Haley Olson is a composer and pianist from Wisconsin who seeks to blend improvisation with notated music and collaborate across artistic disciplines. Her works have been programmed and performed by ensembles and festivals such as the ECCE Ensemble, the Lutheran Summer Music Festival, and the Sparks and Wiry Cries songSLAM. Haley’s interest in exploring solo works has led to collaborations with artists such as violinist Peter Sheppard Skaerved and pianist Michael Sheppard, who premiered her piano cycle “Ghost Etudes” in May 2018.

Haley holds a B.M. in Music Theory and Composition from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she studied with Justin Merritt and Timothy Mahr. During her time at St. Olaf, she co-developed the St. Olaf Laptop Orchestra and performed with experimental music group Musika Nova in a series of interdisciplinary improvisational concerts. She recently graduated with a Master of Music Composition degree from the Peabody Institute, where she studied with Michael Hersch, and where she worked with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Peabody’ Junior Bach mentorship program. She is currently the composer-in-residence for Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church and is commissioned to write a series of pieces for the Chancel Choir.