# Katherine Balch > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Katherine_Balch > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Katherine_Balch.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Balch > Source revision: 1357143664 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American composer (born 1991)}} {{Use American English|date=June 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox biography | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1991}} | birth_place = San Diego, California, U.S. | occupation = Composer | employer = {{ublist| * [Peabody Institute](/source/Peabody_Institute) * [Yale School of Music](/source/Yale_School_of_Music) }} | awards = {{ublist| * [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) (2025) * [Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award](/source/Royal_Philharmonic_Society_Music_Award) in Large-Scale Composition (2025) }} | alma_mater = {{ublist| * [Tufts University](/source/Tufts_University) * [New England Conservatory of Music](/source/New_England_Conservatory_of_Music) * [Yale School of Music](/source/Yale_School_of_Music) * [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) }} | website = {{URL|katherinebalch.com}} | module = {{Infobox academic | embed = yes | thesis_title = Liminal Spaces: Sonic Ecologies within and around the Music of Erin Gee | thesis_year = 2022 | doctoral_advisor = [George E. Lewis](/source/George_E._Lewis) }} | module2 = {{Infobox musical artist | embed = yes | genre = Contemporary classical music }} }} '''Katherine Elise Balch''' (born 1991) is an American composer. She is a 2025 [Guggenheim Fellow](/source/Guggenheim_Fellow) and winner of a 2025 [Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award](/source/Royal_Philharmonic_Society_Music_Award). ==Early life== Balch was born and raised in [San Diego](/source/San_Diego).{{cite news|id={{ProQuest|3065044117}}|title=New York chronicle|last=Nordlinger|first=Jay|work= The New Criterion|volume= 42|issue= 10|date=2024|page=147-161}} She obtained her bachelor's degree from [Tufts University](/source/Tufts_University) and the [New England Conservatory of Music](/source/New_England_Conservatory_of_Music) and her master's degree from [Yale School of Music](/source/Yale_School_of_Music). In 2022, she obtained her doctorate of musical arts from [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University); her doctoral dissertation ''Liminal Spaces: Sonic Ecologies within and around the Music of Erin Gee'' was supervised by [George E. Lewis](/source/George_E._Lewis).{{Cite web |title=Dr. Katherine Elise Balch defends dissertation |url=https://music.columbia.edu/news/dr-katherine-elise-balch-defends-dissertation |access-date=June 11, 2025 |website=music.columbia.edu |archive-date=April 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425105223/https://music.columbia.edu/news/dr-katherine-elise-balch-defends-dissertation |url-status=live }} ==Musical career== She was the 2014-2015 [Collage New Music](/source/Collage_New_Music) Fellow,{{Cite web |title=Past Collage Fellows |url=http://www.collagenewmusic.org/past-collage-fellows |access-date=June 11, 2025 |website=Collage New Music |date=June 20, 2019 }} and she won an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award.{{Cite web |date=April 1, 2014 |title=2014 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards Announced |url=https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/2014-ascap-morton-gould-young-composer-awards-announced/,%20https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/2014-ascap-morton-gould-young-composer-awards-announced/ |access-date=June 11, 2025 |website=New Music USA}} She was the [California Symphony](/source/California_Symphony) Young American Composer-in-Residence from 2017 to 2020 (the first woman to hold the position),{{Cite news |date=April 16, 2018 |title=Composer-in-Residence Katherine Balch on Cuckoo Clocks, California, and Composing in Color |url=https://www.californiasymphony.org/blog/composer-in-residence-katherine-balch-on-cuckoo-clocks-california-and-composing-in-color/ |access-date=June 11, 2025 |work=California Symphony |archive-date=April 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240415211041/https://www.californiasymphony.org/blog/composer-in-residence-katherine-balch-on-cuckoo-clocks-california-and-composing-in-color/ |url-status=live }} as well as [Young Concert Artists](/source/Young_Concert_Artists)' William B. Butz Composition Chair from 2017 to 2019. By 2017, Balch had worked as a composer with classical music ensembles including the [Albany Symphony Orchestra](/source/Albany_Symphony_Orchestra), the [FLUX Quartet](/source/FLUX_Quartet), and the [International Contemporary Ensemble](/source/International_Contemporary_Ensemble).{{cite news|id={{ProQuest|1878188279}}|title=BALCH CHOSEN CAL SYMPH COMPOSER|last=Rowe|first= Georgia|work=  The Mercury News|date=March 16, 2017|page=T24}} In May 2019, she debuted her concerto ''Artifacts'' at the Lesher Center for the Arts in [Walnut Creek, California](/source/Walnut_Creek%2C_California); ''[San Francisco Chronicle](/source/San_Francisco_Chronicle)'' music critic [Joshua Kosman](/source/Joshua_Kosman) said of the concerto that "she's like some kind of musical [Thomas Edison](/source/Thomas_Edison)—you can just hear her tinkering around in her workshop, putting together new sounds and textural ideas".{{Cite news |last=Kosman |first=Joshua |date=May 6, 2019 |title=Review: Katherine Balch doesn't think a concerto is just for the soloist |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/music/review-katherine-balch-doesnt-think-a-concerto-is-just-for-the-soloist |access-date=June 9, 2025 |work=San Francisco Chronicle}} Balch won the [American Academy in Rome](/source/American_Academy_in_Rome)'s 2020 Elliott Carter Rome Prize.{{Cite news |date=July 22, 2020 |title=New Rome Prize Winners and Italian Fellows |url=https://aarome.org/news/features/new-rome-prize-winners-italian-fellows |access-date=June 10, 2025 |work=American Academy in Rome}} She composed "Apartment Sounds" for Yvonne Lam's 2023 album ''Watch Over Us''; ''[American Record Guide](/source/American_Record_Guide)'' called Balch "welcome purveyor of timbral variety in ''Apartment Sounds'', as the recorded materials included in this short piece are relatively refreshing.{{Cite magazine |year=2023 |title=The Newest Music |magazine=American Record Guide |page=171-174 |volume=86 |issue=6 |id={{ProQuest|2881922883}}}} Her piece ''Forgetting'' was performed at the Song Company's March 2024 Superbloom production at the [Sydney Opera House](/source/Sydney_Opera_House); Peter McCallum of ''[WAtoday](/source/WAtoday)'' said it "began with stopped utterances and sounds in a state of almost silent inarticulateness and hesitancy".{{Cite news |last1=Shand |first1=John |last2=Ruffles |first2=Michael |date=March 7, 2024 |title=The Human League put on a classic retro show – but it's all about that one song |work=WAtoday |id={{ProQuest|3063781667}}}} [Manfred Honeck](/source/Manfred_Honeck) conducted her piece ''musica pyralis'' at the New York Philharmonic in April 2024; a ''[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)'' review called the piece "a study in shifting atmospheres, wispy, mysterious and fleeting".{{Cite news |last=Zahr |first=Oussama |date=April 14, 2024 |title=Review: Under Manfred Honeck, the Philharmonic Becomes One: Critic's Pick |work=New York Times |id={{ProQuest|3038097583}}}} Balch's commissioned piece for the [Manchester Collective](/source/Manchester_Collective) involved the use of text from [Virginia Woolf](/source/Virginia_Woolf)'s essay ''[A Room of One's Own](/source/A_Room_of_One's_Own)'', and a review in ''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'' stated that Balch "found a connection between [Rothko](/source/Rothko) and Feldman and her own music in Virginia Woolf".{{Cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew |date=May 6, 2024 |title=Sansara/Manchester Collective review – an exquisitely colourful tribute to Rothko Chapel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/06/sansara-manchester-collective-review-rothko-chapel-morton-feldman |access-date=June 10, 2025 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}} In 2025, Balch won the [Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award](/source/Royal_Philharmonic_Society_Music_Award) in Large-Scale Composition for her work ''whisper concerto''.{{Cite web |title=Large-Scale Composition |url=https://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/awards/rps_music_awards/latest-winners/large-scale-composition |access-date=June 9, 2025 |website=Royal Philharmonic Society}}{{Cite news |last=Morley |first=Christopher |date=March 13, 2025 |title=Conductor Yamada honoured as awards leave London behind |work=Birmingham Post |page=24 |id={{ProQuest|3176455657}}}} The same year, she was awarded a [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) in Music Composition.{{Cite web |date=April 15, 2025 |title=Announcing the 2025 Guggenheim Fellows |url=https://www.gf.org/stories/announcing-the-2025-guggenheim-fellows |access-date=June 9, 2025 |website=Guggenheim Fellowships |archive-date=April 27, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250427030631/https://www.gf.org/stories/announcing-the-2025-guggenheim-fellows |url-status=live }} Balch worked as an adjunct professor at [Jacobs School of Music](/source/Jacobs_School_of_Music) at [Indiana University](/source/Indiana_University) during the 2021-2022 academic year.{{Cite web |title=Bulletin 2021-2022 |url=https://bulletins.iu.edu/iub/music/2021-2022/faculty/composition.shtml |access-date=June 9, 2025 |website=Jacobs School of Music}} In 2022, she taught composition as part of the faculty of the [Peabody Institute](/source/Peabody_Institute) at [Johns Hopkins University](/source/Johns_Hopkins_University).{{Cite news |date=July 28, 2021 |title=Katherine Balch Joins Composition Faculty for Spring 2022 Semester |url=https://magazine.peabody.jhu.edu/2021/07/28/katherine-balch-joins-composition-faculty-for-spring-2022-semester/ |access-date=June 9, 2025 |work=The Peabody Post |publisher=Johns Hopkins University}} She later{{when|date=July 2025}} returned to [Yale School of Music](/source/Yale_School_of_Music) as assistant professor of composition.{{Cite web |title=Katherine Balch |url=https://music.yale.edu/people/katherine-balch |access-date=June 9, 2025 |website=Yale School of Music}} She worked previously at [Mannes School of Music](/source/Mannes_School_of_Music) and [The Walden School](/source/The_Walden_School).{{Cite web |title=PSNY: Katherine Balch Biography |url=https://www.eamdc.com/psny/composers/katherine-balch/biography/ |access-date=June 9, 2025 |website=European American Music Distributors Company}} ==Personal life== Balch lives in [Bethany, Connecticut](/source/Bethany%2C_Connecticut).{{Cite web |title=EAM: Katherine Balch - Country Radio |url=https://www.eamdc.com/composers/katherine-balch/works/country-radio/ |access-date=June 11, 2025 |website=European American Music Distributors Company}} ==References== {{reflist}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Balch, Katherine}} Category:1991 births Category:Living people Category:Musicians from San Diego Category:Classical musicians from California Category:Classical musicians from Connecticut Category:People from Bethany, Connecticut Category:21st-century American women composers Category:21st-century American classical composers Category:Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:New England Conservatory alumni Category:Yale School of Music alumni Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:Peabody Institute faculty Category:Yale School of Music faculty --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Katherine Balch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Balch) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Balch?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.