Abe Effress

Composer, producer, and pianist Abe Effress is a National YoungArts Foundation winner in the Jazz Composition category. He has been recognized in Downbeat Magazine's Annual Student Awards for Outstanding Compositions. 

Abe created the original score for director Ian Kim's "My Sisters In The Stars," an animated documentary narrated by one of the last surviving Korean Comfort Women of WWII. The film was the Cannes Film Festival/American Pavilion category winner in the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase and won numerous awards in premier film festivals around the world. 

As President of West Coast Development for the international nonprofit organization Melodies As Medicine, Abe brings his participatory music curriculum to seniors in nursing homes and assisted living communities. Starting in 2025, Abe will earn his Bachelor of Music in the Screen Scoring program at New York University, where he will continue to collaborate with filmmakers and other artists, and through his music, keep telling powerful stories that make a social impact and reach audiences around the world.