Leilehua Lanzilotti (born November 5, 1983), is a Kanaka Maoli composer, multimedia artist, curator, performer, and scholar of contemporary classical music.
Early life and education Lanzilotti grew up in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Lanzilotti spent much of her childhood playing in the galleries and gardens of The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu as a child where her mother was Curator of Education. Lanzilotti attended Punahou School and Beijing Normal University Middle School No. 2 (School Year Abroad), 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.
Lanzilotti's album in manus tuas (New Focus Recordings, 2019), 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 forever forward in search of the beautiful (New Focus Recordings), and Impulse (by violist Jordan Bak, Bright Shiny Things).
In addition to Lanzilotti's 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.
Lanzilotti was part of the inaugural cohort of Wehiwehi, a Native Hawaiian contemporary performing artist collective founded by Christopher Kaui Morgan, including members such as Patrick Makuakāne and Moses Goods.
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 (2024).
Lanzilotti is the creator of Shaken Not Stuttered, 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), Lanzilotti 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 choreographer Vanessa Goodman, King Britt and Saul Williams, Miya Masaoka, and Mary Kouyoumdjian and Alarm Will Sound.
Additionally, Lanzilotti 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 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. [Switch~ Ensemble] 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.
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 use various timbres and extended techniques. The works focus on sound and the resonance of instruments. A review in Cities & Health stated that the score uses collective sonic gestures.
with eyes the color of time with eyes the color of time (2020) for string orchestra was commissioned by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, and was a finalist 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 (Spaulding House) in Honolulu where her mother worked when Lanzilotti was a child. The artworks referenced in with eyes the color of time include:
the bronze doors at the entrance of the museum by Robert Graham Two Open Triangles Up, Gyratory III (1988) by George Rickey Nahele (1986) by Deborah Butterfield Mirror XV (1987) by James Seawright Toshiko Takaezu’s moons (a series of sculptures she often referred to by the Hawaiian word, mahina) David Hockney’s installation of a set for the opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges by Maurice Ravel.
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 (2025) 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 (Austria), The Noguchi Museum (USA), and in international collections from residencies such as Casa Wabi (Mexico).
Awards and honors
United States Artists, 2025 USA Fellow Creative Capital Awardee, 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 First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellowship, 2022 McKnight Visiting Composer, 2021 National Performance Network, Creation & Development Fund 2021 MAP Fund for [Switch~ Ensemble] 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 (New Focus Recordings, 2019) The Yes &: Thrush (2017) music by Lanzilotti and Gahlord Dewald Lanzilotti: Wanderweg EP (2017) Works for viola(s) 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 (New Amsterdam Records, 2020) Ted Hearne: hazy heart pump (New Focus Recordings, 2019) David Lang: Anatomy Theater (Cantaloupe Music, 2019) Lanzilotti: in manus tuas (New Focus Recordings, 2019) Scott Wollschleger: Soft Aberration (New Focus Recordings, 2017) Dai Fujikura: Chance Monsoon (Sony Japan & Minabel, 2017) Björk: Vulnicura Live (One Little Indian Records, 2015). Ted Hearne: The Source (New Amsterdam Records, 2015) Joan Osborne: Love and Hate (Womanly Hips, 2014) Sean Hickey: Pied A Terre (Delos Productions, Inc., 2014) Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin: Leoš Janácek – Mša Glagolskaja (Missa Solemnis) & Taras Bulba (Pentatone, 2013) Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin: Richard Wagner – Parsifal (Pentatone, 2012) Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin: Richard Wagner – Der fliegende Holländer (Pentatone, 2011)
Selected compositions of light and stone for symphony orchestra (2025), commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic with the generous support of Elizabeth & Justus Schlichting on stochastic wave behavior eight voices (2021), commissioned by Rónadh Cox, with the support of the National Science Foundation with eyes the color of time for string orchestra (2020), commissioned by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn find (2019) for viola and electronics, commissioned by Kieran Welch beyond the accident of time for percussion and voices (2019), commissioned by The Noguchi Museum, premiered June 13, 2019 the space in which to see for French horn, violin, viola, and cello (2019), commissioned by Johanna Lundy for the Borderlands Ensemble of moments for baritone and baroque violin (2018) commissioned by Jesse Blumberg and Johanna Novom to you (the architects are most courageous) for two violins, viola, cello, and piano (2018) Postcards II: Akari for viola, voice, harp, and fixed media (2018) Commissioned by The Noguchi Museum, premiered April 6, 2018 gray for viola and percussion (2017) commissioned by Periapsis Dance & Music birth, death, for obsidian sound sculptures, strings, and voice (2017). Commissioned by The Noguchi Museum koʻu inoa (2017) with their I you your fuse for double bass (2016)
Selected multimedia work the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky (2023, single-channel video, 47 minutes, directed by Leilehua Lanzilotti, music by Leilehua Lanzilotti, cinematography by Gahlord Dewald) closed form etudes (2023, single-channel video, 15 minutes, directed by Leilehua Lanzilotti, music by Leilehua Lanzilotti, cinematography by Gahlord Dewald)
Selected publications Written "Playing in the Clouds: El Sistema and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela" (Aimon Mata and Leilehua Lanzilotti in Conversation) in Tuning Calder’s Clouds / Sintonías de las nubes de Calder, edited by Vic Brooks, Jennifer Burris, and Mariana Fernández, published September 1, 2026 in a collaboration between the Calder Foundation, and Athénée Press: Bogotá/Mexico City.