2024-2025 Young Composers Project Students
Welcome to the Young Composers Festival! Thank you so much for joining us to celebrate the accomplishments of these great students.
Please scroll down to see biographies for each student; biographies are organized by class, then by alphabetical first name.
Introductory Class Students
Avery Toomey
Avery J. F. Toomey is a 12 year old 6th grader who plays the saxophone and piano, and is in their 1st year of young composer’s and has composed Quintet No.1 in G Minor. The piece was made from just random thoughts, not really any inspiration.
Coen McKenna
Hi, my name is Coen McKenna and I am 13 going to Tucson Waldorf School. I play the violin and piano, and this is my first year in the young composers project. My piece is called “In Light of Bad Decisions”, which references the metaphorical idea of a small decision leading into a world of chaos.
Comfort Ching'anda
Comfort Ching’anda (14) is an eighth grader at Mansfeld middle school. He plays cello and is in his first year in TSO Young Composers Project. His piece is called Heliosphere because it evokes exploration and wonder.
Dylan Krzysik
My name is Dylan Krzysik. I am in fourth grade and I am Ten years old and play piano and violin. I have been in composer school for one year.
My song’s name is “CRAZY SONG”. I made the song’s name Crazy Song because I was happy. I hope you will feel crazy happy when you listen to the song.
I played in TMTA”s 71st piano ensemble concert and my hobbies are playing piano and playing video games.
Finn Cooper
Graham “Finn” Cooper is a 7th grade student at Orange Grove Middle School in his first year of YCP. He plays the viola in his school’s orchestra and has gotten into All-State orchestra with the viola. “Prismatic Twilight” is a piece with dense chords, all coloring over each other to make something beautiful, like a twilight sky on a warm summer night. Encourage yourself to ignore the ideas of a melody, forget complexity and simplicity alike, focus on every instrument and imagine them washing over each other like waves on a beach. Let the vibrant colors of this piece overtake you. Let your mind imagine this piece’s twist and turns not as music, but as art.
Francis Ali-Osman
Francis Ali-Osman is a 13-year-old 7th grader who is currently attending Magee Middle School. In his free time, he enjoys playing the violin and upright bass. His piece is entitled The Walk Home, as it begins with a calm and melodic nature but quickly turns into a treacherous path. The song leads back to a safe and calming tone in the end as the final destination has been reached. Franics got the inspiration for his piece from his walks around Tucson, because they too start of peaceful but then many anxiety sparking actions occur.
Isaac Ballesteros
My name is Isaac Ballesteros, I am 14 years old and I am in 8th grade. My main instrument is the violin and I play a bit of double bass, piano, and guitar. This is my first year in YCP. The title of my composition is “Where are we going”. I have been playing with this chord progression for months and I finally made it into a piece and it is my first “complete” song. I like doing programming in my free time in addition to composing music.
Simon Hagerman
Simon Hagerman (10) is a fourth grader at Tanque Verde Elementary School. He was a member of the Tucson Boys Chorus and plays the violin. This is his first year in the Young Composers Project. His piece is called “Take a 180,” because it describes how the form of the piece (ABA) takes an unexpected turn at the end. Instead of the A section returning like the beginning, it switches from minor to major and changes into the retrograde (backwards). In his spare time, Simon likes to play basketball, video games, and loves to relax with his cats, Jiji and Momo.
Intermediate Class Students
Akatl Rodriguez Cervantes
My name is Akatl Rodriguez Cervantes. I’m 14 years old, and I’m in 8th grade. My main instrument is the violin, which I have been playing for three years. This is my second year in the Young Composers Project, and it has been very exciting! My piece is called simply Wind Quintet No.1, even though it is not technically the first I composed. There was a previous iteration, but I abandoned it, in favor of a far more expressive and expansive work, in D minor as opposed to D major.
Isaac Ornstein
Isaac Ornstein is ten years old and is currently in the 4th grade at Fruchthendler Elementary School. This is Isaac’s third year of participating in the Young Composer’s Project, and his first year of working with a brass quintet. He is a keen pianist, plays the recorder and violin, and also sings in his school choir. One day, Isaac would love to conduct an orchestra!
Isaac’s composition is called The Lonely Cowboy. It is about a cowboy who is riding his horse alone in a vast western desert. Along the way he meets a group of cowboys travelling in the opposite direction, and spends some time galloping around with them. Eventually, the group continue with their journey and the cowboy is left alone once more.
Joshua Caraballo
Fourth generation Tucsonense Joshua Caraballo is a freshman at Tucson High. He has been playing the violin since third grade and is completing his second year in YCP. His piece is called Return to Knowhere and is written for Brass Quintet. It is inspired by a quote from Avengers: Infinity War.
Thor: Knowhere.
Mantis: He must be going somewhere.
Peter Quill: No, no. Knowhere? It’s a place, we’ve been there. It sucks.
The piece opens with cords setting an uneasy mood for the journey ahead. As the piece progresses each instrument has a solo with an accompanying instrument using eighth note rhythms. The piece ends in the same place where it began but with a slightly hopeful mood. Was the journey worth it if it ends where it began? You be the judge.
Joshua Cho
Joshua Cho is a 14-year-old eighth grader at Legacy Traditional School in Northwest Tucson. He studies both piano and cello, and is currently in his second year with the Young Composers Project. His work, Woodwind Quintet #1, reflects the influence of many composers who have inspired him. Joshua describes the piece as the most challenging composition he has written so far, and he hopes listeners everyone will enjoy it!
Karim Trammel
Karim Trammel is a graduating 7th grader at Alice Vail Middle School. He joined the Tucson Young Composer Program by the recommendation of his piano teacher Miss Allison. He’s been playing the piano for 6 years. He has learned and performed songs varying from rock n roll to classical. He has even taught himself songs from video games that he likes to play. In addition to piano, Karim plays the French horn at school, and he took violin lessons for 3 years. In addition to music, Karim’s other hobbies include origami, collecting rocks and gems, playing video games, and watching cooking shows with his family. He likes to camp, swim in monsoon water holes, and cook and try new foods. Karim is a good student in all subjects. He lives at home with his 16 year old sister Mitra, his parents, his dog Auggie, & cat Toby.
Leo West
Leo is a 13-year-old student at Alice Vail Middle School and plays alto saxophone and clarinet for its symphonic and jazz bands. This year is his second year with the Young Composers Program. His piece is titled Rekindling because of how it helped him escape months of writer’s block and rekindle his interest in music.
Max Hao
Max Hao is currently a fifth grader at Sunrise Drive Elementary School. He is 11 years old, and it is his second year in YCP. He has played the piano for a little over 5 years. His composition is titled Final Project. He based parts of his piece on chords and rhythms he experimented with.
Merik Jarasviroj Brown
Merik Jarasviroj Brown is finishing up his 8th grade year at Tucson Waldorf School. This is his third year in Young Composers Project. He appreciates all that he is learning from Dr. Nichols and his classmates. Merik studies classical piano under Mari Tomizuka and cello under Dr. Juan David Mejia. He has been part of his school’s orchestra since 4th grade, most recently under the guidance of Ms. Robyn Sato. He also enjoys playing ukulele which he studies at school under David Sussman. Recently, Merik finished a capstone project entitled Film Music: The Soul of the Story. As part of this project, he put into action skills learned in YCP to create an original score for a cartoon by using orchestral instruments to create sound effects, moods and motifs. His piece, Brass Quintet #1, is influenced by all the film scores he has been researching. When he is not practicing or composing music, Merik enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons, making stop motion films about Star Wars clones, doing voice overs of his cats, and spending time with friends and family. He offers his thanks to his teachers, parents, the TSO musicians and audience for their support.
Advanced Class Students
Carrick Montague
Hey! I’m Carrick Montague, an 18-year-old pianist with a passion for video games. This is my second year in the Young Composers Project, and last year in high school. My piece is called “The Nighthunter”, a trailer theme for the video game I’m making. (No, it will not come out for a very long time.) I decided to write a trailer theme because when the music in a game’s trailer is done right, it is both exciting and beautiful, combining the most important motifs and grandest pieces of music from the game’s content into a meaningful, dramatic climax. Hope you enjoy!
Krish Vedantham
My name is Krish Vedantham. I am a freshman at University High School. I have played piano for a decade, saxophone for four years, and have started bass trombone and percussion recently. This is my fourth year in the Young Composer’s Project. My piece is Sneezing. I came up with the title from the brief tense interjections during the beginning and end. The middle section is meant to signify the rush of needing a tissue after sneezing. I was inspired by our Bartok analysis during class, so I decided to open the piece with stacked fourths in the basses. I am also currently a keyboardist in a local Indian band Tucson Tarana. We perform at cultural events locally. I am also an avid cricket player. I hope you enjoy my piece, and I hope you sneeze along.
Oliver Ward
Oliver Ward is a 16-year-old junior at The Gregory School. He studies trumpet with Betsy Bright-Morgan of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and has been a member of the Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra for four years, serving as principal trumpet for the past three. In addition to playing the trumpet, Oliver plays the piano and is passionate about composition.
Oliver has been a participant in the Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s Young Composers Project for four years. His most recent piece, Adventure for Orchestra, is inspired by the wonders of the future, as he navigates his own personal goals and aspirations. Oliver hopes that the audience can reflect on their own lives with a feeling of nostalgia as the piece unfolds.
This summer, Oliver will study trumpet at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, where he looks forward to connecting with other musicians.
Ryoto Brumitt
Ryoto Brumitt is a homeschooled 16 year old. His main instrument is violin and has been studying it for 9 years.
This is Ryoto’s fifth year in YCP and his second year as an advanced student.
In 2024, while he was overwhelmed by the big leap from writing for quintet to orchestra (33 instruments), he discovered more opportunities and became even more driven to compose his first symphony, Accordionist’s Fantasy. That piece won first place in the inaugural Laszlo and Fran Veres Young Composers Competition held by the Foothills Philharmonic in Tucson.
Participating in both the Advanced 1 and Advanced 2 Classes, Ryoto composed two new works this season.
First Steps Among the Trees is about a new discovery in familiar woods. He was inspired by Suppe’s works and later received a new idea from listening to Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet at the TSO concert Rhythmic Fusion. He hopes the percussionists will enjoy the unusually busy parts for the YCP.
From Sunset to Nightfall, the inspiration came from his personal experience. Ryoto describes, “At the time of sunset, there is the quietest moment and nothing seems to move. All I feel is the gentle wind and the warmth from the sunbeam. That makes me calm, but at the same time I feel something like sadness for the sun setting. At nightfall, I feel more energetic, maybe it’s from the energy the setting sun passed to me.”
