About

Jonathan Cziner (silent C, rhymes with diner or minor) is an American composer whose music combines colorful harmony and texture with nostalgic lyricism, creating a sound-world that ranges from dark and mysterious to vibrant. His music has been praised for its "brilliant timbrel effects and contrasting moments of resonance and delicate filagree" (Theater Jones), “daring harmonic explorations” (Dallas Morning News) and “individual voice and the knowledge and technique to convey ideas in a striking and kaleidoscopic manner” (Chicago Classical Review). 

Jonathan's works have been performed by ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as well as the New York Youth Symphony, Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and New Juilliard Ensemble, and led by acclaimed conductors including Osmo Vänskä, David Robertson, Ruth Reinhardt, and Michael Repper. His chamber music has been performed by the likes of cellists Julian Schwarz and Juliette Herlin; violinist Stella Chen; harpist Emily Levin; guitarist Colin Davin, and pianist Steven Masi among others. 

In addition to a 2018 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Cziner has received numerous awards including the William Schuman Prize for most outstanding score at the BMI Student Composer Awards as well as two consecutive Palmer Dixon Prizes (2017 and 2018), awarded to the most outstanding work composed at the Juilliard School. His work has been selected by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Cone Institute, Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra's Classical Evolve Competition, Juilliard Orchestra competition, among others.  

Jonathan is the new artistic director of Dallas’s Voices of Change, a bastion of the new music scene since 1974, championing the works of living composers. As an educator he heads the composition program of the Charles Ives Music Festival, and has taught numerous composition seminars with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, inspiring a new generation of young composers. Equally dedicated to film scoring, he has worked with writer/director Nora Unkel on numerous films including her first feature film, A Nightmare Wakes, now streaming on Shudder. 

Cziner was named Composer-in-Residence of the Illinois Philharmonic for their 2022-2023 season and composed three new works for the orchestra including his first symphony, Celestial Symphony. Current and upcoming projects include the premiere of Lunaris for Violin and Piano for Voices of Change and a Clarinet Concerto for Dallas Symphony Orchestra principal clarinetist Gregory Raden which will premiere in the 25-26 season. Cziner received a Bachelor of Music degree at New York University studying with Justin Dello Joio and completed both his Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert Beaser  Jonathan lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife Emily Levin, the Principal Harpist of the Dallas Symphony.