Aaron Soltis // Composer

Aaron Soltis (b. 2003) is a film/media/concert composer and pianist from Massillon, Ohio. He completed his undergraduate degree in Music Composition at the Nazareth University School of Music (NY) under the guidance of Octavio Vazquez and Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis (composition) and Jacob Ertl (piano). He will be attending The University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory (UMKC) to pursue his M.M. in Music Composition starting in the Fall. His passion and eagerness to explore his love for composing through the lens of film, TV, and games have led to multiple collaborations with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), taking on the role of Lead Game Composer/Sound Designer for Mission to Enceladus, Inc., and completing a summer internship with LA-based composer/orchestrator Philip Klein.  
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Aaron has received international premieres and performances of his works throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as at educational institutes, festivals, and conferences alike, including: ASTA, Midwest International Clinic, Eastern NAFME, TODA, Mostly Modern Festival, and Choral Chameleon Summer Festival. Aaron has been announced a 2025 J.W. Pepper Editor’s Choice Pick for three of his orchestral works. He was the winner of the 2024 Zicato Music Call for Scores, which featured a recording of his work, The Odyssey of a Seafarer, by a European scoring orchestra. All of his orchestral scores are currently available for purchase on J.W. Pepper and Zicato Music. 

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Aaron has recently been announced as a 2026 Call for Scores Winner for the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland, where his piece Gentle Stars for SATB Chorus will be performed in Portland, OR, in Fall 2026. He was also announced as the winner of the Nazareth University 2024 Composition Competition, where his work for chorus, The Old Year, was premiered by the Nazareth University Chamber Singers on March 7, 2025, and was additionally performed at the Eastern NAFME Conference in April 2025. He has been named the 2025 Presser Scholar by The Presser Foundation, has received the Music Composition and Piano Performance awards, and has been recognized as the recipient of the Pi Kappa Lambda David S. Boe Award at Nazareth University. Aaron is a 2-time finalist for the Stephen Paulus Emerging Composers Competition (2023, 2025), has received an Honorable Mention in the “Young Composers Category” for the 2023 Ember Ablaze Composer Lab Competition, and was selected as the runner-up in the 'Best of Fringe Award' ceremony for is musical theater collaboration with librettist Devin Landis, Lucidity: A New Musical, which debuted in 2023 at the SETC Fringe Festival in Kentucky. Aaron also won the Nazareth University Concerto.Aria Competition (2022), where he had the opportunity to perform Mozart’s Concerto in D minor, mvt. 1 with the Nazareth Symphony Orchestra.

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Upcoming performances include: Gentle Stars, to be performed by the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland, Oregon, on October 10-11, Death, Be Not Proud, to be premiered at Washington State University during the SCI Main Concert on October 30, and a newly commissioned work, A New Dawn, to be premiered by the Butler Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.