Jake Berran

I am a 19-year-old composer from Minnesota, and I study at Oberlin Conservatory under Jesse Jones. As a classical pianist and concert band percussionist through high school, my body of work includes piano solos and concert band works. Recently, I have branched out to more chamber and orchestral works as well as vocal and choral pieces after I joined choir last year. Electronic music has always been a passion of mine too, and I intend to merge it with my instrumental composition over time. As a student, my musical style is rapidly developing, but others often characterize it as poly-stylistic, often within individual works and certainly between different ones. Right now, I think a lot about how to tell stories and be humorous through a purely sonic medium, and I try to explore new timbres and colors. I love music because it has the power to unlock, capture, and communicate things that written language can’t. I was one of three winners in the 2020 Minnesota Sinfonia New Works Competition for my piece Ballade for Orchestra, and I was second place in the 2020 Minnesota Music Teachers Association Student Composition Contest for piano solo Rhapsody No. 1.