Ursula Kwong-Brown (b. 1987) is a composer and media artist from New York City, currently living in Berkeley, California. Described as “atmospheric and accomplished” by The New York Times, her work has been performed in diverse venues including Carnegie Hall, le Poisson Rouge and the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center in NYC, St Paul’s Chapel and Miller’s Theatre at Columbia University, and the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Awards include an ASCAP Honorable Mention, the Chicago Ensemble’s “Discover America” Composer Award , Columbia University’s prestigious Sudler Arts Prize, and the Bowdoin Festival Composition Prize. Ursula received her B.A. from Columbia University in 2010, graduating with honors in music and biology. She worked for two years as a laboratory manager for Dr. Darcy Kelley, studying the musical intervals in the vocalizations of Xenopus laevis, a species of African clawed frog. In 2012, she changed direction and started a combined M.A./Ph.D. program at the University of California in Berkeley with generous support from a Mellon-Berkeley fellowship. After earning her M.A. in Music Composition in 2014, she decided to expand her focus to include New Media studies and has been experimenting with sound spatialization at the Center for New Music & Audio Technologies, and learning about design and interface aesthetics at the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation. Ursula plans to graduate in 2018 with a Ph.D. in New Media & Music.
Upcoming performances
July 1, 2017 - New work for trombone quartet!
To be performed at the International Trombone Festival in Redlands, CA
TBD September 2017 - Newly-commissioned flute/ guitar/ cello trio for the SF-based chamber group Black Cedar
Commission supported by the San Francisco Friends of Contemporary Music
http://blackcedar.biz/ensemble/
TBD April 2018 - PhD thesis performance at UC Berkeley! Chamber opera excerpts inspired by stories of immigration. In development.
To be performed at the International Trombone Festival in Redlands, CA
TBD September 2017 - Newly-commissioned flute/ guitar/ cello trio for the SF-based chamber group Black Cedar
Commission supported by the San Francisco Friends of Contemporary Music
http://blackcedar.biz/ensemble/
TBD April 2018 - PhD thesis performance at UC Berkeley! Chamber opera excerpts inspired by stories of immigration. In development.
Past performances & activities
Video above: Ellen Ruth Rose performing REFLECTIONS ON ROTHKO at UC Davis on May 19, 2017
May 13, 2017 - UNWINDING II for string quartet was premiered by the Amaranth Quartet at the !BAMM! New Music Concert in Berkeley
Recording coming soon!
November 7, 2016 - UNWINDING for string trio was performed at the 39th Annual Festival of American New Music by members of the EarPlay Ensemble: Terry Baune (vln), Ellen Ruth Rose (vla) and Thalia Moore (vc)
September 8-12, 2016 @ the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz
August 30, 2016 EMERALD MEDITATIONS
Performed by the SF-based Friction Quartet
August 23-31, 2016 @ the New Music for Strings festival in Denmark
April 21-30, 2016 RONDO VARIATIONS
Dance performances with Choreographer Lisa Wymore at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Playhouse
Jo de Mars, Cello with spatialized 8-channel electronics
May 7 & 8, 2016 SOUVENIR
Based on poetry by Aimee Suzara; Performed by Aimee Suzara and Hunt Scarritt
Jo de Mars, Cello & Ursula Kwong-Brown, Piano
Video by KC Forcier
May 9, 2016 REFLECTIONS ON ROTHKO - Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley
For viola & live electronics with video
June 22- July 11, 2016 @ ATLANTIC CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Associate artist in residence with Myra Melford at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida
2015 - SONNET XX for solo cello won the 1st annual !BAMM! (Bay Area Modern Music) Prize
2014 - SONNET XX received the 2014 Bowdoin composition prize
May 13, 2017 - UNWINDING II for string quartet was premiered by the Amaranth Quartet at the !BAMM! New Music Concert in Berkeley
Recording coming soon!
November 7, 2016 - UNWINDING for string trio was performed at the 39th Annual Festival of American New Music by members of the EarPlay Ensemble: Terry Baune (vln), Ellen Ruth Rose (vla) and Thalia Moore (vc)
September 8-12, 2016 @ the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz
August 30, 2016 EMERALD MEDITATIONS
Performed by the SF-based Friction Quartet
August 23-31, 2016 @ the New Music for Strings festival in Denmark
April 21-30, 2016 RONDO VARIATIONS
Dance performances with Choreographer Lisa Wymore at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Playhouse
Jo de Mars, Cello with spatialized 8-channel electronics
May 7 & 8, 2016 SOUVENIR
Based on poetry by Aimee Suzara; Performed by Aimee Suzara and Hunt Scarritt
Jo de Mars, Cello & Ursula Kwong-Brown, Piano
Video by KC Forcier
May 9, 2016 REFLECTIONS ON ROTHKO - Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley
For viola & live electronics with video
June 22- July 11, 2016 @ ATLANTIC CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Associate artist in residence with Myra Melford at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida
2015 - SONNET XX for solo cello won the 1st annual !BAMM! (Bay Area Modern Music) Prize
2014 - SONNET XX received the 2014 Bowdoin composition prize
