Isaac Villaroya (b. 1998) is a composer and performer based in Kansas City, MO. His music moves between two modes: tightly constructed, process-driven pieces to more open ended, intuitive works shaped by ambiguity. His most interesting pieces combine these two modes with the tension between opposites being the underlying dramatic force that shapes the highs and lows of a given piece.

Most of his work is minimalist-adjacent using techniques like rhythmic canon, interlocking patterns, and ostinato. Others unfold more freely with improvisation and abstraction as the main focus. Across this range his music invites listeners to fill in the blanks, as many of his pieces carry the tone of a narrative without explicitly providing one. This fascination with ambiguity is a common thread creating sonic spaces that can be both precise and mysterious. In a way, his music lives in the tension between structure and suggestion.

A recurring artistic theme in Villaroya’s work is his interest in cycles, particularly in harmony. He is fascinated by progressions with no true beginning or end; loops that fold back on themselves indefinitely. Inspired by the circle of fifths, he has developed his own harmonic cycles that move not around a central key, but throughout all twelve chromatic centers. In this way, harmony becomes less a path toward resolution and more an endless landscape for listeners to inhabit.

Isaac is originally from Cagayan de Oro, a small coastal city in the Philippines. He moved to the United States at 10 years old, spending most of his teenage and early adult life in San Antonio, Texas. He recently graduated from UMKC Conservatory studying with his teachers Paul Rudy, Yotam Haber, and Chen Yi. His work has been performed by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the National Theater Orchestra of Brazil, Columbia Civic Orchestra, Filipino-American Symphony Orchestra, Medical Arts Symphony, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, Latitude 49, and many more. Most recently Isaac was selected as the orchestral division winner of the Missouri Composers Project.