more in ABOUT:

projects

non-English materials

personal

FAQ

bio

Kala Pierson (b. 1977) is an American composer and sound artist. Vivid, expressive, and rhythmically free, her works have been performed by prominent ensembles and soloists on six continents, widely commissioned, and published by Universal Edition. Kala is a 2013-14 Composer in Residence with San Francisco Choral Artists.

Her music's "seductive textures and angular harmonies" (Washington Post) are "intricately structured, both mathematical and lyrical" (Dnevnik). She sets texts of cultural and political significance by living writers, producing works of "marvelous political power" (Louis Andriessen). 

[photo of Kala Pierson]

With deep interests in non-western cultures and musics, Kala has founded or co-founded many cross-cultural projects and collaborations. Since 2004, her Axis of Beauty project has collected texts by living Middle Eastern writers and set them in many forms, in an ongoing creative response to her government's "Axis of Evil" wartime propaganda. She co-founded Summer in Sombor, an international composition seminar held for four summers in northern Serbia. Her site-specific audio installation series Singing Stones will travel in Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. Her long-term project Illuminated will set texts about sex and sexuality by living writers from a wide range of world cultures. She has a special interest in lyrical settings of non-fiction prose, such as texts by Iraqi artist Esam Pasha and American journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Kala's works have been performed in 26 countries and at major festivals including Musica Viva (Portugal), Contemporanea/Citta di Udine (Italy), Tanglewood (USA), International Congress of Art and Technology (Brazil), Vienna Days of Contemporary Piano Music (Austria), Canaan Downs (New Zealand), Art Basel Miami Beach (USA), International Computer Music Conference (USA), SEAMUS National (USA), Ars Musica (Belgium), and the 2012 National Symposium on American Choral Music (U.S. Library of Congress).

She studied at Eastman School of Music (with Joseph Schwantner, Augusta Read Thomas, David Liptak, and Robert Morris) and Bard College at Simon's Rock. Her awards and grants include those from Mauricio Kagel International Composition Competition, German Ministry of Culture, American Composers Forum, New Music USA, ASCAP, Essentially Choral/VocalEssence, Gregg Smith Biennial Composition Prize, and San Francisco Choral Artists, with artist-in-residence invitations including American Opera Projects, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Wildacres, and the Visiting Artists and Scholars Program of the American Academy in Rome.

Kala lives in Philadelphia with her spouses and son. She greatly values listener comments and contact; visit kalapierson.com, follow kalapierson on Twitter, or email her at kp@kalapierson.com.


other bio and headshot choices

The bio above is 350 words. Below are shorter bios for those who need them.

Please reproduce all bios only as written (please don't edit).
If you need a different word count, just contact Kala and you'll get it fast.

Higher-resolution headshots:   640 x 480;  1200 x 900.
Square-format headshot:   1200 x 1200.
Photo credit: by Daniel McKleinfeld.

200-word bio

Kala Pierson (b. 1977) is an American composer and sound artist. Vivid, expressive, and rhythmically free, her works have been performed by prominent ensembles and soloists on six continents, widely commissioned, and published by Universal Edition. Kala is a 2013-14 Composer in Residence with San Francisco Choral Artists.

Her music's "seductive textures and angular harmonies" (Washington Post) are "intricately structured, both mathematical and lyrical" (Dnevnik). She sets texts of cultural and political significance by living writers, producing works of "marvelous political power" (Louis Andriessen). 

With deep interests in non-western cultures and musics, Kala has founded or co-founded many cross-cultural projects and collaborations. She has a special interest in lyrical settings of non-fiction prose, such as texts by Iraqi artist Esam Pasha and American journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Kala's works have been performed in 26 countries and at major festivals including Musica Viva (Portugal), Contemporanea/Citta di Udine (Italy), Tanglewood (USA), International Congress of Art and Technology (Brazil), Vienna Days of Contemporary Piano Music (Austria), and the 2012 National Symposium on American Choral Music (U.S. Library of Congress). She studied at Eastman School of Music (with Joseph Schwantner, Augusta Read Thomas, David Liptak, and Robert Morris).

Kala lives in Philadelphia with her spouses and son. She greatly values listener comments and contact; visit kalapierson.com, follow kalapierson on Twitter, or email her at kp@kalapierson.com.

100-word bio

Kala Pierson (b. 1977) is an American composer and sound artist. Vivid, expressive, and rhythmically free, her works have been performed by prominent ensembles and soloists in 26 countries on six continents, widely commissioned, and published by Universal Edition. Her music's "seductive textures and angular harmonies" (Washington Post) are "intricately structured, both mathematical and lyrical" (Dnevnik). She sets texts of cultural and political significance by living writers, producing works of "marvelous political power" (Louis Andriessen). Kala lives in Philadelphia with her spouses and son. She greatly values listener comments and contact; visit kalapierson.com, follow kalapierson on Twitter, or email her at kp@kalapierson.com.

50-word bio

Kala Pierson (b. 1977) is an American composer and sound artist. Her works have been performed by prominent ensembles and soloists in 26 countries on six continents, widely commissioned, and published by Universal Edition. Kala greatly values listener comments and contact; visit kalapierson.com, follow kalapierson on Twitter, or email her at kp@kalapierson.com.