Kyle Tieman-Strauss (b. 1994) is a composer of music for stages and headphones, as well as a passionate advocate for contemporary music. His music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles such as ETHEL; Bearthoven; JACK Quartet; Conduit; Manhattan Saxophone Quartet; Cadillac Moon Ensemble; and the NYU Symphony Orchestra, where he held residencies in 2013-2014 and 2016-2017. His first chamber opera, These Walls, written in collaboration with librettist Matthias Hope Naroff and soprano Emilia Donato, investigates the interior life of the mid-century American serial killer Rhonda Belle Martin. It was premiered in May 2017 in New York.

Current projects include Forsaken Tunes, a new studio work for Sasha Zamler-Carhart, exploring texts of Muriel Rukeyser, Jack Spicer, and C.P. Cavafy; a new multitracked voice piece for Emily Donato; and a short organ work.

An avid cheerleader for the music of the twenty-first century, Kyle was the founder and artistic director of Echo Chamber, a sextet dedicated to commissioning and championing some of the most exciting contemporary composers. While studying at New York University, he also founded a still-running contemporary music festival called Pulsing & Shaking, celebrating new music created in New York.

Kyle received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at NYU Steinhardt, working primarily with Michael Gordon and Robert Honstein. He previously taught on the composition faculties of NYU and the Mannes School of Music. He was a 2016 composition fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, and was a 2019-20 fellow at the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. He lives in Manhattan.

Outside of music, Kyle can be found preoccupied with the Bauhaus, desert modernism, and pencil cacti.