The World Music Center (WMC) at UCLA is launching a new virtual event series, Musics from Around the World: Southern California Composers in Concert, spotlighting contemporary global music makers throughout the region. Our second concert in the series features composer and performer Reena Esmail.
Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music, to bring communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces. Esmail holds degrees from The Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music. A resident of Los Angeles, Esmail is the 2020-23 Swan Family Artist in Residence with Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the 2020-21 Composer in Residence with Seattle Symphony. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the Board of New Music USA, and Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit organization that promotes cross-cultural music connecting musical traditions of India and the West.
Musics from Around the World: Southern California Composers in Concert is part of the yearlong celebration of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive's 60th anniversary. Established in 1961, the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive is a world-renowned research archive dedicated to the study of musical traditions from around the globe.
Musics from Around the World: Southern California Composers in Concert is funded by the Hugo and Christine Davise Fund for Contemporary Music; the fund is administered by the UCLA Music Library to support contemporary music in any genre.