Connor Elias Way
Composer

Bio

Connor Elias Way (b. 1991) is a composer whose music explores resonance through carefully wrought networks of heterophonic counterpoint and a spectrally-informed approach to sonority and timbre. His music has been performed by groups such as the Minnesota Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Aizuri Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Contemporaneous, Sō Percussion, Chamber Cartel, Terminus Ensemble, Modern Medieval, Dither, Omnibus Ensemble, Now Hear This, Occasional Symphony, Arx Duo, Bergamot Quartet, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and at the Charleston Symphony’s Magnetic South series.

Connor holds a B.Mus. in Composition (summa cum laude) from Georgia State University and an M.M. in Composition from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University where he was presented with the Gustav Klemm Award in Composition. He is currently a PhD candidate at Princeton University.

photo credit: Ji Su Jung

Connor Elias Way (b. 1991) is a composer based in Brooklyn, NY whose work explores the tactile, sensuous presence of sound. His music has been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, JACK Quartet, Aizuri Quartet, Contemporaneous, So Percussion, Yarn/wire, Bergamot Quartet, and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, among others. Recent projects include a new work for multi-tracked violins titled the sun must bear no name, written for and premiered by Austin Wulliman and awaiting a debut recording on Sello Pasmoso Records, and a new song cycle for singer Iarla Ó Lionáird and harpist Parker Ramsey which premiered at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin last October thanks to a commission from the Arts Council of Ireland. 

A passionate educator, Connor has taught composition, music theory, and music technology at Princeton, Montclair State University, and Washington University in St. Louis, and holds degrees from Georgia State University (B.Mus., summa cum laude), the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University (M.M.), and Princeton University (MFA and PhD). Since the summer of 2024, Connor has served as the composer-in-residence at the Luzerne Music Center in upstate New York.

Curriculum Vitae (correct as of June 2025)