Athena Carson is a composer, violinist and baroque violinist from Bozeman, Montana. As a current doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Athena has had premieres with the Illinois Modern Ensemble, student chamber groups and soloists. She also plays violin with IME and is doing a cognate in performance. Other degrees include a MM in composition from UIUC and a BA in music from Montana State University (Bozeman), where she studied composition and orchestration with Eric Funk and counterpoint with Dr. Greg Young. She also studied composition with Dr. Young while in high school. Athena has played violin in the Bozeman Symphony and studied violin with Angella Ahn and baroque violin with Carrie Krause. In 2019 Athena’s composition Dialogue won the state level and earned honorable mention in the regional level of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) composition competition and was premiered on a faculty recital by Greg Young and Carrie Krause later that year. Athena was commissioned to write a symphonic work (titled Anima Mundi) for the MSU symphony as part of NCUR 2020 (the premier was postponed due to COVID).
Athena’s music is inspired by her broad musical interests, including historical performance practice, Soviet musicology and her experience as a violinist in the symphony. She is particularly inspired by the music of Alfred Schnittke and connects with his polystylism technique in which contrasting musical elements are combined through means of quotation and allusion. In developing her own use of polystylism, Athena has been able to combine her musical interests into a unique idiom.