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TJ Cole (they/them) is a composer, producer, performer, and educator currently based in Louisville, KY. TJ’s work is influenced by synesthesia, exploring the relationship between visual and sound worlds. Drawing from both traditional and experimental elements, acoustic and electronic sounds, TJ blends contrasting materials to explore new ways of hearing and experiencing music. Their work centers queerness and play, using games, improvisation, and humor to challenge perfectionism in the arts.
photo by anatheium
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Described as having “a very serious level of invention with their music” by Teddy Abrams, they are most enriched by collaborative projects, working closely with soloists interested in contemporary music, alternative-orientation communities, and multimedia collaborations, including recent work TAROT: A Guide to Queering Human Connection, a large-scale work for cello and audio written for Gabriel Cabezas that includes audio stories from trans, queer, and polyamorous communities in Louisville, Kentucky.
TJ is a 2025 McKnight Visiting Composer-in-Residence through the American Composers Forum, and was recently an inaugural composer-in-residence with the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps program (2022-23). They have received commissions from the Baltimore, Cincinnati, Louisville and New Haven Symphony Orchestras, Ensemble Connect, Intersection, and numerous others. Their compositions have been showcased by the Chicago, Atlanta, St.Louis, and Minnesota Orchestras, Tracy Silverman, Carnegie Hall, Gabriel Cabezas, among others. They have been a composer and creative director with StageOne Theater, a songwriter and pop producer with Twin Pixie, and are a synthesizer soloist in settings ranging from DIY to orchestral stages. They have collaborated as orchestrator and arranger with Time for Three and held the position of composer-in-residence at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2014. They currently teach composition and electronic music at the Louisville Academy of Music and also maintain a private studio of mentees.
Their work has been recognized by two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer awards (2014 & 2020), including the prestigious Leo Kaplan Award for their string sextet 'Playtime'. Their projects have received support from three Daniel W. Dietrich II Young Alumni Funds (2022; two in 2026), and a New Music USA Creator Fund (2024).
TJ’s work often seeks collaboration with artists and communities. They are a co-founder and performer in Choir Siren (2022–present), an electroacoustic duo combining improvised music, live sound design, movement, and props in alternative spaces. During an ArtistYear Fellowship (2016–17), they co-facilitated musical performances and songwriting workshops with residents of Project HOME (a Philadelphia-based organization fighting to end chronic homelessness), in collaboration with the Curtis Institute of Music. Their ongoing project Those Moments partners with LGBTQ+ community choirs, sharing members’ experiences with gender. Iterations include Nashville (Nashville in Harmony and Intersection, 2019), Louisville (VOICES of Kentuckiana and the Louisville Orchestra, 2023), and Minneapolis (Calliope Women’s Chorus and the Bakken Ensemble, 2026).
TJ studied composition at the Curtis Institute of Music and at Interlochen Arts Academy. Their mentors include John Boyle Jr., Jennifer Higdon, David Ludwig, and Richard Danielpour.
As a trans-nonbinary person, TJ asks not to be included in events or settings intentionally promoted as exclusively featuring "all women composers" or anything similar. Your understanding is greatly appreciated.
Beyond their musical pursuits, TJ finds joy in cooking, visual art, video games, swing sets on playgrounds, plants, and caring for their wobbly cat, Zucchini. Their current favorite plant is the Sunflower.
