College of Music

The music of Kirsten Broberg has been performed by internationally recognized ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Crossing Contemporary Choir, the International Contemporary Ensemble, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Jack Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente,the New Millennium Orchestra, the Sonic Inertia Dance and Performance Group, Third Coast Percussion, the University of Minnesota Symphony Orchestra and the Saint Olaf Philharmonia Orchestra.  Her music has been heard at events such as Nuovi Spazi Festival at the American Academy in Rome, Italy; the Ensems Festival for Contemporary Music in Valencia, Spain; Sonic Fusion Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland; the International Contemporary Ensemble New York and Chicago ICE Fests; theJune in Buffalo Festival in Buffalo, New York; Sonic Impact at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Illinois; Electronic Music Midwest Conference in Chicago, Illinois; the Sound Field New and Experimental Music Festival in Chicago, Illinois, and the Opera Cabal Multimedia Festival in Chicago, Illinois. 

Among Broberg's awards and grants are the Fromm Foundation Commissioning Grant from Harvard University, three Encore Grants from the American Composers Forum, two William T. Faricy Awards at Northwestern University, three Wyatt fund grants from Northwestern University, first place in the Accent '04 International Call for StringQuartets at Cincinnati Conservatory and first place in the University of Minnesota Call for Orchestral Scores.  Broberg earned a Bachelor ofMusic degree in music theory/composition and a minor in creative writing from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota in 2001; a Master of Arts in music composition from the University of Minnesota in 2003; and graduated with honors with a doctorate in music composition at Northwestern University.  Her primary composition instructors at Northwestern University included Augusta Read Thomas, Jason Eckardt and Jay Alan Yim.  She also studied music composition privately with Kaija Saariaho, Tristan Murail and Philippe Hurel in France in summer 2013. 

Minnesota Public Radio's Alison Young featured her music in a broadcast and live interview entitled "Kirsten Broberg gets her Big Break" in 2013.  Trevor Hunter with the American Music Center released the article and radio broadcast, "Kirsten Broberg in the Abstract" in 2009.  Broberg's solo piano piece, "Constellations," recorded by Matthew McCright, was released by Innova Records in May 2009 and her choir piece “Breathturn,” recorded by conductor Donald Nally and the Crossing Contemporary Choir was released by Parma/Navona records 2011. Broberg's Resonant Strands cycle for piano, bowed piano and string quartet recorded by Winston Choi with the Spektral Quartet will soon be released.

Broberg is passionate entrepreneur and advocate for the arts.  She co-founded and currently co-directs the Minneapolis-based group Ensemble 61.  Broberg also founded the Chicago-based not-for-profit contemporary music group Ensemble Dal Niente in 2004 and served as the Executive Director for six years.  She was also the President of the Northwestern University Graduate Music Organization from 2005-2008, theMusic Composition Chair for the 2005 Midwest Graduate Music Consortiumand has served on the Board of Directors for New Music Chicago, the Steering Committee for the Chicago Composers Forum and on the 2006 Northwestern University New Music Marathon planning committee.

Also an accomplished instructor, Broberg has taught undergraduate through graduate level music theory, composition, contemporary music, form and analysis, counterpoint, music history, world music, popular music, jazz music, song writing and music production at institutions such as Northwestern University in Chicago, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Saint Olaf College in Northfield. Chicago College of  Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in Chicago, University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, North Park University in Chicago and the Art  Institutes International in Minneapolis.  She is currently an Associate Professor of Music Composition at the University of North Texas in  Denton, Texas.

www.kirstenbroberg.com