Martha Horst is an American composer. Her music has been performed by musicians and groups such as the Fromm Players, Grossman Ensemble, Spektral Quartet, Loop 38, Earplay, Alea III, Empyrean Ensemble, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, ~Nois, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Susan Narucki, Left Coast Ensemble, and Dal Niente.
She has won the Copland Award, the Symphony Number One Commissioning Prize, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra Evolve Contest, the Alea III International Composition Competition, the Loop 38/Rothko Chapel Commission Competition, and the Rebecca Clarke International Composition Competition. She has held fellowships at MacDowell, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Wellesley Composers Conference, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Dartington International School in the UK..
Horst has served as a professional member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. She is currently is a professor of composition and theory at Illinois State University and was recently composer-in-residence at the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra.
While at MacDowell in 2004, she completed a set of solo piano etudes for performance by Amy Dissanayake. In 2007, she completed a song cycle for soprano and string trio, to be premiered by Earplay in San Francisco in 2008.
During her 2024 residency, Horst completed a trio for harp, flute, and viola based on poetry by Emily Dickinson. Dickinson Fragments will be premiered by Empyrean Ensemble in California in October, 2024. She also completed a song cycle for mezzo soprano and piano based on Dickinson poetry.
