“Osberg’s enormous creative energy positively electrifies everyone.”
-Dr. David Kote, Macbeth (Director).
Writing music for wherever.
Photo by Mauricio Herrera
Kimberly R. Osberg (b. 1992) is a Portland-based composer from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Her projects have included dance, film, environmental sound installations, instrumental theatre, plays, opera, visual art, award ceremonies, and stage combat, in addition to traditional concert settings. Her music has been described as “brilliant,” “highly-engaging,” “wonderfully suspenseful,” “intensely colorful,” and “wonderfully humorous and witty” and has received acclaim from academic, commercial, and public audiences alike.
Kimberly has attended several premiere festivals as a composition fellow, including the Brevard Music Festival, IRCAM’s ManiFeste, and the Aspen Music Festival. She was also a featured composer for the New Mexico Contemporary Ensemble’s Annual James Tenney Memorial Symposium, and has enjoyed performances from the National Flute Association, International Double Reed Society, International Tuba Euphonium Association, National Saxophone Alliance, and International Women's Brass conferences, as well as the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Orford Festival, the Oh My Ears New Music Festival, the Madison New Music Festival, the Darkwater Music Festival, and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford.
While Kimberly is especially honored to have collaborated with musicians from the National Symphony, Dallas, Atlanta, Oregon, and Indianapolis orchestras, she is proud to write music for musicians at all stages of their careers - working with students from all over the country, she has enjoyed premieres and residencies with the Minnesota Music Educators Association All-State Orchestra, New Jersey Youth Symphony, Philadelphia All-City Band, University of Northern Iowa, Pittsburg State University, and more.
In recent years, Kimberly’s work has been included on albums by the Merian Ensemble, Resonance Ensemble, Calypsus Brass Ensemble, the Chamber Winds of South Dakota, and solo artists Elizabeth Robinson, Chris Opperman, Conrad Sclar, and Nicole Gillotti. She has also had her work featured on Performance Today, the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States.
Outside of writing music, Kimberly is also a passionate creative placemaker. In 2019, she organized the Libera Composers Association Commissioning Consortium, in which six composers wrote grade 3 band works for low-income high schools. During the pandemic, she created multiple low-budget commissioning projects (Commissions from Quarantine, Project 12, Spring Forward, Key Notes, Neighbor Tones) that empowered over 60 soloists and chamber ensembles to commission substantial works—many for their first time. In 2024, she co-founded the New Wave Opera company in Portland alongside composer-mezzo Lisa Neher and soprano Lindsey Rae Johnson. Dedicated solely to the performances of vocal works by living composers, their first season facilitated the performance of over 40 living composers and librettists in their first season, including six fully-staged operas. In 2025, Kimberly started a free community resource for Portland-area composers to share news about current projects and upcoming performances, organize in-person meet-ups, and exchange feedback, ideas, information, and resources.
Photo by Roy Arauz
In the 2025-26 season, Kimberly is leading a project with Fear No Music, Chatter PDX, and the Delgani Quartet to commission new string quartet works from 12 composers that will be presented with visual imagery and interweaving text reflections in support of forest conservation in the PNW. The season will also see premieres at the International Double Reed Society and National Flute Association conferences, new works for Chatter ABQ and Chatter PDX, flutist Francesca Arnone, clarinetist Emily Mehigh, New Wave Opera artists Lisa Neher & Lindsey Rae Johnson, as well as new releases on albums by Calypsus Brass Ensemble (near death), Resonance Ensemble (Seek What You Want to Find), and the Chamber Winds of South Dakota (Passing Through).
Kimberly currently lives in Portland, Oregon where she enjoys writing, hiking, watching movies with her partner Mauricio, and attempting to keep a few plants alive.
To keep up with the latest on Kimberly, connect with her on any of the following platforms:
AT A GLANCE
DEGREES
Luther College (BA)
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (MM)
NOTABLE FESTIVALS & CONFERENCES
Aspen Music Festival*
Brevard Music Festival*
ManiFeste (IRCAM)
National Flute Association (NFA) Convention
International Double Reed Society (IDRS) Conference
International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC)
International Tuba Euphonium Conference (ITEC)
North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Conference
College Music Society Conference
TEDWomen (Atlanta, GA)
Annual James Tenney Memorial Symposium*
Grand Teton Music Festival
Orford Festival (Canada)
SHE Festival (University of Arkansas)
Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) All-State Camp
Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) Conference
Sounds of Summer Festival (Pittsburg State University)
Oh My Ears New Music Festival
Madison New Music Festival
Darkwater Music Festival
Women Composers Festival of Hartford
*indicates fellowship or residency
NOTABLE COLLABORATORS
Dallas Chamber Symphony
Resonance Ensemble
Fear No Music
Chatter ABQ
Chatter PDX
New Voices Opera Company
New Wave Opera Company
Chamber Winds of South Dakota
Indiana University Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance
New Jersey Youth Symphony
Minnesota Music Educators Association
University of Northern Iowa Wind Ensemble
University of Pittsburg (Kansas) Wind Ensemble
Philadelphia All-City Band
New Mexico Contemporary Ensemble
MAKE Ensemble
Grand Circle New Music Ensemble
The Merian Ensemble (musicians of Atlanta Symphony and Dallas Symphony)
Calypsus Brass Quintet
Bassless Trio (musicians of the US Coast Guard Band)
Beau Soir Ensemble (musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra)
Chaski duo
Whistling Hens duo
tuo duo
SANS; duo