About Autumn Maria Reed
Autumn Maria Reed aka AMReed8 is a composer/songwriter from Madison, Wisconsin.

To US Americans, she`s Autumn.
To non-US Americans, she`s Maria.
To a restaurant host, she`s Reed.
Short Bio
AUTUMN MARIA REED is a Wisconsin-based composer, orchestrator, and sound designer and Berklee alumna. She has composed for theater Music Theatre of Madison, Are We
Delicious?, and KR Women’s Theatre and orchestras River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO), Brazil’s Orquestra Sinfônica Teatro Nacional Claudio Santoro (OSTNCS), Chicago Philharmonic. She collaborates with The Black String
Triage Ensemble and Black Diaspora Symphony Orchestra, performing and composing music for trauma victims. Passionate about mental health advocacy, she enjoys time with family.
More info: linktr.ee/amreed8 & amreed8.com.
Medium Bio
AUTUMN MARIA REED is a Wisconsin-based composer, orchestrator, and sound designer and Berklee alumna. She has composed music for theater productions with Music Theatre of Madison, Are We Delicious?, and KR Women’s Theatre. Her orchestral works have been performed by River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO), Brazil’s Orquestra Sinfônica Teatro Nacional Claudio Santoro (OSTNCS), and the Women’s Orchestra of Arizona.
A 2023 MUSE Mentorship participant, Autumn worked with Tony- and Grammy-nominated Zane Mark. She was also a composer awardee for Ravinia’s 2024 Breaking Barriers Festival, where her piece was performed by the Chicago Philharmonic under Maestra Nefeli Chadouli.
Her collaborations extend to The Black String Triage Ensemble and Black Diaspora Symphony Orchestra, where she has composed works addressing social issues and trauma. This ensemble is featured in the PBS-distributed documentary Black Strings (2023).
Autumn’s compositions, available under “AMReed8,” blend classical, theatrical, and contemporary influences. She advocates for mental health awareness and values time with family.
More info: linktr.ee/amreed8 & amreed8.com.
Long Bio
AUTUMN MARIA REED is a Wisconsin-based composer, orchestrator, and sound designer. A Berklee alumna, she has composed library and theatrical music for companies in Madison and Milwaukee. Her music is available to stream under the name “AMReed8.”
For theater, she composed and orchestrated for Beyond the Ingénue: Trailblazers (2020) and An American Mythology (2021) with Music Theatre of Madison. She designed sound and composed additional music for Ghosts (2023) by Are We Delicious? and the choreopoem Da Classroom Ain’t Enough (2024) by Charles Edward Payne. In the past, she has worked with KR Women’s Theatre. Currently, she is co-orchestrating Life on the Spectrum (2023/2024) by Lonnie McGuire. She also acted in Encore Studio for the Performing Arts’ Road Trip (2024) by Kelsy Anne Schoenhaar.
As part of the 2023 MUSE Mentorship program, she was paired with Tony- and Grammy-nominated composer/orchestrator/music director Zane Mark (Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk and Boop! The Musical).
Autumn’s orchestral works include Yankadi (2022) for string quartet at LunART Festival and Resilience (2023) for string orchestra, performed by Brazil’s Orquestra Sinfônica Teatro Nacional Claudio Santoro (OSTNCS) with Maestro Cláudio Cohen. This piece won calls for scores with the Women’s Orchestra of Arizona under Livia Gho and was performed at Carthage College with Dr. Edward Kawakami.
Her Mental Health Suite (2024) was performed by River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) with Maestra Mei-Ann Chen. Autumn was a composer awardee for Ravinia’s 2024 Breaking Barriers Festival, led by Maestra Marin Alsop and Augusta Read Thomas, where her composition, Robin’s Eye View (2024), was conducted by Maestra Nefeli Chadouli with the Chicago Philharmonic.
She plays string bass and cello with Dayvin Hallmon’s The Black String Triage Ensemble and Black Diaspora Symphony Orchestra. She composed Exodus from Extinction (2022) and Cries from Our Soil (2024) with poet Brit Nicole, soprano Michaela Usher, and choral director Lee Stovall for the symphony orchestra. This group performs string music for trauma and violence victims.
A documentary short titled Black Strings (2023), produced by filmmakers Marquise Mays and RJ Smith, features the ensemble. PBS distributes the film under the title What Does It Look Like to Bring a Violin to a Gμnfight? and on YouTube as When Musicians Become First Responders.
She is passionate about ending the stigma of mental illness and values time with her family.
More info: linktr.ee/amreed8 & amreed8.com.