Bio
Cerulean S. Payne-Passmore, PhD, (they/them) is a composer, performer, and electronic musician from Philadelphia, PA. Their composition integrates live electronics with collaborative, spontaneous performances that push the traditional boundaries of sound while inviting performers and audiences into immersive, embodied experiences. In 2025, they earned a PhD in music composition from the University of Pennsylvania as a Benjamin Franklin Fellow. They earned a Master’s of Music Composition from University of Oregon and a BA from the New College of Florida. During their time at the University of Pennsylvania, they studied with Tyshawn Sorey and at the University of Oregon with Robert Kyr and David Crumb.
Cerulean’s music spans a wide range of media, including solo, chamber, orchestral, vocal, acoustic and electroacoustic works. Their compositions have been performed at prominent festivals and conferences including SPLICE, SEAMUS, Electronic Music Midwest, MOXsonic, SCI, June in Buffalo, Cybersounds, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and the upcoming Ussachevsky Festival, and have earned recognition through awards such as the Morton J. Gould Young Composer (finalist), the Helen L. Weiss Music Prize, and a Fulbright Fellowship. Cerulean has collaborated with renowned ensembles including the TAK Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, and the Daedalus Quartet. Their work has been presented by Network for New Music and Bowerbird in Philadelphia, PA. Recently, they have collaborated to create new works with cellist Tom Kraines, flutist Laura Cocks, clarinetist Madison Greenstone, bassoonist Dana Jessen, flutist Chelsea Meynig, and choreographer Madeline Shuron. They have served on the faculty of Temple University and the University of the Arts, as well as the Wildflower Composers Festival and the All-City Orchestra Summer Academy.
In their spare time, Cerulean enjoys reading speculative fiction, exploring new places, and hanging out with their cat, Storm.
Artist’s Statement
My approach to composition integrates live electronics with collaborative, spontaneous performances that push the traditional boundaries of sound while inviting performers and audiences into immersive, embodied experiences. In my most experimental work, I create immersive technology that explores how embodiment transforms the relationship between sound, story, and performer. My work often returns to themes of grief, the climate crisis, and genderqueer expression, and I strive to encourage a kind of listening that dissolves boundaries and explores the entanglement between presumed binaries – self and other, human and nonhuman, internal and external – revealing a deep, ecological interconnectedness.