SPLICE Institute 2025 Participant Concert 4 Program
Saturday June 28, 2025
7:30pm EDT
Dalton Recital Hall, Western Michigan University
Fitz Neeley : Plum Fox Jaws, Dr. Q by Knight, EZ CV
Noa Even, sax
Connor Scroggins : An Ambivalent Euphoria, Always Fluctuating
Amy Zuidema, clarinet
Forrest Wentzel : Bloom
Matt Sharrock, marimba
Treya Nash : Bar to Bar
Noa Even, sax
Janice Shieh : Rattle-nance
Matt Sharrock, marimba
JD Fuller : with the sundial set, the roots sink deep, deep within
Hayden Mesnick, piano or accordion
Guang Yang : Memory, Sketched
Solomon Yoon-Joon Kim, cello
Indigo Knecht : if you care to listen
Matt Sharrock, marimba
Notes
Fitz Neeley : Plum Fox Jaws, Dr. Q by Knight, EZ CV
Plum Fox Jaws… is a piece about desire to experience and be everything. In some ways it’s about the quality of being ambitious, and in other ways it’s about the fear of decisions and crossroads.
This title is nonsense really, aside from being a “perfect pangram”. It is an attempt to use one of every letter only to create a meaningful statement. The mediocre success at meaning is my way of getting at the price/faults for ambitiousness.
Connor Scroggins : An Ambivalent Euphoria, Always Fluctuating
What does a good day look like? What does a good life feel like? What aspects of that life don’t feel as good one might expect - or possibly even better than expected? What role does finding oneself play in living a good life? What about one’s self-actualization improves the conditions of their life? Through that self-actualization, what about that identity they find brings joy or even just a desire to live? What about it brings a desire and passion to stand up for beautiful, healthy, yet vilified aspects of human experience? How could that manifest in a work of art embodied in a small niche of the world?
Forrest Wentzel : Bloom
Bloom uses real-time processing to expand the marimba’s expressive range, allowing harmonies and sustained overtones to blossom organically from its natural sound.
Treya Nash : Bar to Bar
Please turn up your cellphone volume, and if you have an iphone turn off silent mode. (Please silence it afterwards ;'))
Janice Shieh : Rattle-nance
Inspired by the Think/No-Think memory studies module, Rattle-nance explores the extended resonance of prepared marimba with aluminum foil sheets and rattling caps. The distorted sound transforms into the natural resonance of a marimba. Electronics are infused into the live performative actions to augment moments of dwelling. In our cognitive processing, intentionally forgetting makes space for memory. Will a rattle make stage for resonance? Knock on the wood!
JD Fuller : with the sundial set, the roots sink deep, deep within
in many directions, roots discover,
water, through the soil,
taking only time.
so I have set out the dollar store sundial
and I deliberately wait
for the snow to melt,
and my breath to return.
Please stretch and breathe with me. Due East.
Written for SPLICE Institute 2025, to be played by Hayden Mesnick.
Guang Yang : Memory, Sketched
Memory, Sketched is a collaborative composition with cellist Solomon Kim. As a performer and improviser, Solomon brings a deeply powerful voice through the cello. The electronic component of this piece draws from recordings of Kim's past improvisations—fragments of sound that now return as echoes, memories, and points of departure. The cello part becomes a dialogue with these earlier moments.
In many ways, this piece is a portrait of Solomon—not a static photograph, but a sketch: fluid and interpretative. It reflects not only his improvisational identity but also my own responses and imaginations shaped by those moments. Toward the end, a guqin melody from my own memory enters, extending the thread of recollection. Through cello, voice, and guqin, I hope this work becomes a shared reflection on memory—individual and intertwined.
Indigo Knecht : if you care to listen
Written for Matt Sharrock.
if you care to listen explores my thoughts about living as a non-binary person in today’s world. Featuring my own voice, the piece navigates the various emotions about my identity while I still fight to fit in with my peers. It is both a cry to be heard and a cry for change.
Bios
Based in Philadelphia, Noa Even is a versatile saxophonist dedicated to the creation of new music through improvisation, composition, and close collaboration with composers. She has premiered dozens of new works, most of which were composed for her and her ensembles. Noa is a member of New Thread Quartet and duos Ogni Suono, Patchwork, and Audra. Her recordings have been released on New Focus Recordings and Innova. Noa is Assistant Teaching Professor and Head of Woodwinds at Rowan University in New Jersey. She has taught over 80 master classes around the world and regularly participates in student composer readings. From 2017-2020, Noa served as Executive Director of Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP), a non-profit organization she co-founded that champions new and experimental music. She was Treasurer of the North American Saxophone Alliance from 2021 through 2024. Noa is a Conn-Selmer Artist-Clinician and a Vandoren Artist.
JD Fuller (b. 2004, he/him/his) is a sound artist, composer, & student from Houston, Texas interested in computer/electroacoustic music, improvisation, and audiovisual performance. He is currently a Bachelors student at the University of North Texas in Denton, TX, USA studying Music with a concentration in Electronics. JD is an avid electronics-performer and is part of electronics duo Octothorpe with Nolen Liu, folktronica trio WhenIGo, sound art collective Club Akirat, and the JD Fuller Electro-Acoustic Doomjazz Ensemble.
JD’s music has been described as “a unique impressionistic soundscape that captivates the listener and washes over them like a wave of sonic catharsis” (The North Texas Review, 2022), released on Braes Records, SD’s Saturn Station, Merry-Cure-Kil Records, and Eclectic Tapes from Earth, as well as performed at the University of North Texas, Louisiana State University, University of Virginia, IRCAM, & the Saturn Portal of Texas.
Solomon Kim is a composer and cellist working across the improvisation-composition continuum. His work has appeared in the U.S., Turkey, and throughout western Europe, including at the Atlanta SoundNOW Festival, Novalis Festival (Croatia), and Arter (Istanbul).
Blending avant-garde idioms with a focus on somatic-informed breath and movement technique, their improvisations have been described as “having a concrete body.” Solomon’s work explores community and relationality—connection to others, self, and broader ideas—through the immediacy of live performance.
As a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey, Solomon performed and facilitated creative work with Cello-Eurorack duo Kim&Min, Timuçin Şahin’s Re-calibrators, his own music-dance research groups, and other interdisciplinary ensembles. He has studied with Katherine Young, Adam Mirza, Joel Rust, and Timuçin Şahin. His debut EP, ""A Year Without a Name: Improvisations from Atlanta, Georgia,"" was released in November 2024. Solomon will begin an M.A. in Music at Wesleyan University in fall 2025.
Indigo Knecht is a composer, tubist, and educator fascinated with the challenges people face as they navigate this world. Through a synthesis of contemporary classical music and rock & roll, Indigo explores themes such as environmentalism, mental illness, and self-realization.
Indigo has a BM in Composition from Bowling Green State University and a MM in Composition from University of Michigan. They are currently in their third year at University of Miami pursuing a DMA in Composition under the guidance of Dr. Dorothy Hindman. Their multimedia installation, “The Chanting of Coral Reefs: Bringing Awareness to the Endangerment of Coral Reefs Through the Sonification of Settling Larvae,” received the 2024 Presser Foundation Graduate Award, with the premiere set for April 2025. After graduation, Indigo intends on teaching music theory and composition at the university level while continuing to develop expansive compositions that bring awareness to issues in our world with groundbreaking technology.
Hayden Mesnick (he/they; b. 2002) is a composer, pianist, accordionist, and curator based in Ohio. He received his B.M. in Music Composition from Bowling Green State University, where he studied composition with Piyawat Louilarpprasert, Elainie Lillios, Mikel Kuehn, Marilyn Shrude, and Christopher Dietz; and piano with Ariel Kasler and Yevgeny Yontov. Hayden’s compositional interests include improvisation, polystylism, drones, and absurdism. His music has been premiered by individuals and ensembles such as Cerulean Trio, FLYDLPHN, Joshua Lyphout, Abigail Petersen, and Tacet(i).
As a performer, Hayden has premiered his own compositions as well as works by Alric Godfrey, Andrew Junttonen, Joseph Miller, Elijah Stewart, and others. Ensembles he has worked with include BGSU’s Middle Eastern, Early Music, and New Music Ensembles, Black Swamp Polka Collective, dmg quintet, One Billion Lions, and Sankofa Sounds. His musical background is diverse, spanning jazz, free improvisation, contemporary concert music, polka, and more.
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Treya Nash is a composer and creative coder from England who is currently based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She often writes works for audience participation with cellphones or objects. She loves field recording, especially if frogs are involved.
Ancel ‘Fitz’ Neeley is a multimedia composer and percussionist from Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti. His music is inspired by cinematography, screenwriting, and the intersection of technology and nature. Fitz’s works often experiment with text as a means of exploring the familiar and unfamiliar facets of human connection and communication. Fitz is the artistic director and one percussionist of FLYDLPHN, a mixed chamber sextet based in southeastern Michigan dedicated to commissioning and electro-acoustic performance. He also performs with his percussion and multimedia duo VIRID, and percussion trio Brain Pocket both of whom support the creation of new works by young, living, and underrepresented composers.
Connor Scroggins is a composer who seeks to empower engaging, intimate expressions of sonic embodiment. He is seeking a PhD of Music Composition from University of North Texas. He received degrees previously from Bowling Green State University and Arkansas State University. His works have been read and performed by Robin Meiksins, Ensemble Dal Niente, MDI Ensemble, Suono Giallo, The Rhythm Method String Quartet, Hypercube, New Thread Quartet, and Apply Triangle Trio. He won 2nd Prize for the 2025 SEAMUS Student Commission Competition. His music has been performed in the United States and Europe at ilSUONO, highSCORE, SEAMUS, ICMC, NYCEMF, and SPLICE Institute. He has participated in masterclasses from Clara Iannotta, Helmut Lachenmann, Jason Eckardt, Augusta Read Thomas, Cort Lippe, and Mari Kimura. His previous mentors include Panayiotis Kokoras, Elainie Lillios, Timothy Crist, Jon Nelson, Drew Schnurr, Mikel Kuehn, Christopher Dietz, Marco Buongiorno Nardelli, Derek Jenkins, and Carrie Leigh Page.
Hailed as one of “Boston’s best percussionists” by I Care if You Listen, Matt Sharrock (they/them) is a versatile marimbist, percussionist, and conductor who tirelessly champions the music of living composers. As half of the bass clarinet/marimba duo Transient Canvas and director of operations for the Hinge Quartet, they have commissioned and premiered over 100 works while performing in the United States and abroad. In demand as a chamber musician, Matt is the resident percussionist with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston and have performed with the Lydian String Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, Lorelei, and Dinosaur Annex, among others. As an orchestral percussionist, Matt can be heard regularly with the Lexington Symphony Orchestra, the Vista Philharmonic, and the Grammy-winning Boston Modern Orchestra Project. They are an assistant professor of core studies and composition at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Matt proudly endorses Marimba One and Encore Mallets.
Originally from Taiwan, Chia-Ying (Janice) Shieh’s music connects with others through memories and spaces while reflecting herself as a habitual transpacific traveler. Shieh’s compositional practice is deeply informed by her decade-long world-wide performance experience as an established violinist. Recently, she was awarded the Libby-Larsen Prize by the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM). Shieh holds M.M. in composition at Bowling Green State University, B.M. in composition, and B.M. in violin performance from University of North Texas. Her composition teachers include Piyawat Louilarpprasert, Marilyn Shrude, Christopher Dietz, Sungji Hong, and Andrew May.
Forrest Wentzel composes music that blurs the line between the surreal and the natural. His concert music often incorporates electroacoustic elements, creating uncanny spaces where both organic and inorganic sounds can flourish. He uses these elements to form deeply personal narratives, which can be felt either explicitly or implicitly through the music. Forrest is currently pursuing his M.M. in composition at Peabody Conservatory, where he studies with Dr. Sky Macklay. He received his B.A. from Oberlin College, where he studied Russian language.
Guang Yang is an artist currently based at Davis, California. His works center on sound while often extending beyond the purely sonic. His practice explores the intersections of diverse art forms, engaging deeply with themes of translation and identity. Recent works have drawn inspiration from the strokes of Chinese calligraphy and the layered textures of ink wash paintings, while also bridging sound with other media, such as narrative imagery and curated lighting. Yang’s compositions have been performed by esteemed ensembles and musicians, including the Euclid String Quartet, Da Capo Chamber Players, Zhejiang Conservatory Ensemble, The Orchestra Now, Bard Conservatory Orchestra, Dogs of Desire (Albany Symphony), Transient Canvas, Sound Icon, the Rhythm Method Quartet, and the Mivos Quartet. His works have been showcased in the United States, China, and Italy at renowned venues including the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, BU Concert Hall, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Bito Conservatory Space, Xuelu Art School, Xianzhao Buddhist Temple, Yuhang Grand Theatre, Chiesa della Maddalena, Lake George Carriage House, and Bush Memorial Hall.