Musiqa Reveals Winners of 2025 Emerging Composer Commission and 2025 Catalyst Commission

Musiqa’s 2025 Emerging Composer Commission winner is Justin Weiss, a composer and conductor whose work has been recognized with a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the League of Composers/ISCM Prize, the Walter E. Aschaffenburg Prize for Composition, the Prix Langage Musical from Les Écoles d’Art Américaines de Fontainebleau, and awards and recognitions from institutions including ASCAP, Society of Composers, Inc., and The American Prize.

Justin’s music has been performed by ensembles including Quatuor Diotima, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Grossman Ensemble, TAK Ensemble, ~Nois Saxophone Quartet, Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble, and Sandbox Percussion Quartet. Justin is the co-executive/artistic director and conductor of new Chicago-based contemporary music ensemble, Mycelium New Music, and has premiered dozens of pieces internationally. Justin holds a PhD from the University of Chicago where he studied with Augusta Read Thomas and is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Oberlin Conservatory.

Musiqa’s 2025 Catalyst Commission winner for local composers is Jaylin Vinson, a composer whose music is described as “an awakening” (Sioux City Journal), marked by “insatiable curiosity” (Heifetz Institute) and “bold and compelling” (DC Theater Arts). His works were performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and across the U.S. by ensembles including the New York Youth Symphony, the U.S. Navy Band, and Apollo Chamber Players. 

Recent projects include Future of Dreams, a chamber opera commissioned by Washington National Opera (2025), and Dark Matter, an Afrofuturistic flute concerto featuring acclaimed flutist Tyler Martin in collaboration with the KINETIC Ensemble. Jaylin has a Bachelor of Music in composition from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
 
Both winners will receive $2000 stipends and a world premiere presentation of their commissions on Musiqa’s 2026-2027 Season, as well as the support of Musiqa’s artistic and administrative staff. Applications for this year’s Emerging Composer Commission were judged by Musiqa’s Artistic Board along with previous commission recipients Luis Quintana and Ben Morris. Luis Quintana is a Puerto Rican composer based in France whose work spans concert music, acousmatic pieces, and installations. Inspired by Caribbean soundscapes, nature, and diverse traditions, he explores liminal spaces where memory and tradition dissolve into sound. A graduate of the CNSMDP and IRCAM, he has received major distinctions including the Composition Prize from the Académie des Beaux-Arts and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Ben Morris is a composer and jazz pianist whose music crosses genre boundaries and tells unconventional stories that often engage with the natural world. His music has been described as "witty" (Wall Street Journal), “heart-touching” (OperaGene), "fresh" (All About Jazz), and "wonderfully inventive" (Tom Cipullo).