Leilehua Lanzilotti


Leilehua Lanzilotti, is a Kanaka Maoli composer, multimedia artist, curator, and scholar of contemporary classical music.

Early life and education

Lanzilotti grew up in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. She began her violin studies with Hiroko Primrose, renowned pedagogue and protégé of Shinichi Suzuki. In addition to western classical music, Lanzilotti studied Hawaiian language, culture, and dance at Hālau Hula O Maiki. Lanzilotti attended Punahou School and Beijing Normal University Middle School No. 2, and then continued her education at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Yale School of Music, and Manhattan School of Music. She was a fellowship violist in both the New World Symphony and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.

Professional life

Performance

In her early professional life, Lanzilotti was known for her advocacy and interpretation of works living composers such as Dai Fujikura, Andrew Norman, Caroline Shaw, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Scott Wollschleger, and Nina C. Young. Lanzilotti premiered Dai Fujikura's Viola Concerto, Wayfinder, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre during the 2022 Born Creative Festival.
In addition to her work as a soloist performing her own work and the works of others, she has performed as a guest with Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Éschappé, Ensemble Interface, Ensemble Signal, International Contemporary Ensemble, and with bands such as DeVotchKa, and She & Him. Lanzilotti performed in the Björk Vulnicura Live tour in New York City, and appears on the album of the same name.

Scholarship

As an Andrew Norman scholar, Lanzilotti has written for Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, London Symphony Orchestra, and has spoken at conferences internationally on Norman's use of architecture and visual art as musical inspiration. Her doctoral dissertation is also on the topic of music and architecture in Norman's string trio, The Companion Guide to Rome.
Lanzilotti contributed to the monograph Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within published by Yale University Press.
Lanzilotti is the creator of , a free online resource demonstrating extended techniques for strings.

Curation

In her role as Curator of Music at The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), she invited artists such as Ethan Heard & Heartbeat Opera, Sarah Hennies, Ken Ueno, and in 2020–21 season commissioned Maria Chavez, Lesley Flanigan, Bora Yoon, Pamela Z, Caroline Shaw and Vanessa Goodman, King Britt and Saul Williams, Miya Masaoka, and Mary Kouyoumdjian and Alarm Will Sound.
Additionally, she co-curated the nationally touring exhibition Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within with Glenn Adamson and Kate Weiner.

Teaching

Lanzilotti has been on the faculty at New York University, University of Northern Colorado, University of Hawaiʻi—Mānoa, and taught at summer programs including Casalmaggiore International Music Festival, Point CounterPoint, Wintergreen Performing Arts, and Banff [Centre for Arts and Creativity|Banff] INTERPLAY. Lanzilotti was co-founder and artistic consultant for Kalikolehua – El Sistema Hawaiʻi.

Composition

Lanzilotti has been commissioned by The Noguchi Museum several times to write musical works. ] received a MAP Fund grant for the development and performance of her new work hānau ka ua. Lanzilotti has also been commissioned by groups such as the New York Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, and Sō Percussion. She was a 2021 McKnight Visiting Composer.
Her album in manus tuas, was featured in Bandcamp's The Best Contemporary Classical Albums of 2019 and The Boston Globe ''Top 10 Classical Albums of 2019. Other albums including Lanzilotti's music are her debut EP ' and experimental LP '.
In 2022 Lanzilotti's work with eyes the color of time, commissioned by The String Orchestra of Brooklyn and premiered at Tenri Cultural Institute in New York City, was selected as a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music.
Collaborations with dancers include Sinking, a commission for Periapsis Music and Dance with choreographer Wendell Gray II; a new version of with eyes the color of time with additional rattle and bell elements for Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company's work Landscapes'', and projects with collaborator brooke smiley.

Music

Lanzilotti's compositions are characterized by the unique timbres and extended techniques. The artist creates soundscapes that invite the audience to engage with sound and listen carefully to the subtleties of resonance. “Lanzilotti’s score brings us together across the world in remembrance, through the commitment of shared sonic gestures.”

with eyes the color of time

with eyes the color of time for string orchestra was commissioned by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, and is one of Lanzilotti's most well-known works, as one of two finalists for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music. The Pulitzer committee noted that the work "distinctly combines experimental string textures and episodes of melting lyricism." Gramophone described the work “painfully eloquent, there is ecstasy in the raspings of ‘silhouette.’”
with eyes the color of time was inspired by the composer's experience growing up playing in The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu where her mother worked when Lanzilotti was a child. The artworks referenced in with eyes the color of time include:
The title of Lanzilotti's work, with eyes the color of time, comes from a phrase in the Ravel opera.

of light and stone

of light and stone was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for the opening of their 25–26 season. It references songs from the four siblings of the Kalākaua Dynasty—such as the last monarch of Hawaiʻi, Queen Liliʻuokalani—including:
  • “Moani Ke Ala” by Prince Leleiōhoku
  • “Kuʻu ipo i ka heʻe puʻe one” by Princess Likelike
  • “Ahe Lau Makani” by Queen Liliʻuokalani
  • “Ke Aloha O Ka Haku” by Queen Liliʻuokalani
  • “Mele Lāhui Hawaiʻi” by Queen Liliʻuokalani
  • “Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī” words by King Kalākaua and music by Royal Hawaiian Band conductor Henri Berger
The work utilizes Lanzilotti's "vast pallate of orchestration."

Multimedia Work

In both installation work and film, Lanzilotti's multimedia works have been shown at festivals and exhibitions such as Art Electronica, The Noguchi Museum, and in international collections from residencies such as Casa Wabi.

Awards and honors

  • United States Artists, 2025 USA Fellow
  • Creative Capital Awardee for Liliʻu, 2025
  • SHIFT — Transformative Change and Indigenous Arts, 2023
  • Finalist, Pulitzer Prize in Music, with eyes the color of time, 2022
  • OPERA America, Opera Grant for Women Composers: Discovery Grant, 2022
  • Fromm Music Foundation Commission Recipient, 2022
  • Chamber Music America, Artistic Projects for a new work for Longleash on Toshiko Takaezu’s sculptures, 2022
  • Empowering ʻŌiwi Leadership Award, 2022
  • First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellowship, 2022
  • New World Symphony, Build, Learn, Understand and Experiment Alumni Award, 2022
  • McKnight Visiting Composer, 2021
  • National Performance Network, Creation & Development Fund 2021
  • MAP Fund for for development and performance of hānau ka ua, 2020
  • Native Launchpad Advancing Indigenous Performance Award, 2020–23

    Discography

Compositional Discography

  • Various Artists: beyond the accident of time. Honolulu, HI: Lōʻihi Records, 2025.
  • Various Artists: forever forward in search of the beautiful. New York, NY: New Focus Recordings, 2024
  • Longleash & Sō Percussion: the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky. Saint Paul, MN: Innova, 2024
  • String Orchestra of Brooklyn: enfolding. New York, NY: New Focus Recordings, 2022
  • Jordan Bak: Impulse. Bright Shiny Things, 2022
  • India Gailey: to you through. North Vancouver, BC: Red Shift Records, 2022
  • Adam Morford and Leilehua Lanzilotti: Yesterday is Two Days Ago. Self-release, 2021
  • Borderlands Ensemble: the space in which to see. New Focus Recordings, 2021
  • Lanzilotti: in manus tuas
  • The Yes &: Thrush music by Lanzilotti and Gahlord Dewald
  • Lanzilotti: Wanderweg EP Works for viola and electronics

    Performing Discography

  • Dai Fujikura: Wayfinder Viola Concerto on Luminous. Tokyo: Sony Japan, 2025
  • Dai Fujikura: Wayfinder Viola Concerto on Wayfinder. Tokyo: Sony Japan, 2023
  • Dai Fujikura: Star Compass on Glorious Clouds. Tokyo: Sony Japan, 2021
  • Anna Thorvaldsdottir: Sola. New York, NY: New Focus Recordings, 2020
  • Jacob Cooper: Terrain
  • Ted Hearne: hazy heart pump
  • David Lang: Anatomy Theater
  • Lanzilotti: in manus tuas
  • Scott Wollschleger: Soft Aberration
  • Dai Fujikura: Chance Monsoon
  • Björk: Vulnicura Live.
  • Ted Hearne: The Source
  • Joan Osborne: Love and Hate
  • Sean Hickey: Pied A Terre
  • Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin: Leoš Janácek – Mša Glagolskaja & Taras Bulba
  • Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin: Richard Wagner – Parsifal
  • Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin: ''Richard Wagner – Der fliegende Holländer''

    Selected compositions

  • of light and stone for symphony orchestra, commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic with the generous support of Elizabeth & Justus Schlichting
  • eight voices, commissioned by Rónadh Cox, with the support of the National Science Foundation
  • with eyes the color of time for string orchestra, commissioned by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn
  • find for viola and electronics, commissioned by Kieran Welch
  • beyond the accident of time for percussion and voices, commissioned by The Noguchi Museum, premiered June 13, 2019
  • the space in which to see for French horn, violin, viola, and cello, commissioned by Johanna Lundy for the Borderlands Ensemble
  • of moments for baritone and baroque violin commissioned by Jesse Blumberg and Johanna Novom
  • to you for two violins, viola, cello, and piano
  • Postcards II: Akari for viola, voice, harp, and fixed media Commissioned by The Noguchi Museum, premiered April 6, 2018
  • gray for viola and percussion commissioned by Periapsis Dance & Music
  • birth, death, for obsidian sound sculptures, strings, and voice. Commissioned by The Noguchi Museum
  • with their I you your fuse for double bass

    Selected multimedia work

  • the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky
  • ''closed form etudes''

    Selected publications

Written
  • “Takaezu’s Hidden Landscapes” in Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within, a monograph honoring the life and work of Toshiko Takaezu, published by Yale University Press, 2024.
  • "Music is Everywhere Steeped in Time," The 20/19 Project Monograph
  • "A Trip to the Moon"
  • "Anna Thorvaldsdottir: A Part of Nature"
  • "Architektur der Gesellschaft: Der US-Amerikanische Komponist Andrew Norman"
  • "'Cut to a Different World': Andrew Norman"
  • "Andrew Norman's The Companion Guide to Rome: Influence of Architecture and Visual Art on Composition"
Editions of musical scores
  • Sonnets'' by Andrew Norman, edited by Lanzilotti – viola & piano
  • "Josephine " by Martin Bresnick, edited by Lanzilotti – solo viola