In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, we’ve featured five AAPI composers who celebrate their roots and musical traditions through their compositions. Listen and learn more below!

AAPI Heritage Month – Spotify Playlist

Deborah Cheethan Fraillon (November 24, 1964-)

Aboriginal Australian Deborah Cheethan Fraillon has had a varied career as a soprano, educator and composer. She was the composer of the first Australian Indigenous opera with her work Pecan Summer. In 2015, she was inducted into the Honor Roll of Women in Victoria and received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia for her groundbreaking work in music in 2018. The openly gay composer currently holds a professorship at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

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Tan Dun (August 18, 1957-)

Chinese-American composer Tan Dun is a world-renowned artist and UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador. From orchestral to choral works, Dun has written commissions for Google/YouTube, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the International Olympic Committee. As a conductor, he has led a multitude of ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His many accolades include a GRAMMY Award, Academy Award and most recently Italy’s Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2015.

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Miya Masaoka (1958-)

Japanese-American composer Miya Masaoka is Guggenheim and Rome Prize-winner. In addition to composing, Masaoka is also a performer and installation artist. Her musical works feature hybrid acoustic and electronic performance techniques as well as improvisation Japanese traditional string instruments such as the koto and ichigenkin. She is currently the Director of Sound Art and Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University School of the Arts.

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Queen Lili’uokalani (September 2, 1838-November 11, 1917)

As a native Hawaiian and last sovereign of Hawai’i, Queen Lili’uokalani was renowned for her composing abilities. In addition to her singing talents, she could play the piano, organ, guitar and autoharp. Queen Lili’uokaliani composed Hawaii’s national anthem, “He Mele Lāhui Hawaiʻi” (“Song of the Hawaiian Nation”) when she was only 28 years old. Many of her works wrote about issues of her time and have become expressions of Hawaiian identity.

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Nilo Alcala (Fevruary 23, 1978-)

Filipino-American composer Nilo Alcala is the first Phillippino-born composer to be commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale as well as receive the Aaron Copland House Residency Award. His work for film and other visual media has won him many accolades, including the POLYPHONOS Young Composer Award and The American Prize in Composition.

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Sources

• https://www.niloalcala.com/
• https://onipaa.org/queen-liliuokalani
• https://washingtonplace.hawaii.gov/queen-liliuokalani/queens-music-and-washington-place/#:~:text=Queen%20Lili%CA%BBuokalani%20was%20a%20gifted,%2C%20organ%2C%20guitar%20and%20autoharp.
• http://miyamasaoka.com/bio-cv/
• https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/1561/Tan-Dun/
• https://www.labiennale.org/en/music/2017/programma-musica-2017/golden-lion-lifetime-achievement-tan-dun
• https://www.sydney.edu.au/music/about/our-people/academic-staff/deborah-cheetham.html

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