Photo © Phil Mansfield

Composer-vocalist Lisa Bielawa takes inspiration for her work from literary sources and close artistic collaborations. The New York Times describes her music as, "ruminative, pointillistic and harmonically slightly tart," and Time Out New York praised her "prodigious gift for mingling persuasive melodicism with organic experimentation." She is a 2009 Rome Prize winner in Musical Composition and is spending September 2009 through August 2010 composing at the American Academy in Rome.

Born in San Francisco into a musical family, Bielawa played the violin and piano, sang, and wrote music from early childhood. She moved to New York two weeks after receiving her B.A. in Literature in 1990 from Yale University, and became an active participant in New York musical life. She began touring with the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1992, and in 1997 co-founded the MATA Festival, which celebrates the work of young composers.

Bielawa's music has been released on numerous record labels including Tzadik, Albany, and Innova, and will be featured on a new recording to be released in 2010, recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

Excerpts from the music of Lisa Bielawa:

Electric Ordo Virtutum - Act I (2009)
The Hildegurls - Eve Beglarian, Lisa Bielawa, Kitty Brazelton, and Elaine Kaplinsky, from Electric Ordo Virtutum, Innova 712

Kafka Songs - "This Time" (2001-3)
Carla Kihlstedt, violin and voice, from A Handful of World, Tzadik 8039

The Trojan Women (2003)
String Orchestra of New York City, from First Takes, Albany TROY941