Reena Esmail

Reena Esmail (born 11 February 1983) is an Indian-American music composer of Indian and Western classical music.[1]

Esmail has been commissioned to compose pieces for ensembles including Amherst College Choir and Orchestra,[2] Santa Fe Pro Musica,[3] Conspirare,[4] and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.[5]

Composer Andrew Norman selected her work for violin Darshan for a 2020 feature in The New York Times, calling it "familiar and fresh, intimate and epic, grounded and aloft."[6]

Life

Reena Esmail was born on February 11th, 1983 in Chicago, Illinois to Indian-American parents. She began composing in 1999, later attending the Juilliard School and graduating with a Bachelor in Music degree in 2005. She received three further degrees from the Yale School of Music at Yale University. Primary instructors at Juilliard and Yale included composers Susan Botti, Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, Christopher Rouse, and Samuel Adler. She additionally studied Hindustanti music under Srimati Lakshmi Shankar and Gaurav Mazumdar. She continues to study under Saili Oak, who is also a frequent collaborator. She received her doctorate from Yale with her thesis, Finding Common Ground: Uniting Practices in Hindustani and Western Art Musicians.[7]

Esmail only began to become a "truly syncretic composer" when she received a Fulbright-Nehru Scholarship to North India to study Hindustani musical tradition.

Esmail has been the composer-in-residence with the Seattle Symphony, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival, and Marlboro Music Festival.[8]

Notable ensembles that have commissioned work from Esmail have included the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Kronos Quartet, Imani Winds, Viano Quartet, Baltimore Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Albany Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Girls Choir, Conspirare, Brooklyn Rider, and Yale Institute of Sacred Music.[9]

She is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit organization that connects Indian musical tradition with the West.[10]

Honors and awards

  • United States Artist Fellow in Music 2019[1]
  • S&R Foundation Washington Award Grand Prize 2019[11]
  • Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Citizen Artist Fellow 2017-2018[12]
  • Two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2002, 2007)[13]
  • Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters 2012[14]
  • INK Fellow 2011[15]
  • Winner in the MTAC-WLA Chamber Music Competition for piano performance[16]
  • Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Scholar 2011-2012[17]

Works

Esmail composes for orchestra, solo instrument, chamber ensemble, and voice. Works include Barso Re (2010) for Yale Sur et Veritaal, Yale's Hindi a cappella organization.[18]

Solo

  • Chardonnay, for solo flute (2001)
  • Jhula Jhule, for violin and piano (2013)
  • Nadiya, version for violin and bassoon (2016)
  • Take What You Need, for unaccompanied violin (2016)
  • Hallelujah (arr. of Leonard Cohen), unaccompanied violin (2017)
  • Darshan, unaccompanied violin (2018-2020)
  • Blaze, for violin and tabla (2019)
  • Concerto for You, solo violin and youth string orchestra (2019)
  • Drishti (द्रिष्ती), miniatures for unaccompanied violin (2021)
  • Terra Infirma, harp, percussion (2025) Written for Yolanda Kondonassis and the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra
  • Double Concerto, violin, piano, and orchestra (2026) Written for Gil Shaham, Orli Shaham, and the National Symphony Orchestra

References

  1. ^ a b "United States Artists » Reena Esmail".
  2. ^ "Amherst Tuning In: 19th Amendment Commission | Calendar of Events | Amherst College". www.amherst.edu.
  3. ^ "Pro Musica announces 2020-21 Season – Santa Fe Pro Musica". Archived from the original on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  4. ^ "The Singing Guitar | Conspirare". 18 September 2020.
  5. ^ Los Angeles Master Chorale. "Reena Esmail". lamasterchorale.org.
  6. ^ Norman, Andrew (September 2, 2020). "Five Minutes That Will Make You Love the Violin". The New York Times.
  7. ^ "Reena Esmail". www.uncsa.edu. Retrieved 2026-02-19.
  8. ^ Group, Dream Warrior. "Reena Esmail". Los Angeles Master Chorale | Walt Disney Concert Hall. Retrieved 2026-02-19. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  9. ^ Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony. "Reena Esmail/Kala Ramnath | Atlanta Symphony Orchestra". www.aso.org. Retrieved 2026-02-19.
  10. ^ "Shastra". Shastra. Retrieved 2026-02-19.
  11. ^ "The S&R Washington Award Winners | S&R Foundation". sandrfoundation.org. Archived from the original on 2021-07-26. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  12. ^ "Citizen Artist Fellows of The Kennedy Center 2017-2018 | Kennedy Center". www.kennedy-center.org.
  13. ^ Sheridanon, Molly (2002-06-04). "To Be Young and Talented: 2002 Morton Gould Young Composer Award Winners | New Music USA". Nmbx.newmusicusa.org. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  14. ^ "Awards – American Academy of Arts and Letters".
  15. ^ "Stories, Ideas and Perspectives | 300+ Inspirational talks by remarkable people from INK events -". inktalks.com. Archived from the original on 2021-07-26. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  16. ^ The Instrumentalist, Volume 57, Issues 1-6. Association for the Advancement of Instrumental Music. 2002. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  17. ^ "USIEF". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  18. ^ "Music". Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
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