Rene Orth is a innovative American composer holding degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, the University of Louisville, MediaTech Institute, and Rhodes College. As a musician, she has studied piano, violin, and audio engineering. Her work is known for it’s “dramatic and lyrical storytelling,” as she blends electronic and acoustic characteristics into classical music.

Orth has found success at Opera San José where she was the first-ever composer-in-residence. She has also held the same title at Opera Philadelphia in a three-year residency. During her time at Opera Philadelphia, she premiered her work 10 Days in a Madhouse, which follows the work of reporter Nellie Bly during her time at Blackwell’s Asylum. The opera was critically acclaimed receiving praise from the New York Times and the Washington Post. 

Orth’s other projects include a new composition called “A Prayer” written for baritone Will Liverman and pianist Jonathan King for their album Show Me The Way. The piece is written for mezzo-soprano and bairtone and is performed by J’Nai Bridges and Liverman respectively. In April of 2024, her song cycle At First, Now, Always was performed by mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack and pianist Keun-A Lee as a commission for Vocal Arts DC at the Kennedy Center. She has written Love, Loss, and the Century Upon Us, with librettist John Dye, which is part of a larger work entitled A Summer Place which premiered at the Chautauqua Institute in the summer of 2024.

Orth has also written compositions for Lauren Pearl and Sasha Cooke, while also writing the operas Jabberwocky (2020) and TakTakShoo (2021). In 2016, she collaborated on Empty the House with librettist Mark Campbell.

-Lucy Koukoudian

This profile was created during the 2023-2024 academic year as part of the Song of America Fellowship Program, a project of the Classic Song Research Initiative between the Hampsong Foundation and the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.