TJ Cole
About TJ Cole
Creator During the 2022-2023 Season
TJ Cole (they/them) is a composer, producer, and performer currently based in Louisville, KY. TJ's work often bridges the visual and tactile worlds with the emotional and auditory ones. Drawing from both traditional and experimental elements, acoustic and electronic sounds, eclectic and homogenous styles, TJ finds joy in blending contrasting elements to explore fresh ways of hearing and experiencing music.
Additionally, TJ has received commissions from Carnegie Hall, the Baltimore, Cincinnati, and New Haven Symphony Orchestras, Music in the Vineyards, and numerous others. Their compositions have been showcased by the Chicago, Atlanta, St.Louis, Detroit, and Curtis Symphony Orchestras, the Minnesota and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras, the Dover Quartet, among others. Additionally, they have collaborated on various ventures as an orchestrator and arranger with Time for Three and held the position of composer-in-residence at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2014.
Recently TJ was part of the inaugural class of the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps program (2022-23). This year-long residency involved composing new large-scale works for the orchestra and spearheading community engagement initiatives across Louisville.
TJ has a strong passion for collaborative endeavors. Currently, they are an active performer in Choir Siren, an electro-acoustic duo based in Louisville. Choir Siren combines improvised music, live sound design, movement, and props in alternative performance spaces, creating unique experiences that respond directly to their surroundings. Additionally, they have been a singer-songwriter, producer, and engineer in Twin Pixie, a fully electronic synth-pop band. Twin Pixie's creative direction revolved around the fusion of queerness, pop culture, and the supernatural.
TJ is deeply committed to music-related community engagement projects. In their yearlong 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. During the 2022-23 Louisville Orchestra Creator-Corps residency, TJ curated and composed music to accompany children's stories performed at various Louisville Free Public Libraries. They also collaborated with VOICES of Kentuckiana, an LGBTQ+ and allies community chorus in Louisville, on 'Those Moments,' an ongoing project that shares choir members' stories and experiences with gender.
Projects
Phenomenal of the Earth (2023)
World premiere by the Louisville Orchestra (TJ Cole, synthesizer) on March 4, 2023.
When I found out I had been accepted into the Creator Corps program, one of my first thoughts was, “I hope they’ll let me write a synthesizer concerto about the Earth and perform the synthesizer part, even though I’ve never soloed with an orchestra and don’t know much about nature.” Thankfully, Teddy and the LO team welcomed my idea without hesitation.
Not having much time to compose the piece, I found myself turning to nature whenever and wherever I could for inspiration. The most vibrant memories I have were playing in my yard with my cat under a big tree, watching brightly colored sunsets while driving down I-65, visiting Seneca Park with Tyler Taylor and hitting stones against each other to see how they sounded, harvesting kale in my yard, walking past the autumn red trees in Shelby Park during a rainstorm, and watching a flock of birds flying in a V formation over Logan Street Market. I found so much beauty and joy in collecting inspiration in Louisville, and I believe that the spirit of these little moments made their way into the piece.
One of the most formative parts of my writing process was being able to stay at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest. My time at Bernheim consisted of a few dreamy days of hiking interspersed with fervent writing. Instead of feeding off of my mostly urban surroundings, I could exist and create in an environment that immediately felt gradual, spiritual, balanced, cleansing, and focused. During a rehearsal, Lisa Bielawa leaned over and said to me, “This piece isn’t working in musical time. It’s working in nature time.”
I want to extend a ginormous thank you to Jenny Zeller and Hannah Coleman-Zaitzeff of the Bernheim Forest for setting up my stay, Teddy Abrams and Jacob Gotlib for their support, the entire LO team for their dedication, and Lisa and Tyler for their incredible friendship.
Hear Excerpts of the Work:
Those Moments (2023)
World premiere by VOICES of Kentuckiana and members of the Louisville Orchestra on May 20, 2023.
Originally commissioned and performed by Nashville in Harmony and Intersection, Nashville, TN. Inspired by the members of Nashville in Harmony, who shared their stories and perspectives on the topic of gender.
Pre-recorded audio includes stories provided by members of VOICES of Kentuckiana, recorded and produced by TJ Cole and Hallie Decker.
Libretto by Aiv Rubino and TJ Cole
Hear Excerpts of the Work:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (2022)
For violin and viola. Written and arranged for the Louisville Orchestra's Once Upon an Orchestra series. Based on the book by Eric Carle.
Music of the Sea (2022)
For viola, french horn, and trumpet. Written and arranged for the Louisville Orchestra's Once Upon an Orchestra series. Based on the book by Susanna Isern.
Bunny's Book Club (2023)
For string quartet. Written and arranged for the Louisville Orchestra's Once Upon an Orchestra series. Based on the book by Annie Silvestro.
Llama Destroys the World (2023)
For woodwind quintet. Written for the Louisville Orchestra's Once Upon an Orchestra series. Based on the book by Jonathan Stutzman.
Performances
All Performances
- Friday, September 16, 2022 | Coffee: Swing, Swagger, & Sway | Whitney Hall | Megalopolis
- Saturday, September 17, 2022 | Classics: Swing, Swagger, & Sway | Whitney Hall | Megalopolils
- Saturday, March 4, 2023 | Classics: Festival of American Music 1 | Whitney Hall | Phenomenal of the Earth
- Wednesday, March 15, 2023 | MakingMUSIC | Whitney Hall | Megalopolis
- Thursday, March 16, 2023 | MakingMUSIC | Whitney Hall | Megalopolis
- Friday, March 17, 2023 | MakingMUSIC | Whitney Hall | Megalopolis
- Thursday, March 23, 2023 | Music Without Borders: With American Flair | The Jeffersonian | Playtime
- Saturday, March 25, 2023 | Music Without Borders: With American Flair | California Community Center | Playtime
- Saturday, May 20, 2023 | Ogle Center | Those Moments (with VOICES of Kentuckiana)
- Sunday, May 21, 2023 | Ogle Center | Those Moments (with VOICES of Kentuckiana)
- Tuesday, July 4, 2023 | Fourth of July on the Waterfront | Louisville Waterfront Park | Megalopolis
- Thursday, July 6, 2023 | Play America! | America Place | Megalopolis
- Saturday, July 8, 2023 | In Harmony Commonwealth Tour | Paramount Arts Center (Ashland, KY) | Megalopolis
- Tuesday, July 11, 2023 | In Harmony Commonwealth Tour | MegaCorps Pavillion (Newport, KY) | Megalopolis
- Wednesday, July 12, 2023 | In Harmony Commonwealth Tour | Glasgow Town Square (Glasgow, KY) | Megalopolis
- Thursday, July 13, 2023 | In Harmony Commonwealth Tour | Center for Rural Development (Somerset, KY) | Megalopolis
- Sunday, July 16, 2023 | In Harmony Commonwealth Tour | Stephen Foster Amphitheatre (Bardstown, KY) | Megalopolis
- Friday, December 8, 2023 | Old Forrester’s Paristown Hall | The Snowy Day
- Saturday, December 9, 2023 | Old Forrester’s Paristown Hall | The Snowy Day
- Sunday, December 10, 2023 | Old Forrester’s Paristown Hall | The Snowy Day
- Friday, December 15, 2023 | Old Forrester’s Paristown Hall | The Snowy Day
- Saturday, December 16, 2023 | Old Forrester’s Paristown Hall | The Snowy Day
- Sunday, December 17, 2023 | Old Forrester’s Paristown Hall | The Snowy Day
- Wednesday, October 9, 2024 | Once Upon an Orchestra | Middletown Library | The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Thursday, November 21, 2024 | Once Upon an Orchestra |Shively Library | Llama Destroys the World
- Saturday, November 23, 2024 | Once Upon an Orchestra |Shively Library | Llama Destroys the World
- Wednesday, December 11, 2024 | Once Upon an Orchestra | Fairdale Library | Bunny's Book Club
- Thursday, December 12, 2024 | Once Upon an Orchestra | Bon Air Library | Bunny's Book Club
- Saturday, February 8, 2025 | Once Upon an Orchestra | St. Matthews Library | The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Saturday, February 15, 2025 | Once Upon an Orchestra | South Central Regional Library | The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Thursday, February 20, 2025 | Once Upon an Orchestra | Shawnee Library | Llama Destroys the World
- Tuesday, March 25, 2025 | Once Upon an Orchestra | Crescent Hill Library | The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Saturday, March 29, 2025 | Once Upon an Orchestra | Jeffersontown Library | Bunny's Book Club
