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Exploring Diversity of Composers: a Virtual Exhibit

This is a virtual exhibit curated by members of the elective course, Exploring Diversity of Composers, in the SEMINAR 2020 music camp, offered online by the WMU School of Music.

Harumi Fujita

Harumi Fujita is a female Japanese composer. She was born in Osaka, Japan in 1961 and graduated from the Osaka School of Design. She has composed several pieces for video games, working for both companies and as a freelancer. She is currently composing stage performance music and conducts audio consultations.

Shumaila Hemani

DOB + Location 

Sindh, Pakistan 

Education
Ph.D in Music at Alberta University

Awards
1st prize at Society for Ethnomusicology Conference (2017), State of Kuwait Award in Islamic Studies, Frank Henderson Prize in the study of Woman+Religion, Cultural Diversity, Edmonton Arts Council, and many more.

 

Zoë Keating

Zoë Keating is a cellist and composer who writes music and performs in contemporary ways.  She often uses a looping pedal to layer different sounds on her cello during live performances.  She graduated from Sarah Lawrence, studying composition as a Liberal Arts major.  Her performance of “Lost” on ABC Radio National in 2012 is very popular, as well as albums such as One Cello x 16: Natoma and Into the Trees.  

She has composed music for --and had her music used-- in TV shows, movies, and commercials.  She was a governor of the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy and advocates for artists regarding copyright in the music industry. -- Source: Zoë Keating's website.

Ravi Kittappa

Ravi Kitttappa is a world renowned composer who primarily writes orchestral and electronic music. His music has been performed around the world by several diverse musicians and ensembles at famous festivals. He is currently completing his Ph.D in music composition at University of California Berkeley as well as lecturing at institutions around the world.

Yaz Lancaster

Yaz Lancaster is a violinist who earned an MM and a BM with a minor in poetry from New York University. Some awards and honors they have earned include the NYU Virtual recital, the NYU Strings Honors Recital, and was a runner up in the Hildegard Competition. They are also an original member of Quintilia, a quintet that performs the works of composers from underrepresented backgrounds. Some compositions include woodcuts, and meditations on auxin. Yaz Lancaster uses the term "genre-fluid works" to describe their creative output and their "representation & support of marginalized/underprivileged identities in the arts." -- Source: Yaz Lancaster's website.

Katarina Leyman

From Island of Orust, next to Sweden

Some Awards:

  • Bergslagen Chamber Symphony Orchestra's Composer of the Year 2016
  • Swarms for 7 musicians represented Sweden in the Rostrum 2012 international music composition
  • Winner of New England Conservatory's composition contest 1994

Ms. Leyman got into music and gets inspiration for music through sculpting. She is inspired by different shapes, colors, or textures, and turns them in to pieces.

Academic Study:

  • Master's Degree in Composition, New England Conservatory
  • Dual Bachelor's Degrees in Composition and Film Music Composition, Berklee College of Music
  • Royal College of Music in Stokholm

Famous Works:

  • Clarinet Concerto: Verdure
  • King of Clouds
  • Transient Skies

Source: Katarina Leyman's website.

Lula Romero

Lula Romero is a Contemporary latin composer known for her electronic sound. She prefers to maintain a level of complexity in her music, opposed to the wave of minimalism prevalent in some modern music. Romero currently resides in Berlin, Germany, where she continues to write works.