Courtney Bryan's music is in conversation with various genres, including jazz and other types of experimental music, as well as traditional gospel, spirituals, and hymns. Bryan has degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Rutgers University, and Columbia University with advisor George Lewis, and completed postdoctoral studies in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. Bryan is currently an Assistant Professor of Music in the Newcomb Department of Music at Tulane University, the Mary Carr Patton Composer-in-Residence with the Jacksonville Symphony, and a 2019 recipient of the Samuel Barber Rome Prize. She was the 2018 music recipient of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts. Bryan’s work has been presented in a wide range of venues, and she has two recordings, Quest for Freedom and This Little Light of Mine.