Composer
“…inventive and original.
The array of orchestral gestures
is, frankly, stunning.
...impressive and masterfully done."
Albert Mendoza, Alfred Music
"absolutely incredible...
like standing on the shoulders of giants and then taking the next step."
Paul Cravens
Winston F. Schneider (b. 2007) is an international award-winning American composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been widely recognized for its masterful orchestration, imaginative use of the musical language, and bold contributions to 21st-century concert music.
He has over forty composition wins to his name across the U.S. and internationally, including MTNA, NAfME and NFMC. He was a MATA Jr. composer, which the New Yorker calls “the most exciting showcase for outstanding young composers from around the world.”
At age 12, he received his first professional orchestral premiere - an 11-minute work he composed at age 10. He was the youngest composer ever to be in Curtis Institute of Music’s summer program. At 13, he received an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Honorable Mention (a competition for composers up to age 30), and at 14, he made his Masterworks debut with the Grammy-nominated Omaha Symphony.
In 2024, Schneider received a Davidson Fellows Scholarship, recognized by Forbes as “one of the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarships”—and notably, he was the only recipient in the field of music. He has been featured on the nationally broadcast radio program From the Top, PBS NewsHour’s Arts Canvas, and Interlude, an international online music magazine.
He's composer over 100 works. During the pandemic, when the world was shut down, Schneider devoted himself almost entirely to composing and studying scores—an intense period that played a pivotal role in his artistic development.
His works have been performed across the country by the Grammy-nominated Omaha Symphony, the Grammy Award-winning New York Youth Symphony, Sempre Musick Orchestra (Boston), the Steamboat Symphony Orchestra (CO), Face the Music (NYC’s premiere youth ensemble), Chamber Project Saint Louis, New York Virtuoso Singers, Ars Futura (Cleveland based contemporary music ensemble), Orchestra Omaha, Soundbox Ventures (Sarasota, FL), numerous chamber ensembles, youth orchestras and soloists, including virtuosic flutist Mimi Stillman. His orchestra works have been conducted by Maestros Ernest Richardson, Ankush Kumar Bahl, Alejandro Gómez Guillén, Na'Zir McFadden, David Bloom, and Aviva Segall.
With early abilities of perfect pitch and improvisational fluency, Schneider began composing at age five. He's also a pianist and cellist, and in 2023 was named Global Musical Arts' Outstanding Performer of the Year for his performance of Prokofiev's Suggestion Diabolique.
Insects have a profound influence on his music. Having caught, studied, released and catalogued over 185 species of insects, arachnids, and other crawling arthropods, his deep connection to the natural world has consistently sparked his creativity. This passion for both insects and music has led him to become advocate for raising awareness and fostering empathy toward endangered species and conservation efforts.
Committed to music education access, he co-founded Music Marathon 4 Music Education, raising $10,000 to support lessons and instruments for all kids.
He studies at the Omaha Conservatory of Music with Dr. Ken Meints and Anne Madison, and privately with Micah Fusselman.
NEW MUSIC PROJECT
Release date: November 14
Endangered Menagerie is a multidisciplinary arts and conservation initiative that uses modern classical chamber music, education and outreach to tell the stories of endangered species. The piece is comprised of eight movements: The Salt Creek Tiger Beetle, The Ocelot, The California Condor, The Wolverine, The Axolotl, The Piping Plover, The Loggerhead Turtle, and The Christmas Island Pipistrelle. Each movement tells the story of a different endangered animal (except for the Pipistrelle, which is extinct).
Endangered Menagerie is a call to action that weaves together music and storytelling to inspire empathy and awareness—uniting music and conservation to protect what is fragile and vanishing.
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