FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ciyadh Wells | Collage New Music | General Manager
617-850-2044 | info@collagenewmusic.org
Collage New Music
Announces 2026–27 Fellows and Two-Year Expansion of the Julie I. Rohwein
Fellows Program
Boston, MA (August 14, 2026) — Collage New Music has appointed composer Ali Can Puskulcu as its 2026–27 Collage Fellow and composer Amber Vistein as its 2026–28 Collage Fellow.
With these appointments, the Julie I. Rohwein Fellows Program expands from a one-year to a two-year residency. Ali Can Puskulcu holds the final one-year fellowship. Amber Vistein holds the first two-year fellowship, overlapping with Ali's in 2026–27. Fellows' terms will overlap by one year in subsequent seasons.
Under the expanded structure, a fellow's first year is spent attending rehearsals, working with Collage's General Manager and Artistic Director, and preparing a commissioned work. The premiere of that work and expanded engagement responsibilities fall in the second year. Overlapping terms place two Fellows in residence at the same time.
Ali Can Puskulcu is a Turkish-American composer and violinist whose work explores ambiguity, temporality, and the boundaries between sound, perception, and meaning. His honors include a Koussevitzky Commission from the Library of Congress, the Charles Ives Scholarship Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an ASCAP/SEAMUS Commission Award, a Fromm Music Foundation Commission from Harvard University, and a Copland House Residency Award. His music has been performed by ensembles including wild-Up, Talea Ensemble, and Orkest de Ereprijs, with performances at Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and festivals in the United States and Europe. His debut album, Gibberish Shreds, was released by New Focus Recordings. Puskulcu holds degrees from Robert Schumann Hochschule and USC and a PhD from Brandeis University.
Collage will premiere his new work on February 28, 2027 at 3pm at Longy School of Music, conducted by Jakub Przybycień. Concert details are available here.
Amber Vistein is a composer / sound artist whose work delves deeply into the poetics of timbre, texture, and gesture. This highly tactile approach to composition works to unearth invisible events, networks, and histories. They have composed for the Empyrean Ensemble, Wahington National Opera, International Contemporary Ensemble, American Opera Project, Talea Ensemble, and Ensemble Dal Niente and created numerous site-specific sound installations. Amber’s first full-length opera Dark Exhalation premiered in 2023. Her upcoming opera / soundwalk The Land Beneath the Land features a collaboration with the Boston-based Nightingale Vocal Ensemble.
Amber is an Assistant Professor at Emerson College and holds degrees from MassArt (MFA) and Brown University (MA, PhD). She is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she lives with her partner, Ben Aron, and two rabbits, Ellis and Feefs.
Collage will premiere her new work in the 2027–28 season.
Selection Committee
Collage New Music thanks the members of the selection committee: Artistic Director Eric Nathan (chair), 2026–27 Collage commissioned composers Ileana Perez Velazquez and Eun Young Lee, General Manager Ciyadh Wells, and Collage President Ann B. Teixeira.
About the Julie I. Rohwein Fellows Program
Collage New Music has run the Collage Fellows Program annually since 2014. The program gives a composer in the Boston region the opportunity to develop their work, build skills in community engagement, and gain behind-the-scenes experience in the operation of a contemporary music ensemble. Each fellow receives a commission for a new work for Collage's full sextet instrumentation. Fellows assist Collage's General Manager over the course of the season in promoting the ensemble's activities, including interviewing composers whose work Collage performs and assisting at concerts.
The program was nomination-only through the 2024–25 season and has been open to application since 2025–26. More information: https://www.collagenewmusic.org/collagefellows
For media inquiries and interviews, please Ciyadh Wells, Collage New Music’s General Manager at info@collagenewmusic.org
