About

Teresa (Naphatraphee) Um is an award-winning Thai-Korean jazz composer, arranger, and guitarist specializing in traditional large ensemble writing. While rooted in tradition, her music continually expands her artistic vision by exploring unique sounds beyond the conventional.

Within two years, she has received recognition from some of the most respected institutions in jazz. Her hybrid work for string quartet and jazz quartet, Wheel of Chronicles, received the 2026 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award — one of the most prestigious national awards for jazz composers under 30 — and the David Baker Prize at the 2025 Ravinia Steans Music Institute Bridges Composition Competition, which included a world premiere performance at Ravinia Festival. She is also a recipient of the 2026 ISJAC Fundamental Freedoms Commission from the International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers (ISJAC), one of the field's leading professional organizations for jazz composers and arrangers, with the world premiere scheduled for May 2027. Her big band composition Phonophobia won the 2025 IAWM (International Alliance for Women in Music) 44th Search for New Music — Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble Prize and was recorded by the seven-time Grammy-nominated UNT One O'Clock Lab Band on Lab 2025, where it was selected as the opening track.

At the 2026 DownBeat 49th Student Music Awards, Teresa received three College/Graduate awards: Winner in Original Composition (Large Ensemble) for Phonophobia, Winner in Original Composition (Small Ensemble/Combo) for Wheel of Chronicles, and Outstanding Arrangement (Big Band) for Airegin. She had previously received a 2025 DownBeat 48th Student Music Award for Outstanding Arrangement (Big Band) for her arrangement of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Teresa received her early training in jazz guitar performance at the Young Artist Music Program (YAMP)—the pre-college division of College of Music, Mahidol University, Thailand—before earning her Bachelor's degree in the same major from the university. Throughout her time at both stages, she was supported by consecutive Merit Scholarships. As a jazz guitarist, her musical pursuits in Thailand led to several national honors, including first prize in the Solo Competition at the 2023 Thailand International Jazz Conference (TIJC). She then went on to pursue a Master of Music in Jazz Composition and Arranging at the University of North Texas, studying under Grammy-nominated Professor Richard DeRosa, where she held the Composition and Arranging Graduate Scholarship and graduated in Spring 2026.

Teresa will pursue her Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Jazz Composition at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami, starting in Fall 2026. She has been awarded a full tuition waiver, a Graduate Teaching Assistantship, and the prestigious Henry Mancini Institute (HMI) Fellowship. She continues to forge her own artistic voice, with a vision to bring her music to audiences worldwide.