Katherine Young

Biography

Katherine Young is a composer, bassoonist, and improviser specializing in electro-acoustic music characterized by curious timbres, expressive noises, and kinetic structures that explore the physicality of sound, interpersonal dynamics, and the familiar versus the strange.[1][2] She began her musical education as an undergraduate at Oberlin College and Conservatory, studying bassoon performance and comparative literature, before earning her MA in Composition at Wesleyan University and her DMA in Composition at Northwestern University.[1][2][4] Her academic work included studying with influential figures such as Anthony Braxton, Ron Kuivila, and Alvin Lucier at Wesleyan, and Hans Thomalla, Jay Alan Yim, Chris Mercer, and the late Lee Hyla at Northwestern, with her dissertation analyzing Braxton's opera Trillium J: The Non-Unconfessionables.[1]

Young's career as a performer and composer emphasizes collaboration and innovation, amplifying her bassoon with flexible electronics and participating in improvisation.[2][3] Her debut solo album, Further Secret Origins (2009), received acclaim from The Wire as a 'bassoon colossus' and Downbeat for its 'bold leaps for the bassoon.'[1][2] She has released notable recordings including her quartet Pretty Monsters' self-titled debut (2012), duos with Amy Cimini as Architeuthis Walks on Land, with Sam Scranton as Beautifulish, and with Anthony Braxton, as well as the multi-movement work Diligence Is to Magic as Progress Is to Flight on Parlour Tapes+.[1][3] Commissions from ensembles like Ensemble Dal Niente, Wet Ink, Talea, Spektral Quartet, LA Phil, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, and Third Coast Percussion highlight her rising prominence, alongside awards such as the Guggenheim Fellowship and Fromm Foundation Commission.[2][4]

Currently based in Atlanta on the homelands of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Young teaches composition, electronic music, improvisation, orchestration, and film composition at Emory University, having previously taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Berklee College of Music.[2][4] Her practice centers on relationship building and ecological thinking, with ongoing projects including faculty roles at festivals like Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik and New Music on the Point in 2026.[2] As a founding member of Till by Turning, she continues to push boundaries in contemporary music through performance, composition, and installation works like boundarymind.[1][3]

Fun Facts

• Her debut solo album Further Secret Origins (2009) was hailed by The Wire as featuring a 'Bassoon colossus' and by Downbeat for 'seriously bold leaps for the bassoon.'[1][2]
• Pretty Monsters quartet blends doomy songs, noisy improv, and eerie experimental chamber music, with Young composing specifically for violinist Erica Dicker, guitarist Owen Stewart-Robertson, drummer Mike Pride, and herself on bassoon+electronics.[3]
• She documented a 2014 duo album with violist Amy Cimini during a residency at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s EMPAC on Carrier Records.[1]
• Young is a founding member of Till by Turning and has created an evening-length electroacoustic installation boundarymind exploring geographical, cultural, psychological, and musical boundaries.[1][3]

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Anthony Braxton - composition teacher and dissertation subject (Trillium J: The Non-Unconfessionables (dissertation analysis), duo recording) [Wesleyan MA, ongoing collaboration]
• Ron Kuivila - composition teacher (MA studies at Wesleyan) [Wesleyan MA]
• Alvin Lucier - composition teacher (MA studies at Wesleyan) [Wesleyan MA]
• Hans Thomalla - composition teacher (DMA at Northwestern) [Northwestern DMA]
• Jay Alan Yim - composition teacher (DMA at Northwestern) [Northwestern DMA]
• Chris Mercer - composition teacher (DMA at Northwestern) [Northwestern DMA]
• Lee Hyla - composition teacher (DMA at Northwestern) [Northwestern DMA]

Key Collaborators

• Amy Cimini - duo Architeuthis Walks on Land (viola-bassoon-electronics) (third record on Carrier Records (2014), residency at EMPAC) [ongoing, 2014 release]
• Sam Scranton - duo Beautifulish (bassoon-percussion-electronics) (Beautifulish recordings, 'INCHWORM' video) [ongoing]
• Jessica Pavone - viola-bassoon-electronics duo project (new body of improvised and composed works) [recent, two-decade performance history]
• Erica Dicker - Pretty Monsters quartet (violin) (Pretty Monsters self-titled debut (2012)) [2012]
• Owen Stewart-Robertson - Pretty Monsters quartet (electric guitar) (Pretty Monsters self-titled debut (2012)) [2012]
• Mike Pride - Pretty Monsters quartet (drums/percussion) (Pretty Monsters self-titled debut (2012)) [2012]
• Anthony Braxton - duo improvisation and recording (duo recording) [recent]
• Linda Jankowska - performance and collaboration (boundarymind (2013-2022) highlights, Distractfold Ensemble) [2013-2022]
• Yarn/Wire - close working relationship, commissions (Institute faculty, commissions) [ongoing]
• Wet Ink - ensemble performances and commissions (performed her music) [ongoing]
• Ensemble Nikel - close working relationship (commissions) [ongoing]

External Links

• Spotify