FEATURED WORK
CHASING LIGHT is a performance art installation and exhibition of movement, light, and live music. The work traverses 16 unique environments in a non-linear, non-narrative, immersive space. Written for a chamber ensemble of six players, and inspired by photography, the collection contemplates the human experience of light phenomena through sound and experiential space.​ Concepts ranging from organic and otherworldly bioluminescence, to the simple yet romantic silhouette are individually examined in vivid detail using both atmospherics and the human body as a canvas. This 95-minute experience is staged to fully immerse audience members in each illuminated environment, drawing the viewer into a liminal space of non-traditional light sources and dancing vibrancy.​ Whitney George began composing CHASING LIGHT for members of The Curiosity Cabinet in 2015. Seven years later in 2022, she completed the score and has since workshopped it at Pinch Recording Studios, where she is an artist in residence.
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[Princess Maleine] moved, it was emotional, it was musically splendid and dramatically exciting. Triumphs of new operas are far between. One feels that–outside of the inconceivable task of getting the right cast and orchestra–Ms. George’s work deserves...a place in the American operatic repertory.
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Harry Rolnick
concerto.net
To my ear, it’s on the final five tracks of the NakedEye album [A Series of Indecipherable Glyphs]— representing the majority of its running time — that things open up. The composer Whitney George wraps some ghostly mystery around regular pulses in “[These Hands] Hold Nothing.”
Seth Colter Walls
The New York Times
Whitney George’s music traverses the affective terrain between tragedy and ecstasy, fragility and strength, bringing together romantically delicate intimacy and the spectacular darkness of the macabre. Haunted by ghosts and/of love, George’s operas, staged multimedia works, and chamber music coloristically explore the mysteries of irrationality, nightmare, and memory, sonically seeking lost objects and hidden subjects. Given George’s theatrical inclinations and preoccupation with the tragic, she has turned again and again to opera as both a composer and conductor.
Recently, George has been awarded a number of operatic commissions, premieres, and recognition: in 2017; the Elebash Award for her orchestration of Miriam Gideon’s opera Fortunato, which premiered under George’s baton in May 2019. In the same year; the commission of the two-act opera Princess Maleine by dell'Arte Opera and the video opera Julie by New Camerata Opera which was publicly released in 2020. In 2022, the commission of Fizz & Ginger by Fresh Squeezed Opera which premiered in 2023 with the Curiosity Cabinet, and was performed by the Chicago Fringe Opera in 2024. In 2024 George was awarded the Discovery Grant for her third and final operatic endeavor with Bea Goodwin: NO MAN'S LAND, which will premiere in June 2025 at Irondale.
George is the artistic director and conductor of The Curiosity Cabinet, a chamber orchestra formed in 2009. She holds an undergraduate degree from the California Institute of the Arts (2008), a master’s degree from Brooklyn College (2010), and DMA from the CUNY Graduate Center (2021). In addition to her composing and conducting, George teaches privately and is on the faculty for Luna Lab.
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She is an recording artist with Pinch Records and has released FOR YOU (2021), SOLITUDE & SECRECY (2021), CHASING LIGHT (2023), CHASING LIGHT: LIVE (2024), LOCATIONS (2024), and THE LIBRARY SERIES EP (2025) with the label. Her recent works for film include scores for TRASH DAY (2023), HANDS LIKE A BRICK WALL (2023), CAROLYN &— (2025), and THE LUNCH (2025).
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Whitney George recreated the genuine sound for the audience. Listening to the score allowed the audience to experience the music as it was heard by those who lived during that era. Instruments then sounded just like today’s. George’s compositions remained faithful to the musical style of the time, maintaining authenticity throughout the performance and never “breaking character,” so to speak.
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As a conductor, she’s wonderful to watch. Her eyes are everywhere, she knows every line, and she keeps the musicians of The Curiosity Cabinet and the vocalists tight as hell. George deserves the highest praise for her score, her musicianship, and her leadership.
Chris Ruel
OperaWire on Fizz & Ginger
George's music leaves no room for us to doubt
that we are in the presence of something evil.
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Patrick Kabat
on Spectator
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