Rex Isenberg

b. 1987

The music of Rex Isenberg is quickly gaining traction with choral and instrumental ensembles looking for dramatic and thought-provoking music that emphasizes storytelling and heightened expressivity. Drawing from diverse musical styles and frequently tackling subjects of social, historical, or cultural significance, Isenberg has cultivated a unique and wide-ranging body of work that is highly impactful for its audiences.

Isenberg served as Composer-in-Residence for Choral Chameleon in 2016-17 and as a Composition Fellow at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in 2015, and held residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in 2017 and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in 2011. He has been commissioned by the American Viola Society, Cantori New York, Manhattan Saxophone Quartet, and others. His music has been performed and recorded by JACK Quartet, MIVOS Quartet, NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Cecilia Chorus of New York, Grace Chorale of Brooklyn, percussionist Ian Rosenbaum, violists Jessica Meyer and Miranda Cuckson, as well as Tony Award-winning actor Stephen Spinella and Tony-nominated actor Kathleen Chalfant, who were featured narrators on Isenberg's concert-length oratorio Messiahs: False and True.

Isenberg studied composition with Richard Danielpour, Reiko Füting, Kathryn Alexander, Michael Klingbeil, and Missy Mazzoli. He holds a Masters of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition from Manhattan School of Music, where he received the Jordan Berk Prize and Deolus Husband Scholarship for Composition, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University, where he was awarded the Abraham Beekman Cox Prize for outstanding promise in composition. While at Yale, Isenberg was a member of The Yale Whiffenpoofs and composed several vocal arrangements that have become staples of the group's repertoire. As a Whiffenpoof, he performed his arrangements with the group in over 20 countries around the world and 25 U.S. states, for audiences which included the U.S. Ambassadors to China, Lithuania, and Chile, the Consul General of Mexico, and Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.