The UT New Music Ensemble, under the direction of Professor Dan Welcher, is widely regarded as one of the best new music ensembles in the country. Featuring solo, chamber and large ensemble works by living composers and those of the recent past, UTNME presents six full-length concerts annually of new chamber music composed primarily within the past 20 years. This unique group consists of a sixteenmember core ensemble and is made up of the most proficient student instrumentalists and singers in the School of Music.

Since the inception of the Visiting Composers Series in 1995, the ensemble has featured works of four to six world-class guest composers every year; recent guest composers have included Samuel Adler, William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Michael Daugherty, David Del Tredici, John Harbison, Stephen Hartke, Lee Hyla, Lowell Liebermann, David Maslanka, Thea Musgrave, Shulamit Ran, Christopher Theofinidis, Augusta Read Thomas, Michael Torke, Joan Tower and Chen Yi. In addition, works by faculty composers Donald Grantham, Yevgeniy Sharlot, Russell Pinkston and Dan Welcher are performed regularly as well as music composed by local Austin and Texas composers. Finally, it has been one of the hallmarks of UTNME for there to be a student composition performed on every concert, giving the composition students a rare and extremely valuable opportunity.