Aaron Helgeson (b. 1982, Eugene OR) is an internationally performed composer of concert and theatrical music whose work explores the poetic boundaries of musical perception and instrumental technique. He has written for acclaimed soloists and ensembles including the Arditti String Quartet, trumpet player Peter Evans, soprano Susan Narucki, chamber sextet Echoi, and Berlin PianoPercussion. His music has been performed at US and international venues in Berlin, Metz, Stockholm, New York, Chicago, St Paul, Los Angeles, and beyond. As a composer for theater, Helgeson received the Saul Chaplin Award in 2005 for his chamber opera The Crane Wife. Other awards include the Oberlin Conservatory of Music Composition Prize, the Robert Erickson Composition Scholarship, and grants from American Composers Forum and the Eiler Foundation. In addition, his work has been featured at numerous contemporary music festivals and forums such as the Festival Acanthes and June in Buffalo, working closely with Salvatore Sciarrino, Harrison Birtwistle, Chaya Czernowin, John Luther Adams, and Helmut Lachenmann. Helgeson holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and UC San Diego, where he studied with Pullitzer Prize winning composer Roger Reynolds. In 2010, he returned to Oberlin as Visiting Assistant Professor of Composition. He currently resides in California.