera Fest by the Center for Contemporary Opera and one month later was featured in a season of performances in Australia that led Fanfare Magazine critic Colin Clarke to claim it “An astonishingly visceral Winterreise for the 21st century,” and “This is what contemporary opera should be like.” 

Knehans is known for his four symphonies and twelve concerti which have been played and recorded by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, The Kyiv Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and others in Australia, Europe and the USA. His orchestral compositions have earned him numerous international recording awards and in 2023 he was inducted into the AKADEMIA Awards Hall of Fame.

Knehans’ music is available on ERM Media, Crystal Records, Move Records, New World Records, Naxos Records, and ABLAZE Records labels. His work is published by Donemus Publishers, Netherlands. 

www.douglasknehans.com

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, NO EXIT
NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE

Artistic director/composer and Cleveland, OH. native, Timothy Beyer creates music imbued with an expressive and singular voice. Tim has been active as both a composer and performer in an eclectic range of musical mediums. He has composed for a variety of concert music genres, has scored for film, dance, and has produced many works in the electronic music idiom. Much of Tim’s early acclaim came from his inventive use of narrative in his electronic compositions, and this same sensibility pervades his concert music which has been described as something “...found only in our dreams, or nightmares…” (The Washington Post).

Early in his career, Tim spent his time as a touring musician, most notably as a founding member, composer and trombonist for the group Pressure Drop. Tim’s music has been performed throughout the U.S. and Europe by a variety of soloists and ensembles. He is currently working on several recording projects including a vocal/electronic collaboration with composer Andrew Rindfleisch, a collection of his works written for the Minnesota-based ensemble Zeitgeist and a CD featuring his ‘amputate’ series of electroacoustic compositions, the first four of which were created for cellist David Russell, flutist Carlton Vickers, pianist Jenny Lin and violinist Hasse Borup.

Tim also writes children’s books including a retelling of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno for ages 6+ and the history-based storybook Der sehr ungezogene Junge. He is currently working on his most recent effort, Bat and Squirrel. 

“…as much poetry as it was music.” -The Washington Post

“...tones that sounded like the authentic vocalizations of a spirit, gurgling unintelligibly from the other side...shifting textures as the excellent upper strings created the sonic equivalent of a halo, or perhaps more threatening aura...” -Cleveland Classical

ATHENS, GREECE
COORDINATOR

Spiros Mazis’s creative and critical thinking have always been the starting point of his compositional activity. Most of his works are based on extramusical ideas that derive from contemporary views of physics and mathematics, which are transferred with as much fidelity as possible to the musical structure. He has invented a new system of fingerings for microtonal intervals on brass instruments, allowing them to perform just intonation scales with precise fingerings.

His compositions are available on CD in Greece and abroad, released by Ablaze Records, Sartom Records, Phasma Music, and Mirror. In Greece, he is represented by Musicentry, and his works are published by the Dutch Donemus Publishing House.

Sixteen of his works have been distinguished in composition contests around the world. His works have been performed by the Athens State Orchestra, Greek Orchestra of Colours, Italian Symphony Orchestra of Meran, American String Orchestra of Charleston, Louisiana Symphonietta, German Symphony Orchestras of Marburg, Helvetian Orchestra Santa Maria, Bavarian Classic Orchestra, and the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra. Recently, his work 'Sonic Entanglement' was performed at Carnegie Hall, USA.

He holds a Degree in Composition with Distinction and First Prize from Athens, with Yannis Ioannidis, and a PhD in Composition with Thomas Simaku at York University, England. He is the founder and director of the “Classical and Contemporary Music” Conservatory in Athens, a member of the Greek Composers Union, and The Collective, an international cooperative of composers representing some of the most individual and poetic voices in new music today.

https://www.spirosmazis.org

PERUGIA, ITALY
COORDINATOR

Edward Smaldone is the recipient of awards such as the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as grants and awards from ASCAP, The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo Corporation, the Charles Ives Center for the Arts, the Percussive Arts Society, the Classical Recording Foundation and the American Music Center. His music is noted for his “adventurous harmonic language” (Gramophone), that is a “fluent blend of Jazz, American populism, New York intensity and overt Romanticism” (Fanfare) exhibiting a “gift for connecting one phrase with another, even one note with another” (Fanfare).

His music has been performed in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Poland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Finland, Serbia, and England. His music appears on a dozen CDs on Naxos, Ablaze, CRI, New World and New Focus labels. A new release (What no one else sees…, New Focus Recordings, 2024) includes a clarinet concerto (Murmurations) with Søren-Filip Hansen, clarinet and Giordano Bellincampi conducting Den Kongelige Livgarde Musikkorps; a piano concerto Prendendo Fuoco, (Catching Fire) recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, with Mikel Toms conducting and piano soloist Niklas Sivelöv, along with other new works.

 He is Professor Emeritus of Music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, City University of New York. He appears on more than a dozen CDs and is published by American Composers Editions.

 www.edwardsmaldone.com

WROCŁAW, POLAND
COORDINATOR

Agata Zubel, composer and vocalist. Known for her unique vocal range and the use of techniques that challenge stereotypes.  Zubel gives concerts throughout the world and has collaborated with several dozen philharmonic companies, such as: Carnegie Hall in New York, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Konzerthaus in Vienna, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Musikgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein Wien, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall in London, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Philharmonie in Berlin, Cologne, Luxembourg, Casa da música in Porto, Seattle Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony.  She lives in Wroclaw where she teaches in University of Music. In 2020 she obtained a professor degree in arts. She was honoured with the Badge of Merit to Polish Culture and Medal “Gloria Artis”. She has received scholarships from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Rockefeller Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, Kultur Kontakt Austria. She is also a member of the Polish Composers’ Union. 

Her discography consists of more than a dozen titles, including albums dedicated to her own music as well as her vocal interpretations of songs by, Ravel, Barber, Szymanowski, Crumb, Lutosławski, Obradors, Copland, Berg, Szymański, André Tchaikowsky.

She has received scholarships from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Rockefeller Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, Kultur Kontakt Austria. She is also a member of the Polish Composers’ Union.

www.zubel.pl

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS COORDINATOR

Constantine Koukias, an Amsterdam-based composer and opera director known for his innovative and immersive works. Koukias's diverse output encompasses large-scale music theatre, opera, and mobile installation art, marked by mesmerizing temporal, spatial, and production designs.

Recent works also incorporate Eastern influences. His avant-garde approach to opera has led to hybrid productions such as Days and Nights with Christ, To Traverse Water, Mikrovion, The Divine Kiss, Tesla – Lightning in His Hand, and The Barbarians. Music theatre works include ICON,Kimisis – Falling Asleep, Borders, Orfeo, Rapture – Sonic Taxi Performance, Schwa – The Neutral Vowel, Antigone, and The Da Ponte Project.

Koukias has received numerous international commissions and awards and has design credits for the acclaimed Odyssey and Medea.

https://ihosamsterdam.com

VISA COORDINATOR

Mathew Rosenblum’s compositions offer “an ear-buzzing flood of sound, rich in unusual overtones” (The Boston Globe). A wide array of groups have commissioned, performed and recorded his music such as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, FLUX Quartet, Mantra Percussion as well as many others.

Using a variety of tuning systems, his work does not live within traditional boundaries, creating a compellingly fresh landscape. His music has been performed throughout the world including at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Prince Mahidol Hall in Bangkok, the China-ASEAN Music Week in Nanning, the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf,Sala Nezahualcóyotl in Mexico City, and at Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Hall and Miller Theatre in New York City.

Honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, three Fromm Foundation Commissions, a National Endowment for the Arts Music Fellowship Grant and a Barlow Endowment Commission. He received degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and Princeton University and is co-director of the Music on the Edge new music series and former Chair of the Department of Music at the University of Pittsburgh.

His works appear on the MODE, New World Records, Cantaloupe Music, Albany, New Focus Recordings, BMOP/sound, Capstone, Opus One, Blue Griffin, and CRI Emergency Music labels and is published by C.F. Peters Corporation and Plurabelle Music (distributed by Subito Music Corporation).

 www.mathewrosenblum.com

Transparent yet complex, Cindy Cox’s compositions synthesize old and new musical designs.  The natural world inspires many of the special harmonies and textural colorations in her compositions.  

Cox is active as a pianist and has performed and recorded many of her own compositions, including the large-scale Hierosgamos and Sylvan Pieces.  The Toulmin Foundation and the League of American Orchestras commissioned Dreaming a World's Edge for The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, who recently premiered it. Her compositions with text such as The Shape of the Shell evolved through collaboration with her husband, poet John Campion, and together they have completed a new music theater work The Road to Xibalba, based on the ancient Mayan mythic text The Popol Vuh.  

She has received awards and commissions from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Guggenheim Foundation, the American Composers Forum, ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and the Fulbright and Mellon Foundations.  Recent performances have taken place at the Venice Biennale, the Festival de la Habana in Cuba, the American Academy in Rome, the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, Carnegie and Merkin Halls in New York City, the National Gallery in Washington, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, and the Biblioteca National in Buenos Aires.  Cox is an Emerita Professor of Music at the University of California at Berkeley.

cacox.com. 

Amelia Kaplan is a composer whose music creates meaning by juxtaposing, filtering, and recontextualizing gestures both ordinary and extraordinary. In recent years her music has mostly responded to the ecological and political crises besetting our warming planet, which we, as humans, seem to have no will to prevent. 

Kaplan has been awarded residencies at Copland House, MacDowell, Ucross, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has received commissions from numerous ensembles and soloists, and her work has been performed at festivals around the world, including Mise-En, Thailand New Music Festival, SCI, SICPP, IAWM, The Composers Conference, Gaudeamus, Darmstadt, and others. Recordings are available on Albany, Ablaze, Centaur, and Navona Records, and compositions are published by Babel Scores, TrevCo Music, and Warming Planet Music. 

Kaplan holds a PhD from the University of Chicago, an AB from Princeton University, and diplomas from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana and the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau. She is Professor of Composition at Ball State University where she heads the Theory & Composition Area and directs the New Music Ensemble.

www.ameliaskaplan.com.

Pamela Madsen is a composer, performer, writer and curator of new music. From massive immersive concert-length projects, solo, chamber music to multi-media opera collaborations her work explores issues of social change, image, music, text and the environment.

With a Ph.D. in Music Composition from UCSD, Yale University, Deep Listening with Pauline Oliveros, her research focuses on the evolution of compositional thought, improvisation, electronic music, and women in music. “I create historical dramas, based on archival research, and deep listening at significant sites for inspiration, with a view to the future. This process requires a deeply devoted practice of stillness, time and careful listening.” With  commissions and premieres by Brightwork newmusic, HEX, JACK, Ethel, Lyris, Formalist, Arditti string quartets, LAPQ, loadbang, Bent Frequency, artist collaborations with  Quintan Ana Wikswo, Camille Seaman, Jimena Sarno and Judy Chicago, her major concert-length projects include her Opera America, National Endowment for the Arts, and New Music USA Awarded Opera: Why Women Went West, and Oratorio for the Earth. Selected as Huntington Library Mellon Fellow, Alpert Award Panelist, Creative Capital artist “on the radar”, with awards from Copland Foundation, American Scandinavian Foundation, MacDowell, UCross, Women’s International Studies Center, Wurlitzer Foundation, she is Professor of Music Composition as Cal State Fullerton.

 www.pamelamadsenmusic.com

Citing Charles Ives and Captain Beefheart as his most prominent early influences, Jack Vees has a particularly distinctive and personal musical style that is instantly recognizable. His music unselfconsciously combines rigorous formal thinking with the raw energy of rock ‘n’ roll, as well as an irreverent, acerbic wit that is equal parts Monty Python and the Ugly Janitors of America, the antic avant-garde rock band Vees performed with during his Los Angeles days.

Technology is an integral part of much of Vees’s work, and he elegantly combines electronics with acoustic and electric instruments. His music has been described as “consistently interesting” (Music Connection), “looking-glass music” (New Haven Register), and it has occasionally been said here and there that his music “twangs with excitement” (New York Times).

Vees’ early musical training was in piano and tuba, but he soon switched to the electric bass guitar. He studied music composition with Morton Subotnick, Stephen Mosko, Louis Andriessen, Vinko Globokar, and Bernard Rands. His works have been performed throughout the world by numerous ensembles and soloists, including Ensemble Modern, the California Ear Unit, Zeitgeist, Hemispheres, oboist Libby Van Cleve, cellists Jeffrey Krieger and Ashley Bathgate, guitarist Ben Verdery, and electronic percussionist Amy Knoles. His music has been heard at New Music America, Neue Musik New York/Cologne, Bang On A Can, and Soundings. In February of 2014, the Yale School of Music presented an evening length concert of his music on its Faculty Artist Series.

http://jackvees.com