ISABELLA PIRITTA MORRILL
 

Isabella Morrill, born & raised on the stormy coast of Oregon, is a composer and arranger specializing in wind ensemble and concert band music, film, and orchestral scores. Her music is most often dramatic & energizing, and her goal is to bring rich tangibility those who listen to her compositions. She is a dual citizen of the USA and Finland, and one of her great joys is to tie her Scandinavian heritage closely into her music.

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In the fall of 2019, Isabella was titled co-champion of the Oregon Music Education Association's Composition Contest with her orchestral piece Hymn to the Rain. After this, she gained a commission through the Newport Youth Composer Symposium. This symposium led her to work with Dr. Dana Reason and Michael Dalton in her composition training. She is a recipient of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame scholarship as well as the Finlandia Foundation Scholarship as a composer.

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Isabella attends Western Oregon University on scholarship as a composition major in her senior year, studying under Dr. Kevin Walczyk. She works there as the Resident Composer, writing and arranging for the Western Oregon Wind Ensemble. During her first three years, she was named outstanding under-graduate composer in Walczyk's studio. She also was commissioned by the Portland Youth Philharmonic through the Youth Orchestra Commissioning Initiative in 2021. Her commissioned piece, Bartokian Brass, was performed in June of the same year by the brass ensemble of the PYP. Through this, she has gained statewide recognition as an up-and-coming composer in the concert band world.

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In 2021, Isabella was chosen to present an original film score ata  masterclass with Dave Metzger, a renowned composer and orchestrator with Disney studios.  

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Her sophomore year led to a commissioned band work from Washington High School in Tacoma, as well as a commissioned work from Chief Umtuch Middle School in Battleground. Since then, Isabella has been focusing on writing for band and wind ensemble.

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She was named the 2022 winner of the National Band Association's Merrill Jones Memorial Young Band Composition Contest, leading to performances with Washington State University, Eastern New Mexico University, Notre Dame College, the Washington-Idaho Symphony and more. She has been a composer in residence for WSU and the WIS. She has many projects ahead of her, including a multi-institutional consortium commission for wind-ensemble and a film-score project with a silent film festival in Idaho. 

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Alongside these accomplishments, Isabella has arranged and composed smaller works for a various number of clients. Morrill also is a horn player and has played in several professional groups across the Northwest.  

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