Eleanor Aversa’s music has been described as “shimmering” (New York Times) “ethereal” (Society for New Music) and “lustrous” (San Francisco Classical Voice). She’s composed work on topics as diverse as the structure of DNA, a 1905 coal miner’s strike, Bach-inspired 5-part polyphony, and Ezekiel’s vision of the four cherubim.

She has been Artist in Residence at MacDowell, the I-Park Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, as well as a yearlong residency with San Francisco Choral Artists. Honors include the Northridge Composition Prize (Hero’s Welcome for orchestra) and the Brian M. Israel Award (Movement for String Quartet), as well as awards and grants from ASCAP, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the American Composers Forum.

Dr. Aversa’s music has been performed nationally and internationally at venues including the Disjecta Contemporary Art Center of Oregon, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, June in Buffalo, the Música Viva Festival of Portugal, and Symphony Space. Performers include the Daedalus Quartet, Juventas, the Momenta Quartet, the Rawlins Trio, and the CSUN Symphony, as well as members of the Aeolian Chamber Players, Alarm Will Sound, NM Philharmonic, US Air Force Band, and the San Francisco Symphony.

Dr. Aversa is an Associate Professor of Composition at Berklee College of Music. Prior to that she served on the piano faculty of the Settlement Music School and was an instructor of theory at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds degrees from Princeton, CUNY Queens College (Marvin Hamlisch Composition Award, Herbert Sukoff Memorial Award in Composition), and the University of Pennsylvania (Benjamin Franklin Fellowship, David Halstead Music Prize). She is grateful to her principal composition teachers: Bruce Saylor, James Primosch, Jay Reise, and Anna Weesner. She lives with her husband in the Boston area.