Ayriole Frost (they/them) is an active composer, performer and teacher. They co-founded and currently serve as the Executive Director of Shift:Englewood, a youth development program in Chicago. They are a sought-after workshop leader for creative music projects around the country, including Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids. Their focus on social justice led to their addition to North Park University’s faculty as part of the certificate in Music for Social Change and Human Values, and expanded to teaching music theory at North Park.

They received their Bachelor of Music in Composition from Ball State University, where they studied viola with Philip Tietze, voice with Yoko Shimazaki-Kilburn, and composition with Jody Nagel and Eleanor Trawick. They studied composition with Reza Vali at Carnegie Mellon University, where they completed their Master of Music in Composition. They received training in leadership, finance, and curriculum for social change and completed a month-long residency in Venezuela as a Sistema Fellow at New England Conservatory. They are a 2017 3Arts awardee and a 2019 Rauschenberg Residency recipient.

Their relationship with church music began in college, where they served in the chorus at College Avenue United Methodist. They became part of the ministry at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in 2012 and are currently on staff as the Music Assistant.

Frost has served as an advisory board member of Ball State University’s School of Music, 3Arts artist council, and panel chair of Ingenuity, Inc.’s Partnerships and Professional Learning Collective Impact Panel. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity for Women.

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