“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 who specializes in interdisciplinary collaboration. Her projects have included dance, film, environmental sound installations, instrumental theatre, plays, opera, visual art, award ceremonies, and stage combat.
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.
Her collaborations have been hailed as “ambitious” and “pioneering,” and have even inspired collaborators to launch annual opportunities for other composers (including the Exponential Ensemble’s Fordham Composers Program). Her work has been featured by Samsung as part of their featured VR experiences, and her 2020 Commissions from Quarantine project was a feature story in both the Dallas Morning News and WQOW News 18.
She is also a passionate educator, working closely with schools and individual composers and musicians across the country for over 12 years. With topics ranging from composition and orchestration, radical collaboration, and entrepreneurship and professional development, her work with students has been described as “transformational,” “deeply engaging,” and “unbelievably moving” by faculty and student participants alike.
Since moving to Portland, Oregon in 2020, Kimberly’s prolific output has exploded into a dynamic array of works, including collaborations with the Merian Ensemble, Resonance Ensemble, Calypsus Brass Quintet, the Beau Soir Ensemble, the Grand Circle New Music Ensemble, the Chaski duo, Whistling Hens, the New Mexico Contemporary Ensemble, the Bassless Trio, tuo duo, and SANS; duo—as well as school ensembles and countless individual musicians across the country—resulting in over 75 new musical works between 2020 and 2023.
Since 2021, her work has begun surfacing on albums across a dynamic array of musical ensembles—including flute quartet (Fowl Play), brass quintet (near death), solo piano (peace by piece), choir and strings (Seek What You Want to Find) and mixed chamber ensembles (Prometeo, Hops). In 2024 alone, Kimberly’s latest works will be featured on four new albums—including Kimberly’s work Just Another Climb, which will be released by the Merian Ensemble alongside new works by Jennifer Higdon, Clarice Assad, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Soon Hee Newbold, and Nicole Chamberlain—and produced by the legendary Elaine Martone.
She is also an active writer, creating original text for over a dozen musical works—including a tone poem for projected text and chamber orchestra (Rocky Summer, Dallas Chamber Symphony) and an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” for her operetta, Thump (New Voices Opera)—as well as special contributions to publications like New Music Box.
Photo by Mauricio Herrera
Kimberly holds degrees from Luther College (BA) and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (MM). She has also 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 conference, Grand Teton Music Festival, the Orford Festival in Canada, the Oh My Ears New Music Festival, the Madison New Music Festival, the Darkwater Music Festival, and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford.
She continues to live 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
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)
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
New Voices Opera Company
New Wave Opera Company
Indiana University Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance
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 Gaurd Band)
Beau Soir Ensemble (musicians of the Washington National Orchestra)
Chaski duo
Whistling Hens duo
tuo duo
SANS; duo