Aaron Wyanski, composer, pianist, and speculative musicologist, combines elements of jazz, classical, mid-century lounge, and free improvisation to create a deeply personal artistic voice that explores memory, perspective, and vulnerability. 

His song cycle Three Benedictions was premiered at Carnegie Hall by Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks, and he has been a featured composer at New Music Miami and the Hartford New Music Festival. He has been commissioned by many ensembles and performers including Duo Refracta, Plus-Minus Ensemble, Roger Zahab, Krista Kopper, and the Amaranth Quartet. Wyanski has been awarded several residencies by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, as well as grants from the Richard Kountz Fund and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. 

Wyanski coined the title “speculative musicologist” to describe his ongoing project Schoenberg in Hi-Fi–a series of albums that explore a speculative reality in which Schoenberg’s music was intentionally marketed as “new sounds” as part of the LP boom in midcentury America. The project has been described as “a truly unexpected development,” “a party I’m sorry I missed,” and “a true masterpiece of sonic exploration” by the blogs Transitional Technology, Slippedisc, and Planet Singer respectively.

An active educator, Wyanski is currently Assistant Professor of Music Composition at the University of Maine at Farmington, and maintains a small private studio. He is also Director of Education for the Monson Seminar, a residential course for Pell-eligible and first-generation college students that he co-founded with Kristen Case, in partnership with Monson Arts. Previous positions include adjunct faculty at Sweet Briar College and the Hartt School. He holds a DMA in Music Composition from the Hartt School, an MFA in Music Composition from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, a BM in Jazz Studies from Purchase College, and an AS in Music Performance from Schenectady County Community College, where he was selected as one of fifty distinguished alumni as part of SCCC’s 50th anniversary celebrations.