COMPOSER

Composition Bios

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50 words

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​A gritty, imaginative wayfinder, Zoe Yost centers her artistic life at the crossroads.  She studies viola and composition with Dimitri Murrath and Dr. David Conte at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  Her music has been premiered by artists including David Friend, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Genevieve Hahn, Choral Chameleon Ensemble, and San Francisco Choral Artists.  ​

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100 words

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A gritty, imaginative wayfinder, Zoe Yost centers her artistic life at the crossroads.  She studies viola and composition with Dimitri Murrath and Dr. David Conte at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  

Zoe’s music has been premiered by artists including David Friend, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Genevieve Hahn, Choral Chameleon Ensemble, and San Francisco Choral Artists.  Her flute, viola, and cello trio, A Midsummer’s Daydream, was the winner of Eight Strings and a Whistle’s 2024 Composer Competition, and will be premiered by the trio in New York City in November 2024.

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200 words

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A gritty, imaginative wayfinder, Zoe Yost centers her artistic life at the crossroads.  Her voice springs from the integration of performance, composition, and creative writing.  She studies viola and composition with Dimitri Murrath and Dr. David Conte at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  

Deeply committed to new music, Zoe performed fifteen works by living composers in the 2023-24 season, plus four of her own.  Her recent composition projects include Veils: A Symphonic Poem; choral settings of O salutaris Hostia and Walt Whitman’s O Me! O Life!; and an art song setting of William Blake’s The Lamb, commissioned by Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church.  

 

Her music has been premiered by artists including David Friend, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Genevieve Hahn, Choral Chameleon Ensemble, and San Francisco Choral Artists.  Her flute, viola, and cello trio, A Midsummer’s Daydream, was the winner of Eight Strings and a Whistle’s 2024 Composer Competition, and will be premiered by the trio in New York City in November 2024.

 

A formidable violist, Zoe was the winner of SFCM’s 2024 Low Strings Concerto Competition.  She is also a choral conductor and published poet, and is writing a series of novels accompanied by original music. 

 

300 words

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A gritty, imaginative wayfinder, Zoe Yost centers her artistic life at the crossroads.  Her voice springs from the integration of performance, composition, and creative writing.  A social and environmental activist, she believes in the responsibility of artists to enrich and care for society, and frequently places her craft at the service of her community.

 

Zoe studies viola and composition at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where her private teachers are Dimitri Murrath and Dr. David Conte.  Deeply committed to new music, Zoe performed fifteen works by living composers in the 2023-24 season, in addition to four of her own.  Her recent composition projects include Veils: A Symphonic Poem; a choral setting of Walt Whitman’s O Me! O Life!; a Pastorale for flute, viola, and piano; a choral setting of O salutaris Hostia; and an art song setting of William Blake’s The Lamb, commissioned by Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church.  

 

Her music has been premiered, often with her on viola, by artists including David Friend, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Genevieve Hahn, Choral Chameleon Ensemble, and San Francisco Choral Artists.  Her flute, viola, and cello trio, A Midsummer’s Daydream, was the winner of Eight Strings and a Whistle’s 2024 Composer Competition, and will be premiered by the trio in New York City in November 2024.

 

A formidable violist, she was the winner of SFCM’s 2024 Low Strings Concerto Competition.  Since arriving at SFCM in Fall 2022, she has served three times as principal violist of the SFCM Orchestra.  Her activities at SFCM include semesterly recitals, often including her compositions. 

 

Also a conductor, Zoe directed the inaugural Lower Brandywine Choral Festival in August 2024.  She is also a published poet, and is writing a series of novels accompanied by original music.  When not involved with the arts, she enjoys hiking, traveling, and reading.

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500 words

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A gritty, imaginative wayfinder, Zoe Yost centers her artistic life at the crossroads.  Her voice springs from the integration of performance, composition, and creative writing, as well as painting and photography, and she finds inspiration everywhere from the Schoodic Peninsula to New York City.  A social and environmental activist, she believes in the power and responsibility of artists to enrich and care for society, and frequently places her craft at the service of her community.

 

Zoe studies viola and composition at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where her private teachers are Dimitri Murrath and Dr. David Conte.  Deeply committed to new music, Zoe performed fifteen works by living composers in the 2023-24 season, in addition to four of her own.  Her recent composition projects include Veils: A Symphonic Poem; a choral setting of Walt Whitman’s O Me! O Life!; a viola ensemble work for the 2024 Murrath studio recital; a Pastorale for flute, viola, and piano; a choral setting of O salutaris Hostia; and an art song setting of William Blake’s The Lamb, commissioned by Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church.  

 

Her music has been premiered, often with her on viola, by artists including David Friend, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Genevieve Hahn, Choral Chameleon Ensemble, and San Francisco Choral Artists.  Her flute, viola, and cello trio, A Midsummer’s Daydream, was the winner of Eight Strings and a Whistle’s 2024 Composer Competition, and will be premiered by the trio in New York City in November 2024.

 

A formidable violist, she was the winner of SFCM’s 2024 Low Strings Concerto Competition, and previously received awards in the Telegraph Players Chamber Competition, the Temple University Music Prep Concerto Competition, the Caprio Young Artists Competition, and the Grand Prize Virtuoso Bonn and Salzburg Competitions.  She has performed chamber music alongside artists including Melissa White, the Telegraph String Quartet, and the Jasper String Quartet.  Since arriving at SFCM in Fall 2022, she has served three times as principal violist of the SFCM Orchestra.  Her activities at SFCM include semesterly recitals, often including her compositions, and she frequently participates in recording and sampling sessions.  In 2023, she collaborated with Pierre and Miguel Mariaca on an electroacoustic production by Kinetech Arts.

 

A conductor, Zoe directed the inaugural Lower Brandywine Choral Festival, a weeklong community program dedicated to building fellowship through music, in August 2024.  The final concert raised over $800 for the Food Bank of Delaware, following in a pattern of philanthropy Zoe has maintained since childhood.  Between ages seven and fifteen, she raised over $7,500 for the Delaware Bird-A-Thon, a project dedicated to purchasing and protecting fragile bird habitat along the Delaware Bayshore.  More recently, in Spring 2024, she administrated two benefit concerts in partnership with other musicians, for Compass Family Services and the Starcross Foundation.  

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Zoe is also a published poet, and is writing a series of novels accompanied by original music.  When not involved with the arts, she enjoys hiking, traveling, and reading.