Joshua Iyer’s colorful orchestration and lush harmonies are what flavor his music. His style is mainly influenced from French music, and often follows Classical forms, similarly to the music of Maurice Ravel. However, he is inspired by many composers and genres of music that he mixes into his style. He always tries to write music that is both intellectually stimulating while also being easy to listen to for audiences to enjoy.

He has written for a variety of instrumental forms: orchestral tone-poems, sonatas, concerti, string quartets, and other chamber groups. The Urbana Pops Orchestra has performed a segment of his tone-poem in 2015, and Music for the Galactic Palace was premiered at Augustana College by the Augustana Symphony Orchestra in 2019. His Saxophone Sonata was premiered at the IHSA Saxophone Convention in 2017. Alongside his instrumental writing, Augustana’s Jenny Lind choir sang his A Japanese Wood-Carving in 2018.

Iyer recently graduated from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a Master’s degree in Music Composition. He has studied with Dr. Eli Fieldsteel, Dr. Rick Taube, Dr. Steve Taylor, and Dr. Server Tipei. At his previous school, Augustana College in Rock Island, he studied under Dr. Jacob Bancks. In addition to writing concert pieces, he is also interested in the background music of film, TV, and video games, some of which has influenced his compositional direction.