Brady Wolff is a Kansas City-native composer whose work serves as a personal diary, capturing his fascination with our world through morphing bodies of sound, intense rhythmic activity, and influence from mathematical processes. Often dark and cerebral in nature, Brady’s music combines a deep historical fluency with modern perspectives to create works that engage with themes of climate change, queer identity, and neurodiversity. Influenced by his experiences with Tourette syndrome, much of Brady’s music contemplates themes of discomfort, tension, and control, manifesting as stark and ephemeral mood changes.

Brady’s music has been performed by artists and groups such as Lindsay Kesselman, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and he has been featured at the Estivales de Lods, International Double Reed Society Conference, Emerging Composers Intensive, and Sewanee Music Festival. He has also been honored by ASCAP, The Presser Foundation, The Missouri Composer’s Project, Marker and Pioneer International Cultural Exchange Center, and FOCAM.

Recent projects include Chocolate Tidal Waves, an introspective work reflecting on growing up, Abstractions After Abstractions, a solo marimba work poking fun at the “abstractness” of music and art, and Shadow Bands, a work for string trio based on the phenomenon preceding totality of a solar eclipse.

A devoted educator, Brady combines his dedication to inclusivity and self-expression through teaching approaches that empower students to uncover their unique artistic voices. One of his current projects, entitled Xenharmonia, uses Max to create environments allowing student ensembles to experiment with alternative tuning systems. Brady serves on the Board of Directors of the Festival for Creative Pianists, and its publishing imprint, Abundant Silence. Brady also holds a B.M. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in both music composition and theory, and will begin pursuing his M.M. at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music next fall. He counts among his mentors Piyawat Louilarpprasert, Chen Yi, Yotam Haber, and Paul Rudy.

Brady’s favorite song is “Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene” by Hozier. When not composing, Brady enjoys reading, scuba diving, and tending to his large collection of houseplants.