Reena Esmail
Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
Indian-American composer Reena Esmail bridges Hindustani and Western classical music, with choral writing at the heart of her output. Her choral piece TaReKiTa has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide, and many of her choral works are published by Oxford University Press. As the Los Angeles Master Chorale's Swan Family Artist-in-Residence (2020–2025), she composed her landmark work Malhaar: A Requiem for Water (performed in 2024 as part of our Bridges series under the direction of Dr. Shekela Wanyama.) Inspired by Hindustani raags that beckon rain, the work intertwines Latin Requiem texts with the poetry of Wendell Berry and William O'Daly, and interspersed Hindi, tracing water's beauty, loss, and ultimate renewal. Critics have called it "a fresh and profound choral jewel." Esmail holds degrees from Juilliard and Yale.
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