Nina Young

The music of composer Nina C. Young (b.1984) is characterized by an acute sensitivity to tone color, manifested in aural images of vibrant, arresting immediacy. Her musical voice blurs together elements of spectralism, minimalism, electronic music, popular idioms, and her love of the orchestral tradition. Her projects, ranging from concert pieces to interactive media installations, strive to create unique sonic environments that explore aural architectures, resonance, timbre, and ephemera.
 
Young’s works have been presented by Carnegie Hall, the National Gallery, the Whitney Museum, LA Phil’s Next on Grand, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music Series. Her music has garnered international acclaim through performances by the American Composers Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Aizuri Quartet, JACK Quartet, Matt Haimovitz, and wild Up. Winner of the 2015-16 Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome, Young has also received a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship, a Koussevitzky Commission, the Aaron Copland Bogliasco Fellowship in Music, a Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Award, Aspen Music Festival's Jacob Druckman Prize, and honors from BMI, IAWM, and ASCAP/SEAMUS.
 
Young’s current interests are collaborative, multidisciplinary works that touch on issues of sustainability, historical narratives, experiences with contemporary technologies, and women’s rights. In 2023, the American Composers Orchestra and vocalist Sidney Outlaw premiered Out of whose womb came the ice, a monodrama for baritone, orchestra, electronics, and generative video commenting on the ill-fated Ernest Shackleton Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-17. The piece was commissioned by Carnegie Hall. Other recent projects include Tread softly, which opened the NY Philharmonic’s Project 19, Violin Concerto: Traces for Jennifer Koh from the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, to hear the things we cannot see for Hub New Music featuring the poetry of Rosie Stockton, and Nothing is not borrowed, in song and shattered light - an immersive audio-visual installation experience commissioned by EMPAC (The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer) that showcases their high-resolution wave field synthesis loudspeaker array and recordings by the American Brass Quintet. Upcoming projects include new works for the Grossman Ensemble and Decoda.
 
A graduate of MIT and McGill University, Young completed her DMA at Columbia University. Prior to joining the faculty of the Juilliard School, Young was an associate professor of music composition at USC Thornton. She serves as co-artistic director of New York’s Ensemble Échappé. Her music is published by Peermusic Classical.