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Reena Esmail facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Reena Esmail, born on February 11, 1983, is a talented music composer from the United States with Indian heritage. She creates beautiful music that blends sounds from both Indian and Western classical traditions.

Reena Esmail has been asked to write music for many different groups. These include the Amherst College Choir and Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. In 2020, a famous newspaper, The New York Times, featured her in an article. It was called "Five Minutes That Will Make You Love the Violin." Another composer, Andrew Norman, praised her piece "Darshan." He said it felt both familiar and new, personal and grand.

Awards and Achievements

Reena Esmail has received many special awards for her amazing music. These awards show how much her work is appreciated.

  • She was named a United States Artist Fellow in Music in 2019. This is a big honor for artists.
  • In 2019, she won the Grand Prize at the S&R Foundation Washington Award.
  • She was a Citizen Artist Fellow at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from 2017 to 2018.
  • Reena won the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award twice, in 2002 and 2007.
  • The American Academy of Arts and Letters gave her the Walter Hinrichsen Award in 2012.
  • She was also an INK Fellow in 2011.
  • She won a competition for piano performance called the MTAC-WLA Chamber Music Competition.
  • From 2011 to 2012, she was a Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Scholar. This allowed her to study music in India.

Musical Creations

Reena Esmail writes music for many different types of instruments and voices. She composes for full orchestras, single instruments, small groups of musicians, and singers. One of her early works is Barso Re, written in 2010. This piece was for Yale Sur et Veritaal, a Hindi a cappella group at Yale University.

Music for Solo Instruments

Reena Esmail has created several pieces for a single instrument, often featuring the violin.

  • Blaze (2019) is a piece for violin and tabla, which is an Indian drum.
  • Concerto for You (2019) is for a solo violin with a youth string orchestra.
  • Darshan (2018-2020) is a piece for an unaccompanied violin. This means the violin plays by itself.
  • Drishti (द्रिष्ती) (2021) is a collection of short pieces for unaccompanied violin.
  • She arranged Leonard Cohen's song Hallelujah (2017) for unaccompanied violin.
  • Jhula Jhule (2013) is a piece for violin and piano.
  • Nadiya (2016) has a version for violin and bassoon.
  • Take What You Need (2016) is another piece for unaccompanied violin.
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