Kala Pierson is an American composer and sound artist. Vivid, boldly expressive, and rooted in meditative and sensory/sensual practice, her music has been performed in 35 countries on six continents, widely awarded and commissioned, and published by Universal Edition. Her music's "seductive textures and angular harmonies" (Washington Post) build into "massive chords throwing out a wall of sound, like a modern-day Gabrieli" (San Francisco Classical Voice), and her focus on documentary and culturally resonant subject matter leads to works of "marvellous political power" (Louis Andriessen). She's held season-long composer residencies with American Opera Projects, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and San Francisco Choral Artists. Recently, she's been the featured guest composer of Truman State University's New Horizons Festival; a resident at Yaddo, MacDowell, I-Park, Hambidge, and the Britten-Pears Foundation; and a Big Sky Composer Fellow with The Crossing. Her awards include those from the Mauricio Kagel International Composition Competition; New Music USA; American Composers Forum; ASCAP; and the Austrian, German, Serbian, and Swedish ministries of culture. Born in 1977 and trained at Eastman School of Music, she lives in Philadelphia with her spouses and son. Connect with her at kalapierson.com.
Installation in September 2012 with my piece Bell Arc, on the Federation Bells in Melbourne, Australia.