Headshots
200 Word Bio
Coming from a background in arts-integrated education, Drew Swatosh (they/them, “SWAH-tahsh”) strives to create connections within their music, whether through the inclusion of programmatic/extra-musical elements; collaborating with other composers, musicians, and artists; and/or combining different musical styles and compositional techniques. They use composting to process the world around them, including social justice, intersectional feminism, climate change, and grief. Drew’s commissions include a trans/non-binary retelling of the myth of Icarus and Daedalus for the Seattle Opera Creation Lab; choral educator Stephanie Bivins; the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics Music Department; and vocalists Stephanie Lamprea, Marguerite McKean, and Carolyn Quick as part of the Dead Fires Anthology for Solo Unaccompanied/Self-Accompanied Voice. Their awards include the WMTA Student Composers Awards and Portland Symphonic Choir’s New Works Competition. As a vocalist, they have sung in the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium American Creators Chorus under Conspirare Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson. In collaboration with Persisting Sound, they made their professional debut with Portland artists Lisa Neher and Carolyn Quick. They are a co-founder of the PNW gender-diverse composer and music distribution collective, Raindrop New Music, a voice/composition student of Lisa Neher, and sing with Portland Symphonic Choir and Big Mouth Society. www.drewswatosh.com
100 Word Bio
Drew Swatosh (they/them) is a Vancouver, Washington-based composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. Inspired by their background in arts-integrated education, they write eclectic, programmatic music and use composing as a means of processing the world around them. Drew’s commissions include the Seattle Opera Creation Lab; choral educator Stephanie Bivins; the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics Music Department; and vocalists Stephanie Lamprea, Marguerite McKean, and Carolyn Quick as part of the Dead Fires Anthology for Solo Unaccompanied/Self-Accompanied Voice. They are a co-founder of the PNW gender-diverse composers collective, Raindrop New Music, and sing with Portland Symphonic Choir and Big Mouth Society. www.drewswatosh.com