2.26 - Bobby Ge
Bobby Ge* (b. 1996) is an American-born, Shanghai-raised composer and media artist whose work engages with themes of communication, home, and hybridity. Described as “expressive and gripping” (Financial Times) and “exciting, frenzied, unpredictable” (CityNews CBR), his work is filled with shimmering textures and restless motion, often undergirded by a wry sense of humor.
Winner of the Barlow Prize, Ge has completed a diverse array of projects ranging from experimental short films to large-scale orchestral commissions. Recent highlights include a symphony for the Albany Symphony, a saxophone concerto for the US Navy Band, a song for soprano, ensemble, and electronics premiered by Mind on Fire, and a keyboard/percussion piece featuring live video and electronics for the icarus Quartet.
The coming 2025-26 season sees several notable premieres, including a violin concerto for Keila Wakao and the Albany Symphony, a mixed sextet commissioned by saxophonist Shivam Patel, and an electroacoustic work for Alarm Will Sound. Ge additionally serves as the Sound Investment Composer for the Reno Chamber Orchestra for the year, developing a new work for them over multiple workshops. Other engagements include performances with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the New England Philharmonic, the US Army Band, Modern Medieval Voices, Third Angle New Music, Mycelium New Music, and the Aruna Quartet.
In previous years, Ge has received fellowships from the MATA Festival, the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, and Copland House’s CULTIVATE program. He was named the Composer of the Year by the Sioux City Symphony, the grand prize winner of the New York Youth Symphony’s Jon Deak First Music Award, and a winner of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago’s call for scores. Ge has received further award recognition from ASCAP, the Society of Composers, Inc., and New Music USA. He was the recipient of a Copland House Residency Award and has held additional residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Millay Arts, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts.
Ge is an avid collaborator and has had the good fortune of sharing his work with a growing list of presenters that ranges from the unorthodox - the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, NJ Audubon - to the cutting edge of new music, including Beth Morrison Projects, the Attacca Quartet, Music from Copland House, Khemia Ensemble, Tesla Quartet, Blackbox Ensemble, JACK Quartet, and So Percussion. His experimental short film You Have Entered the Public Domain has screened at film festivals including the Festival L'Europe autour de l'Europe, Focus Wales, Golden State Film Festival, and the Short. Sweet. Film Festival. A dedicated educator, Ge believes firmly in the value of the arts as an expressive and uniting force, and he has collaborated with numerous educational ensembles including the New York Youth Symphony, the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Westside Chamber Players, and the St. Olaf Band.
He is currently pursuing his Ph.D at Princeton University, and holds degrees from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University (M.M.) and the University of California, Berkeley (B.A.). His primary teachers include Donnacha Dennehy, Nathalie Joachim, Juri Seo, Dan Trueman, Tyondai Braxton, Kevin Puts, Harold Meltzer, and Cindy Cox.
