Guest Composers
Over the past decade, Glenna Burmer concerts have featured many of the Northwest’s top composers. Learn more about our guest composers, below.
Nan Avant
Nan Avant is a pianist and award-winning composer, whose compositions often reflect her Latin heritage and encompass her passion for classical composers, world music and electronic contemporary sound design. She holds a BFA in piano performance from the California Institute of the Arts and is a graduate of the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program. www.nanavant.com.
Barry Dowsett
Barry Dowsett is a composer, sound designer and 15-year veteran of the video game industry. He has provided original music and sound design for console and casual games. He is co-founder of Soundrangers, a pioneer in the online delivery of production music and sound effects for video games and interactive media, and maintains an online library of downloadable audio content optimized and licensable for game development. www.barrydowsett.com.
Maria Jose Felix
Maria José Félix was born in Puebla, Mexico, and moved to Seattle in 2015 where she obtained a master’s degree in film composition from the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program. Her music has been featured in Lifetime and Hallmark movies, short films, games, apps and more. She has her own company, Sky Rose Music, and also teaches music and sound design. www.skyrosemusic.com.
Eric Goetz
Eric Goetz is best known for his work in media, scoring feature films, short films and video games. His film scores have been heard at many film festivals, including Seattle International Film Festival. He is a composer and sound designer for the game developer Smashing Ideas where he creates music and sound for various products. He is also a member of the critically acclaimed kids band, The Board of Education www.ericgoetz.com.
Todd Kovell
Todd Kovell has been involved in music for more than 30 years. He composes music in a range of genres, from film music to pop songs to avant-garde. He started the Seattle School of Strings, a group of chamber music ensembles. He holds a B.Mus. in composition from The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, as well as a Master’s in film scoring from the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program. www.toddkovell.com
Catherine Grealish
Catherine Grealish is a composer for film, media and live performance with experience in diverse musical genres. Her music has also been featured in award-winning films. She has studied classical voice and plays violin, piano and guitar. Her short film “Ego Boost” won Grand Prize in the Seattle Times Three Minute Masterpiece competition in 2011. www.catherinegrealish.com
Kohl Hebert
Kohl Hebert took an interest in music at the age of four. By the age of 12, he had written pieces for piano and various chamber ensembles and has composed a fugue. He likes to design original instruments as well. His participation in Burmer Music’s “Origins: Life in the Universe” was his orchestral premiere.
Tim Huling
Tim Huling is a noted composer, orchestrator, producer, music educator and founder of The Composition Lab. He writes music for the concert hall, and composes, orchestrates and produces music for major motion pictures, independent films, video games and advertising. A former co-lead instructor in the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program, he is on the faculty of the Film Scoring Department, Berklee College of Music, Boston. www.timhuling.com
Stan LePard
Stan LePard is an independent composer, orchestrator, music producer and interactive music designer. He began studying piano and writing original music at the age of 15. Within two years, he was performing professionally on keyboards, saxophone, flute and occasionally, vocals. He has contributed music to more than 300 interactive media products. www.stanlepardmusic.com
Lonnie Mardis
Lonnie Mardis is a guitarist and composer who studied under guitar greats Gene Bertoncini and Jack Wilkins. He is currently music director for the Seattle Central Jazz Orchestra and the Federal Way Symphony Swing Band. www.lonniemardis.com
Howard Mostrom
Howard Mostrom is a Seattle composer and sound designer. He specializes in creating dynamic music for picture and video games. Before entering the video game industry, he refined his skills in music and audio production at the historic Triad Studios in Redmond, Wash. He is currently the audio director at Uber Entertainment. He has a BA in music from the University of Washington. www.howardmostrom.com
Eric Nielsen
Eric Nielsen is a musician and artist who composes imaginative works for small chamber ensembles and orchestra. He is fascinated by the art of storytelling and brings elements of this craft to his music. Nielsen serves on the boards of the Seattle Composers Alliance and Philharmonia Northwest and is active in the music community. www.museric.com
Jason Staczek
Jason Staczek is a composer, producer and Hammond organ player. He has produced music for films that have appeared in festivals worldwide and his keyboard playing has appeared on many albums. He was a 2012 Sundance Composer Fellow, plays Mellotron with ATO artist Lindsay Fuller, and has conducted orchestras on three continents. www.staczek.net
Jeff Tolbert
Jeff Tolbert is a composer and musician who has scored music for feature film and shorts. He has written music for games and for many advertising and corporate video clients. Talbert plays bass for Tiger Zane and blues guitarist James Howard. He also plays guitar, piano, ukulele, trombone and percussion, and has written e-books about the GarageBand program. He was past president of the Seattle Composers Alliance. www.jefftolbert.com