Musiqa Will Present NEW VOICES Concert Premiering Five Emerging Composers

Musiqa continues its 25th anniversary season with New Voices, an evening of world-premiere works by five emerging composers, paired with original poetry through Musiqa's long-running partnership with Inprint. The concert takes place Saturday, October 10, 2026 at 7:30 PM at MATCH (Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston).

New Voices is Musiqa's stage for artists making their first appearance with the company. This year's program features world-premiere clarinet quartets by three commissioned composers — Rolando Gómez, Jaylin Vinson, and Justin Weiss — alongside two works celebrating the 10th anniversary of Luna Composition Lab (Luna Lab@10): "A Glimpse" for solo violin by Joanna McDonald and "Pith" for solo piano by KiMani Bridges.

Musiqa will present new music by the winner of the Cross-Country Chamber Consortium's Black, Latinx and Indigenous Emerging Composer Commission. Rolando Gómez's "The Two Clocks" for clarinet quartet runs vibrant Cuban son rhythms through a classical chamber context. A Miami-born tresero, Gómez writes music at the intersection of Cuban, jazz, and classical traditions, and founded Tres Contemporáneo to expand the repertoire for the Cuban tres. The CCCC is a partnership among five ensembles nationwide — Atlanta Chamber Players, Ensemble New SRQ, Musiqa, Picola, and SOLI Chamber Ensemble — formed to widen the platform for composers from communities historically underrepresented in modern chamber music.

Musiqa's 2025 Emerging Composer Commission winner Justin Weiss holds a PhD from the University of Chicago, conducts Chicago's Mycelium New Music, and has had his work performed by ensembles from Quatuor Diotima to Sandbox Percussion Quartet. The world premiere of his "A Line Becoming" for clarinet quartet is his first work for Musiqa's stage.

Musiqa's 2025 Catalyst Commission for local emerging composers was awarded to Jaylin Vinson: the world premiere of his "This Saturated City" for clarinet quartet brings gospel and Afrofuturist influences into the chamber setting. Vinson's music has been called "an awakening" by the Sioux City Journal and has been performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Recent projects include an Afrofuturistic flute concerto and a chamber opera commissioned by Washington National Opera.

This year's program also celebrates the 10th anniversary of Luna Composition Lab (Luna Lab@10), a leading organization dedicated to nurturing the next generation of women, non-binary, and gender non-conforming composers.

KiMani Bridges is a composer and flutist from Louisville, Kentucky, and a Luna Lab alumna. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and is currently pursuing a Master's at The Juilliard School on a Kovner Fellowship. Her works have been commissioned and performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, and she is a recipient of the G. Schirmer Prize and the Leonard Bernstein Award. The program features her "Pith" for solo piano.

Also presented as part of Luna Lab@10, Joanna McDonald's "A Glimpse" for solo violin brings a Houston connection to the program. McDonald is a composer and jazz dancer interested in how interdisciplinary exploration of movement and visual stimulation affects storytelling and auditory experiences, and a Shepherd School of Music alumna. Her choral project "Untamed" was commissioned by the May Festival in collaboration with Luna Lab, and she has created short films with electronic and acoustic music for interdisciplinary concerts and exhibitions.

Musiqa is proud to partner with Inprint to bring poetry to our stage. A Houston poet will bring in works inspired by these compositions.

Performers for this program include Musiqa artists Nanki Chugh (violin), Caio Diniz (cello), Zhu Zhu (piano), and Maiko Sasaki (clarinet).