Yasha Hoffman graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in May 2018 with degrees in Music Composition and Russian Language + Civilization. He studied composition under Dr. Stephen Dembski and Dr. Laura Schwendinger, and participated in the Russian Flagship Program.

 

From August 2018 to May 2019, Yasha was a Fulbright U.S. Student Researcher in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he took classes at the Kazakh National Conservatory named after Kurmangazy, learned to play Kazakh folk instruments dombra, qyl-qobyz, and zhetigen, and researched the music and soundscape of Kazakhstani Jews. Yasha spent the summer of 2019 teaching composition to students in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan and Beirut with American Voices' YES Academy.

 

Yasha’s music has been performed by HYPERCUBE, Duo Zonda, Bethel Lutheran Church Choir (Madison, WI), and Black Rock Trio. He has had works read by JACK Quartet, the Rose Ensemble, and the UW-Madison Orchestra. Yasha has participated in the Charlotte New Music Festival and Wintergreen Performing Arts Academy.

 

In addition to composition, Yasha has a passion for photography and other visual and aural media. Yasha has been employed as a photographer by the Charlotte New Music Festival, UW-Madison Russian Flagship program, Lesnoe Ozero Russian Language Village, and the Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia at UW-Madison, where he also directed the weekly podcast. His photos have received accolades such as first place in the American Councils for International Education study abroad photo contest, and have appeared in publications like The Birch: Undergraduate Journal of Slavic, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies at Columbia University.