J.T. Wolfe (b. 2003) is an American composer and pianist from Missouri. Currently in his third year of undergraduate composition studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Wolfe has studied with composers such as Carolina Heredia, Yoshiaki Onishi, Utku Asuroglu, Stefan Freund, Kevin Day, Annika Socolofsky, and others, as well as being a three-year attendee of the Missouri Summer Composition Institute from 2019 to 2021. He has written numerous solo and chamber works, as well as working with Khemia Ensemble, the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, and is currently working on a commission for the horns of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, his music was featured at the Mizzou International Composers Festival.
Wolfe’s music often reflects a devotion to the natural world, exploring humanity’s relationship with it and using it as a lens for examining subjects both musical and non-musical. In 2022, Canyons for brass quintet was completed, a piece inspired by the characteristic landscapes of the American West. Burr Oak for wind quintet, premiered in April 2023, reflects on the philosophies of naturalist John Muir and personal childhood memories of nature. Aside from his chamber works, his numerous works for solo piano show his dedication to the instrument and to increasing the size and importance of contemporary piano repertoire.