Contact
Departments
Courses Taught
Production Techniques in Ableton Live
Theory of Musical Synthesis
Electronic Music Performance Practices
Private lessons
Education
MA Technology and Applied Composition, San Francisco Conservatory of Music
BM Music Theory & Composition (piano and cello concentration), Crane School of Music
Ensembles
Stargirl Mare (My own project, we tour and play shows frequently) 10 years
Fill-in keyboardist for Indigo Elephant (occasional, 2 years)
Q&A
What is your hometown?
Clifton Park, New York
What is your favorite recording? Why?
Of recent years, Jane Remover - Frailty is a 10/10. Though, my true favorite recording of all time is probably Takako Mamiya's 1984 album, Love Trip
What are you passionate about outside of music?
Language acquisition. I have B2 language ability in both Japanese and German. Hopefully next I'll learn Chinese and Korean!
Environmental Conservation is something I care about deeply. We've only got one planet after all...
I also really love the moon!
Who were your major teachers?
Taurin Barrera, Marco D'Ambrosio, Eugenia Tsarov (piano), honorable mention Mike Morasky
What is a favorite quote that you repeatedly tell students?
Music is the lizard brain! Reject the intellect when creating.
What question do you wish students would ask sooner rather than later?
How can find my artistic voice? My answer: Musically devour the music that your are influenced by. Understand everything you can about it from form to harmony to lyrics. What you gain from that will influence your writing far more than anything else you can do.
What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue music as a career?
I grew up watching Zedd, Porter Robinson, Madeon, and the 1975 play musical festivals over livestreams like Coachella. I had always played classical music since my father was a classical musician too but once I knew that electronic music performance was a career path I went in that direction and never turned back; probably age 14 onward if I remember correctly.
What was a turning point in your career?
Having professor Taurin Barrera open my mind to the world of playback engineering when I was a student. I have since developed my own playback engineering rig used for my live performances.
If you weren't a musician or teacher, what do you think you would be doing now?
Working in the field of environmental conservation. Developing clean energy tech or something similar I am sure.
What is your daily practice routine?
There are periods of absorption and periods of creation, each lasting a couple months. During absorptive periods my compulsion is go down the rabbit holes of my favorite artists by listening to their own influences, namely by looking at who they follow on social media. I devour this music until it is internally understood at my core by ear-transcribing at the piano. During my creative eras, I just wake up and find ways to channel the art. I'll play Chopin and become enticed by a chordal movement or I'll say a sentence with an unbearably catchy vocal prosody; however it happens it will end up with me at a my DAW all day for sure. A saying I live by is: If you write music 365 days a year, there will undoubtedly be 10 days that yielded better music than the rest. That's plenty. Greater output leads to greater opportunity for success. Write, write, write...
If you could play only three composers for the rest of your life, who would they be?
Datealyfe, Porter Robinson, Ryuichi Sakamoto
From a music history perspective, what year and city are most important to you, and why?
This current era of creatives on the internet has yielded incredible collectives. Elfaction and Drain Gang wouldn't be possible in a pre internet world, I think.
What is your unrealized project?
Instrumental Synth Trio, similar to what YMO did. I'm sure I'll do it eventually
What do you think makes a concert experience unique?
I love when an artist performs their live songs differently from how they sound on the record. Always leaves me feeling like I was witness to a unique experience.
Please list your most important collaborations.
Left At London, Tony Ferraro, Indigo Elephant
Please list your top awards and distinctions.
The field of electronic music I work in does not yield awards for its competition. The competition is in getting to play desirable gigs + tours which I've been fortunate enough to achieve.
Media
Left Behind, Moon-Blessed Wishes (Spotify)
Indigo Elephant x Mare - Don't Wanna See It (YouTube)
String Quartet in Ab (Soundcloud)
Biography
Stargirl Mare is a San Francisco-based band led by multi-genre artist Jess Konye. Mare originally began as a solo project that evolved into a 5-piece band aiming to encapsulate the beauty of the moon through lush textures. The name "Mare" is derived from "lunar mare," referring to the large, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, reflecting Konye's fascination with lunar imagery.
The band's sound blends elements of pop and electronic music, creating ambient and spacey textures. Mare's musical influences include artists/composers such as Sayako, Jane Remover, Porter Robinson, Instupendo, Maurice Ravel, and Ryuichi Sakamoto.