Episode 105

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Published on:

7th Jul 2026

3.16 -Chelsea Komschlies

Chelsea Komschlies’ music, called “otherworldly” and “uncanny” and praised for its “vivid storytelling” (Chicago Classical Review), blends the familiar and strange in mysterious ways. She prioritizes perception of her music by the human brain and shared experiences among listeners. Her compositions, each a distinct fantasy world, evoke vivid multisensory imagery and a range of psycho-emotional landscapes, from whimsical nostalgia and camp to eerie disquiet, and from altered states of consciousness to glittering spiritual awe. A 2023 Virginia B. Toulmin Commission recipient through the League of American Orchestras, she premiered Mycelialore for orchestra and electronics with the Tucson Symphony in 2025. She joins the Louisville Orchestra’s Creators Corps in the 2025-26 season, during which time she will compose several new works for the orchestra. She is expanding her work into immersive VR and has initiated a partnership with Louisville Makes Games, a local nonprofit game developer community, to create musical compositions that are both visually immersive and gamified.

Ms. Komschlies’ work has been commissioned and supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, the Hermitage, Fromm, and ASCAP Foundations, the Alfred Casella Award (Curtis Institute), and Copland House. Presenters include Alarm Will Sound, Bozzini Quartet, Quasar Saxophone Quartet, the Louisville Orchestra, Tucson, Omaha, Vermont, Pittsburgh, Steamboat, and Lima Symphonies, Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, TIME SPANS Festival, Grant Park Music Festival, Choral Arts Philadelphia, Fifth House Ensemble, Codes d’accès, Le Vivier, the Boulanger Initiative, Make Music Chicago, and Star Trek: The Cruise.

A Ph.D. candidate at McGill University under Jean Lesage, she has received McGill’s Andrew Svoboda Prize for Orchestral Composition and the Research Alive Student Prize. Her thesis on musically encoding shared multisensory information is supported by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec, which recognized it as the top-ranked music research project in the province.

https://www.komschlies.com

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About the Podcast

Composer Chats
Composer Chat is a podcast where we talk a little bit about music, a little bit about life, and a whole lot about whatever we feel like at the moment! Each episode I am joined by a special guest composer and we will chat about their pathway towards success in their musical career!

About your host

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Jason Nitsch

Jason Nitsch’s music is equally at home on the concert stage, in outdoor venues, and streaming online, reaching the broadest audience of musicians, performers, and music enthusiasts possible. As a composer dedicated to the exploration of new ideas, his music has evolved over a 25-year career to incorporate more and more non-traditional elements, such as effect tracks, sound drops, and enveloping electroacoustic works combining live and pre-recorded elements. Much of his work is rooted in a large ensemble context; his wind ensemble works have received thousands of performances throughout the US including at Midwest, State Music Conferences including Texas, Colorado, and Kentucky Music Educators Associations, Colleges and Universities like Baylor University, the University of North Texas, and Syracuse University, and at other regional music festivals (ITEA).

In recent years Jason has focused on more intimate chamber musical settings, including collaborations with solo musicians such as trumpeter Kate Amrine , Cellist Carolyn Regula (The Cello Doll) and vocalist Michaela Catapano, as well as chamber groups across the US (Chicago Brass Choir), while continuing expand his sizable catalog of works for larger instrumental forces.

Jason is well known for his work as an educator, dedicated to providing young promising musicians with the foundational experiences on which a lifetime of music-making can be built, and is pursuing research into the ways that music students process their experiences as learners and performers.

Combining his long career in music with a deep love of science fiction and a natural talent for storytelling, Jason recently launched his first podcast, “Beyond the Belt: Adventures from the Outer Rim.” “Beyond the Belt” is a collection of 8 original dramatic science fiction episodes for which he served as writer, producer, and composer. It tells the story of a scientific research experiment gone horribly wrong. With Zombies (of course!).

Jason has released three digital albums in recent years, including the Season One Soundtrack from the Beyond the Belt podcast, “1000 Steps to Nowhere", a collection of chamber music compositions, and most recently “The Dead Teach the Living,” featuring nine vocal collaborations ranging from solo works to Orchestral compositions.

Jason is a lover of dogs, video games, and all things Star Wars (yes, even the prequels). He is also a husband, father of two budding musicians, and a patron of art forms that stretch traditional boundaries.

He currently lives in Waxhachie, TX with his family. He can occasionally be sighted lurking at select music conferences.