Media Contacts:

Nanette McGuinness / nanette@E4TT.org

Renata Volchinskaya / renata@E4TT.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 9, 2026

 

Ensemble for These Times

 

In collaboration with the

 

San Francisco Conservatory of Music Technology and Applied Composition Department

 

Announces the winner of the E4TT/SFCM TAC Student Multimedia Composition Competition,

 

Jamie Morales,

For his new work, “Jupiter Rain,” to be performed on

“Women Crossing/Liminality”

 

Friday, April 17, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. 

In-Person and Livestreamed from Cha Chi Ming Hall, Bowes Center, San Francisco Conservatory of Music

(Full calendar listing below)

 

San Francisco - Award-winning SF contemporary chamber music group Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) is excited to announce Jamie Morales as the winner of our student multimedia composition competition in collaboration with SFCM’s TAC department. E4TT will perform the World Premiere of “Jupiter Rain” for cello and electronics by Morales on the group’s annual multimedia commissions concert on April 17, 2026 at 7:30 p.m at Cha Chi Ming Hall, Bowes Center, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and livestreamed on Vimeo. A collaboration with the SF Conservatory of Music’s Technical and Applied Composition (TAC) Department and entitled “Women Crossing/ Liminality,” the program will be free to attend and will feature three commissioned World Premieres by Juhi Bansal, Vivian Fung, and Pamela Z along with pre-existing works by Leileihua Lanzilotti and Sofia Jen Ouyang. Fung and Z will join the group for a composer talk before the concert.

 

About the Competition

E4TT’s commissioning program and collaboration with SF Conservatory of Music’s Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) department first began in 2019, when TAC students were asked to choose one of five 3-5 minute film clips and compose music to it, as part of E4TT’s Film Noir Project. Since then, each iteration has involved differing instrumentation. In 2026, the sixth iteration, students were asked to compose for solo cello with or without electronics, with the winning piece to be performed as part of the culminating concert in our two-year project, “Women Crossing/Liminality,” an innovative exploration of women’s immigration and identity.

 

About Winning Student Composer Jamie Morales

Jaime Morales is a composer and sound designer who specializes in interactive music systems and seamlessly combining acoustic and electronic elements to create unique sonic landscapes. What he loves most about music is collaborating with anyone and everyone who loves what they do! Recent projects include video games, films, concert music, and even art installations. Each providing their own unique challenges and methods of artistic expression and collaboration. Jaime’s biggest source of inspiration is his cat, “She fills me with an admiration for life so profound it cannot be put into words.” He uses this inspiration to create rich tapestries of sound along with extraordinary collaborators.

 

About “Women/Crossing/Liminality”

The highlight of E4TT’s 2025/26 season will be Women Crossing/Liminality, our annual commissions concert and sixth multimedia collaboration with the Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) Department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as the culmination of our two-year project, “Women Crossing/Liminality,” an innovative exploration of women’s immigration and identity. The concert will feature three commissioned World Premieres—“Fields of Sorrow,” for voice, cello, and piano by Opera America Discovery winner, Indian-Hongkongese composer Juhi Bansal (b. 1992), and two pieces for found-object percussion: “Rustling” with bass flute by JUNO Award winner, Chinese-American composer Vivian Fung (b. 1975), and “From” with violin, cello, and tape by Rome Prize-winning Black composer, Pamela Z (b. 1956)—along with the World Premiere of “Jupiter Rain” for cello and electronics by Jamie Morales (b. 1998), winner of the E4TT/TAC student multimedia composition competition. Two more works will round out the program: “say it in your heart, say when you sleep” (2023) for solo piano by 2022 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Hawaiian composer Leilehua Lanzilotti (b. 1985), and “Liminal/ity” (2021) for solo cello by Chinese-American composer and BMI Award winner Sophia Jen Ouyang (b. 2001).

E4TT (cellist Megan Chartier and pianist Margaret Halbig) will be joined by guests Composer-Performer and Media Artist Pamela Z, percussionist Haruka Fujii, violinist Lylia Guion, soprano Bryana Marrero, and flutist Stacey Pelinka. The concert will be free to attend at Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall in the Bowes Center at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (RSVPs recommended) and will also be livestreamed at no charge on SFCM’s Vimeo channel.

About Ensemble for These Times

Winner of The American Prize in 2021 for Chamber Music Performance, ENSEMBLE FOR THESE TIMES (E4TT) consists of award-winning soprano/Artistic Executive Director Nanette McGuinness, cellist Megan Chartier, pianist Margaret Halbig, and co-founder/Senior Artistic Advisor composer David Garner. E4TT made its international debut in Berlin in 2012; was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Budapest for a four-city tour of Hungary in 2014; and performed at the Krakow Culture Festival in 2016 and 2022, and at the Conservatorio Teresa Berganza in Madrid in 2017. In California, E4TT has performed at the Paderewski Festival, the LAMOTH, UCLA, and in the Bay Area at the German Consulate General, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Old First Concerts, JCC Peninsula, Trinity Chamber Concerts, and Noontime Concerts, among other venues.

E4TT’s five albums have all medaled in the Global Music Awards: Emigres & Exiles in Hollywood (2024) featuring music by some of the talented émigré composers who fled persecution during WWII for Hollywood, changing movie music as we know it; The Guernica Project (2022), commemorating the 85th anniversary of the horrific carpet bombing of civilians and Picasso’s masterwork in response; Once/Memory/Night: Paul Celan (2020), honoring the centennial of the seminal 20th-century poet; The Hungarians: From Rózsa to Justus (2018), with works by Hungarian émigré Miklós Rózsa, and three of his compatriots who perished in the Holocaust; and Surviving: Women’s Words (2016), new music to poetry by women Holocaust survivors. The group’s sixth album, El Tiempo Latine, will feature music by Latine composers and will be released on Aerocade Music on May 8, 2026, with pre-orders and pre-saves available starting April 1. In 2022, E4TT began its ongoing podcast of conversations with underrepresented creatives, For Good Measure.

 

CALENDAR LISTING

Friday, April 17, 2026 at 7:30 pm, San Francisco, “Women Crossing/Liminality”

Artists: E4TT (cellist Megan Chartier, and pianist Margaret Halbig) with guests composer-performer and media artist Pamela Z, percussionist Haruka Fujii, violinist Lylia Guion, soprano Bryana Marrero, and bass flutist Stacey Pelinka

Repertoire: “Fields of Sorrow (2025, World Premiere) for voice, cello, and piano by Juhi Bansal (b. 1984); “Rustling” (2026, World Premiere) for bass flute and found-object percussion by Vivian Fung (b. 1975); “From” (2026, World Premiere) for violin, cello, found-object percussion, tape, voice, and electronics by Pamela Z (b. 1956); “Jupiter Rain” (2026, World Premiere) for cello and electronics by Jamie Morales (b. 1998); “say it in your heart, say it when you sleep” (2023) for solo piano by Leilehua Lanzilotti (b. 1983); “Liminal/ity” (2021) for cello by Sofia Jen Ouyang (b. 2001)

Venue: Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall, Bowes Center, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 200 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, and livestreamed on SFCM’s Vimeo channel

Tickets: FREE in-person and online (livestreamed)

Pre-Concert Composer Talk: 7:00 pm

Info: https://E4TT.org/crossing.html

 

For more information about E4TT’s 2025/26 Bay Area Home Season, please visit our website.

High resolution jpgs are available for download https://E4tt.org/presskit.html.

For more information about E4TT’s latest recording, Emigres & Exiles in Hollywood, please visit https://E4TT.org/emigresEPK.html or contact Max Horowitz 347.267.9563. .maxcrossover@gmail.com

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