Zosha di castri composer photos

Zosha Di Castri, a Canadian “composer of riotously inventive works” (The New Yorker), currently lives in New York. Her music has been performed across Canada, the United States, South America, Asia, and Europe and extends beyond purely concert music, including projects with electronics, sound arts, and collaborations with video and dance that encourage audiences to feel “compelled to return for repeated doses” (The Arts Desk). She is currently the Francis Goelet Associate Professor of Music at Columbia University. 

Highlights this season include Zosha’s new large chamber work commissioned by the LA Phil and conducted by John Adams, premiering April 2024; a Koussevitzky commission from the Library of Congress for percussionist Steve Schick and ensemble premiering November 2024, and upcoming collaborations with the Bozzini Quartet and Ensemble Paramirabo/Totem. Zosha recently curated an event showcasing her work as part of the New York Philharmonic’s Nightcap series.

In the Half-Light (2022), Zosha's song cycle for soprano Barbara Hannigan with libretto by Tash Aw, was premiered by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and performed again in February 2024 by the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. Other recent projects include We live the opposite daring for six voices written for Ekmeles; time>>T. - - I. - - M.(time) - - E for large chamber ensemble premiered by the Grossman Ensemble in Chicago; Hypha, a quartet for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano/keyboard commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and Pentimento, a short orchestra piece commissioned for the WDR Sinfonieorchester's 75th anniversary.

Zosha’s Long Is the Journey, Short Is the Memory for orchestra and chorus opened the first night of the 2019 BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall, conducted by Karina Canellakis with the BBC Symphony and BBC Singers. Other large-scale projects include Dear Life, a 25-minute piece for soprano, recorded narrator and orche

Zosha Di Castri is a Canadian composer, pianist, sound artist living in New York. Her work, which is performed internationally, extends beyond purely concert music including projects with electronics, installations, and collaborations with video and dance. She has worked with such ensembles as the BBC Symphony and BBC Singers, San Francisco Symphony, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the L.A. Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, ICE, JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, the NEM, Ensemble Cairn, and Talea Ensemble among others.

Upcoming projects include a miniature for orchestra, a new work for Ekmeles vocal ensemble, a sound installation, and a song cycle for soprano and orchestra. Zosha is currently the Francis Goelet Assistant Professor of Music at Columbia University and a recent fellow at the Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris. Her debut album Tachitipo, released in 2019 to critical acclaim, can be found on New Focus Recordings, and the title track was nominated for The JUNO Awards’ 2021 Classical Composition of the Year.

Photo Credit: David Adamcyk

When Zosha Di Castri was composing her piece Touch: Trace for conductor/percussionist Steve Schick and New York’s International Contemporary Ensemble, she was thinking not just of the group’s piano, cello, clarinet, and percussion as her instruments – but also of Schick’s body and movement as he performs.

“I wrote it for conducting percussionist, because Steve is also an amazing conductor, so gesture is really important in that piece,” she says. “It stemmed from a desire to work with him, seeing how he moves and interacts with people when he conducts, and having conversations with him about the concept, the idea of touch and points of contact and connection with the instrument, or between musicians, or between what’s happening on stage and the audience. That really inspired me.”

The Alberta-born, New York-based composer and pianist has an œuvre that’s awe-inspiring in its breadth, brilliance, and diversity. Di Castri has composed for large orchestras, string quartets, and vocal and instrumental soloists; incorporated electronics, video, dance and sculpture; and even created The Dream Feed, a podcast and performance series on musicians and motherhood. If there’s a thread that runs through her vastly different projects, it might be a focus on the characteristics of specific performers and instruments.

“Conceptually, it varies from project to project, but musically I’m interested in exploring the different textures or timbres or sound quality of the instruments I’m working with,” says Di Castri. “I find when I get to know the person I’m writing for, and the particular qualities of their playing, it motivates me. When I was writing for [vocalist] Barbara Hannigan for our project In the Half-Light, it was knowing the special quality of her voice, and having conversations with her about the text. That piece was tailored for what she can do with her voice, and I like