Juniper Duncan

Background

About Juniper Duncan

I'm currently an MLIS student at Simmons University concentrating in Information Science and Technology as well a choral composer and producer working in the Boston area. Most of what I do relates to both my skills and experiences in the choral music world as well as my background in algorithmic fairness and cognitive linguistics - I'm primarily interested in analysing the algorithmic processes that underlie how users search for music, as well as how music information resources are accessed and stored for easier retrieval. During my undergrad at Case Western Reserve University, I was involved in projects in neuroscience/marine biology (social learning in Aplysia californica) and educational psychology (HLPs and EBPs for students from marginalised communities), which both contribute to my approach to extended cognition within theories of information. Recently, my research has shifted to focus more on information behaviours among musicians - among other sources of funding, I was a recipient of the Simmons University 2024-2025 Graduate Research Award, which has been funding my current study of the connections between information needs and affective needs satisfying among older adults in community choral ensembles. Outside of academia, I'm a choral composer specialising in large group vocal works and applications of melodic techniques from 19th century art songs to modern jazz vocal harmonies. I've primarily worked with and written for collegiate choral ensembles (Case Concert Choir) and nationally-ranked a cappella groups (Dhamakapella), but I've completed commissions for a range of amateur and professional musicians and worked with Walton Music during their 2024 Composer Academy collaboration with GIA. I've received numerous awards on both the ICCA and ASA collegiate a cappella circuits for my arranging work, been featured on multiple iterations of Best of College A Cappella, won 3rd in the university/graduate division of the 2023 American Prize in Choral Composition and won both the 2025 Wellspring Ensemble Choral Composition Competition and the 2025 Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition. I also play bass for the Cleveland-based alt rock group the Space Cadets and produce vocal jazz for several Boston-based projects while completing commissions for choirs and chamber ensembles around New England. I'm always happy to connect and am currently accepting choral commissions! Thanks for stopping by!