Meet Our 2024-25 COMPOSERS
THEO POPOV
Composer-in-Residence – DECEMBER CONCERT
Theo Popov is an award-winning composer of music for the theater stage and film screen whose five operas have received multiple productions and awards across the United States. In addition, he has written musicals, choral and orchestral pieces, art songs, chamber and electronic music.
After a childhood spent singing Bulgarian folklore and Christian Orthodox songs, Popov began his formal compositional training by studying electronic music with Paul Lansky and musical geometry with Dmitri Tymoczko. Having explored various forms of sacred and folk traditions, he cultivated a special interest in Classical Antiquity, and has for the last decade worked on researching and incorporating it into his own oeuvre. His first opera received a full stage production at Princeton University to enthusiastic acclaim in 2011 and led him down a path of writing dramatically-driven music. Since then, Theo has written four more operas, music for plays and dance shows, and multiple award-winning film scores.
Popov holds a MM from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with David Conte, and a BA from Princeton University. As a Court-of-Masters-certified sommelier and WSET Diploma in Wines recipient, he also specializes in crafting wine-and-music pairings through his company, Vine Opera.
Theo Popov’s commissioned work “Babushka” will be premiered on our December 2024 concerts.
XINGYUE SONG
Composer-in-Residence – MARCH CONCERT
Chinese-born composer and pianist Xingyue Song was admitted to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a high scholarship in 2020, majoring in piano performance under the guidance of Corey McVicar. In 2023, she transitioned to Music Theory and Composition and currently studies with Mason Bates.
As a composer, Song blends technical finesse and emotional depth in her compositions, spanning from piano pieces to symphonic works. She was selected as the semi-finalist of the famous Zemlinsky Prize in 2024. Her piano performances have earned prestigious awards, including the China Golden Bell Award (2021) and the Kawai International Piano Competition (2019). She has also received instruction from distinguished Chinese and international pianists during her academic journey.
Xingyue Song’s commissioned work (title TBD) will be premiered on our March 2025 concerts.
ZOE YOST
Composer-in-Residence – JUNE CONCERT
A gritty, imaginative wayfinder, Zoe Yost centers her artistic life at the crossroads. Her voice springs from the integration of performance, composition, and creative writing. A social and environmental activist, she believes in the responsibility of artists to enrich and care for society, and frequently places her craft at the service of her community.
Zoe studies viola and composition at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where her private teachers are Dimitri Murrath and Dr. David Conte. Her recent composition projects include Veils: A Symphonic Poem; choral settings of O salutaris Hostia and Walt Whitman’s O Me! O Life!; and an art song setting of William Blake’s The Lamb, commissioned by Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church.
Her music has been premiered by artists including David Friend, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Genevieve Hahn, Choral Chameleon Ensemble, and San Francisco Choral Artists. Her flute, viola, and cello trio, A Midsummer’s Daydream, was the winner of Eight Strings and a Whistle’s 2024 Composer Competition, and will be premiered by the trio in New York City in November 2024.
A formidable violist, she was the winner of SFCM’s 2024 Low Strings Concerto Competition. Since arriving at SFCM in Fall 2022, she has served three times as principal violist of the SFCM Orchestra. Also a conductor, Zoe directed the inaugural Lower Brandywine Choral Festival in August 2024. She is also a published poet, and is writing a series of novels accompanied by original music. When not involved with the arts, she enjoys hiking, traveling, and reading.
Zoe Yost’s commissioned work (title TBD) will be premiered on our June 2025 concerts.
PATRICIA JULIEN
Composer-Not-in-Residence – 2024-25 Season
Patricia Julien is a composer and jazz flutist based in Burlington, Vermont. She has composed the music for thirteen full-length theatrical productions, including the 2015 musical comedy O, Caligula! A Mvsical by Kevin Christopher. She has scored several short films, most recently the 2024 festival award winning M.T. Nestor directed by John Schlag. She also has scored commercials and has written the theme music for two web-based shows. In 2018 and 2019, Julien was a composer for the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. In addition to dramatic productions, she composes for mixed-voice choral ensembles, solo voice and piano, orchestra, contemporary chamber ensembles, small jazz ensembles, and big band. She also writes acoustic and electronic music for dance.
Julien has released four jazz quartet/quintet albums and one jazz fusion album, and has performed or recorded with Ari Hoenig, Ron Elliston, Atilla Engin, and Kenny Wessel. She toured Europe and the eastern U.S. with Persian singer Dariush Eghbali, playing sold out shows at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and numerous other venues.
As coordinator of Theory and Composition at the University of Vermont, Julien teaches courses in jazz composition and arranging, creating music for video, and music theory. She holds the M.M. in Jazz and Commercial Music from Manhattan School of Music and the Ph.D. in Music Theory from University of Maryland, College Park.