Biography

Austin holds a Master’s in Composition from UMass Amherst (2021) and a Bachelor’s in Composition from Berklee College of Music (2018). He studied guitar with Mick Goodrick, Jon Damian, and David Tronzo, and composition with Panagiotis Liaropoulos, Alla Cohen, and Salvatore Macchia.

He has taught across a wide spectrum, from private guitar lessons to university-level seminars, including a guest lecturer role at UMass Amherst, where he led a seminar on composing for guitar.

Austin’s compositions, ranging from solo and chamber works to ensemble pieces, have been performed by groups such as the Hypercube Ensemble and featured at the Five College Music Festival. Recent works include Just Beyond Yourself(solo electric guitar) and We Built This Place (violin duet). In 2025, he was a finalist for The American Prize in Composition in the professional instrumental chamber division. He is currently developing a new string quartet that explores the expansion and contraction of musical material, subtle shifts in timbre within shared registers, and echo-like transformations of previously heard material.

As a performer, Austin explores a wide range of styles. He has performed jazz and blues with The Dirty Rotten Vipers and Marton Juhasz, modern classical music with the Boston Conservatory Chamber Ensemble, and pop music with Lily Mae Harrington.

His work bridges composition, performance, and education, reflecting a commitment to exploring new musical possibilities across genres.