Ahmed Alom Featured Composer at 43rd Annual World Premiere Concert
The University of Scranton's 43rd annual World Premiere Composition Series Concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2, inside the Houlihan-McLean Center in downtown Scranton. The University's Concert Choir and Concert Band will premiere two brand-new commissioned works by Ahmed Alom, left, an internationally celebrated pianist, composer and conductor.Continuing its commitment to offering its students opportunities to work with world-class musicians, Performance Music at The University of Scranton is delighted to spotlight the work of Ahmed Alom at its 43rd annual World Premiere Composition Series Concert on Saturday, May 2.
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue, downtown Scranton. Admission is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.
The World Premiere Composition Series provides students with the rare opportunity to perform the premiere of a work by a nationally or internationally known composer under the baton of that composer, getting a first-hand glimpse into the compositional process. Meanwhile, audiences get to experience the piece for the first time exactly as the composer intended.
At the concert, The University of Scranton Concert Choir and Concert Band will premiere two brand-new commissioned works by Alom, written specifically for the University’s student ensembles, entitled "A Night – There Lay the Days Between (for SATB choir)" and "A Cuban Landscape (for full concert band)."
"We are very excited to have Ahmed coming to work with our students and for them to have the honor of premiering his new works," said Cheryl Y. Boga, Artistic Director of Performance Music and conductor. “He first visited Scranton a few years ago with our longtime friend Caleb Hudson, and after hearing his incredible playing and moving compositions, we were delighted when he accepted our commission.”
As a pianist, composer and conductor, Alom’s boundary-crossing artistry has earned him worldwide recognition. His musical voice, shaped by the rigor of classical training and the rhythmic vitality of his Cuban heritage, bridges genres and traditions. His compositions have been championed by leading artists, most notably Yuja Wang, who premiered his "Displaced Étude No. 1" with New York Philharmonic. As a soloist, he has appeared with ensembles and orchestras throughout the Western Hemisphere.
A dynamic collaborator, Alom works with artists across genres, and his ensembles reflect his wide-ranging interests: Triple Cortado — a chamber trio with Caleb Hudson and Achilles Liarmakopoulos — merges classical virtuosity with contemporary works; while CrossCurrents, his duo with Pedrito Martínez, explores the intersection of Afro-Cuban traditions and European classical music. His debut album "Exilio (2023)" traced narratives of displacement through six Hispanic composers, including the first complete recording of Luis A. Calvo’s "Four Intermezzos."
Alom is also the youngest Artistic Director of the Washington Square Music Festival where he curates inclusive and forward-looking programming. His educational work includes masterclasses and lectures at Berklee College of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, Dartmouth, Peabody Institute, and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.
The University of Scranton Concert Band is a 70-member ensemble of full standard concert band instrumentation, and the Concert Choir is an SSATBB group, both made up of members of The University of Scranton campus community — the vast majority undergraduate students along with a few graduate students, alumni and members of the faculty and staff. The primary focus of Performance Music at The University of Scranton is its student choral and instrumental performing ensembles. There is no music major at the University, and all enrolled Scranton students (undergraduate and graduate) are eligible for membership in the University Bands, Choirs, and String Ensembles with neither an audition nor enrollment fee required for membership. Hundreds of students participate in the ensembles each year.
For further information on the concert, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit the University's website. For more info on Alom, visit his website.
IF YOU GO:
What: 43rd annual World Premiere Composition Series Concert, presented by Performance Music at The University of Scranton
When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 2, 2026
Where: Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue, downtown Scranton
Admission: Free
