Biography
Composer Mary Kouyoumdjian’s projects range from concert works to multimedia collaborations and film scores. As a first generation Armenian-American and having come from a family directly affected by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide, she uses a sonic palette that draws on her heritage, interest in music as documentary, and background in experimental composition to explore social and political conflicts. In 2016 the New York Philharmonic presented Become Who I Am, comprising her interviews with teenagers in the Brooklyn Youth Chorus about gender barriers. She has received commissions from the Kronos Quartet, New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alarm Will Sound, Roomful of Teeth, OPERA America, Beth Morrison Projects, American Composers Forum, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, REDSHIFT, The Nouveau Classical Project, Music of Remembrance, Friction Quartet, and Experiments in Opera. She is pursuing her DMA in composition at Columbia University; holds an MA in composition from Columbia University and an MA in scoring for film and multimedia from New York University; and a BA in composition from the University of California–San Diego. Ms. Kouyoumdjian is a co-founder of the annual new-music conference New Music Gathering and is on the composition faculty of Mannes Prep.