About

Short Bio

Jake Berran is a composer, pianist, conductor, percussionist, vocalist, and educator active in contemporary classical, electronic, theater, and church music. Most recently, his piano piece Seven Regressions earned an Honorable Mention in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards as well as selection for publishing by Score Follower, and he composed and directed electroacoustic chamber opera PHREAKED: The Boy Who Broke The Telephone with libretto by Avalon Hogans and Spencer Rembert. Berran has served as Associate Conductor at the College Light Opera Company where he conducted Ruddigore and La Cage aux Folles, Electronic Music Teaching Assistant at the Shepherd School of Music, Liturgical Music Scholar at Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston, and Composer In Residence for MusiqaLab, teaching composition to a class of high school students. He frequently performs new music and is a member of Houston's Gamelan of the New Moon. Berran grew up in Minnesota, graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music with a B.M. in Composition and a B.A. in Mathematics, and now holds an M.M. in Composition from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. His music has been performed by groups such as Sandbox Percussion, Kinetic Ensemble, White Snake Projects, Unheard-of//Ensemble, the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Oberlin College Choir, and Minnesota Sinfonia.