Friends of Today’s Music

Friends of Today’s Music Commissioned Composer
Reena Esmail
Ms. Esmail has composed a work for 1 piano, 1 violin, 1 cello, and 1 vocalist. The piece is called “Dhire-Dhire” (Little by Little) with words by Kabir Das (1398-1448) in Hindi.
Join us on July 2022 during the MTAC Convention for the World Premiere.
Composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces.
Esmail’s work has been commissioned by ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Kronos Quartet, Imani Winds, Baltimore Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Town Music Seattle, Albany Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Girls Choir, Conspirare, Juilliard415 and Yale Institute of Sacred Music.
Esmail is the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 2020-2023 Swan Family Artist in Residence, and Seattle Symphony’s 2021-22 Composer-in-Residence. Previously, she was named a 2019 United States Artist Fellow in Music, and the 2019 Grand Prize Winner of the S & R Foundation’s Washington Award. Esmail was a 2017-18 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow, and the 2012 recipient of the Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Selected works are published by C.F. Peters and Oxford University Press, and recordings of her work have been released on major labels including Hyperion Records, Delos Music and Cedille Records.
Esmail holds degrees in composition from The Juilliard School (BM’05) and the Yale School of Music (MM’11, MMA’14, DMA’18). Her primary teachers have included Susan Botti, Aaron Jay Kernis and Christopher Theofanidis.
In 2011-12, Esmail received a Fulbright-Nehru grant to study Hindustani music in India. Her Hindustani music teachers include Srimati Lakshmi Shankar and Gaurav Mazundar, and she currently studies and collaborates with Saili Oak. Her doctoral thesis, entitled Finding Common Ground: Uniting Practices in Hindustani and Western Art Musicians explores the methods and challenges of the collaborative process between Hindustani musicians and Western composers.
Friends of Today’s Music Commissioned Works are made possible through the generous support of the Aaron Copland Fund, the Beyster Family Fund at the San Diego Foundation, and individual donations. Anonymous, individual, and MTAC member contributions are accepted throughout the year. To donate, please visit the MTAC Foundation page.
Year |
Composer |
Title |
Publisher |
---|---|---|---|
2020/2021 |
Augusta Read Thomas |
The Beads of Sunlight |
Augusta Read Thomas |
2019 |
Daniel Felsenfeld |
Hue & Cry |
BCP Music |
2018 |
Bruce Stark |
Three Dances |
Belle-Kane Publishing |
2017 |
Lei Liang |
Tree Rings |
Schott |
2016 |
Michael Daugherty |
The Old Man and the Sea |
Peermusic Classical/Boosey and Hawkes |
2015 |
Joan Tower |
Sixth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman |
AMP/G. Schirmer Rental Library |
2014 |
Derek Bermel |
Four Homages for Piano |
Peermusic Classical |
2013 |
Katrina Wreede |
I-5 |
Vlazville Publishing |
2012 |
David Amram |
Cancion de Verano |
C.F. Peters Corporation |
2011 |
Robert Aldridge |
Three Waltzes |
C.F. Peters Corporation |
2010 |
David Rakowski |
Étude-Fantasies |
C.F. Peters Corporation |
2009 |
Chen Yi |
From Old Peking Folklore |
Theodore Presser |
2008 |
Paul Chihara |
Fantasy |
C.F. Peters Corporation |
2007 |
Gabriela Lena Frank |
Danza de los Saqsampillos |
G. Schirmer |
2006 |
William Bolcom |
*Nine New Bagatelles |
E. B. Marks Music, Hal Leonard |
2005 |
Libby Larsen |
PentaMetrics |
Oxford University Press |
2004 |
Steven Stucky |
*Meditation and Dance |
Theodore Presser |
2003 |
Judith Lang Zaimont |
In My Lunchbox |
Vivace Press |
2002 |
Melissa Hui |
*and blue sparks burn |
Available through MTAC |
2001 |
Robert Maggio |
Dreams from Childhood |
Theodore Presser |
2000 |
Bruce Adolphe |
Well, It’s Not exactly Beethoven |
PollyRhythm Productions |
1999 |
Martin Rokeach |
*can’t wait |
Roncorp Publications |
1998 |
Vivian Fung |
Scherzo |
Available through MTAC |
1997 |
Samuel Adler |
*Concerto No. 2 |
Theodore Presser |
1996 |
Samuel Zyman |
Two Motions in One Movement |
Theodore Presser |
1995 |
Seymour Bernstein |
Fantasy on a Theme by Francisco |
G. Schirmer |
1994 |
Stephen Hartke |
The Piano Dreams of Empire |
MMB Music, Inc. |
1993 |
Donald Waxman |
Arabesques and Ostinato |
Galaxy Music Corp. (ECS) |
1992 |
Emma Lou Diemer |
Three Piano Pieces |
Plymouth Music/Elkin Music |
1991 |
Gunther Schuller |
Music For Young People |
AMP/Schirmer |
1990 |
David Ott |
*Sinfonia for Cello and Piano |
Park Music Press |
1989 |
Samuel Adler |
*The Road to Terpsichore |
G. Schirmer |
1988 |
William Albright |
*The Machine Age |
C.F. Peters Corporation |
1987 |
Leslie Bassett |
*Configurations |
C.F. Peters Corporation |
1986 |
Richard Felciano |
Five Short Piano Pieces |
Available through MTAC |
For more information, contact the MTAC State Office.