Ursula Kwong-Brown is a composer, multimedia artist and political activist, originally from NYC but recently located to Los Angeles. Described as “atmospheric and accomplished” by The New York Times, her work has been performed in the United States, Europe, and Asia in diverse venues including Carnegie Hall, le Poisson Rouge, Miller Theatre, the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Honors include ASCAP and NACUSA awards, a Berkeley Symphony Composer Fellowship and grants from Chamber Music America and the Sloan Foundation. Ursula received her B.A. in Music & Biology from Columbia University, and her Ph.D. in Music Composition & New Media from the University of California, Berkeley where her advisor was Myra Melford.
Ursula and Danny Erdberg are frequent collaborators doing Music & Sound Design for theater, and - since relocating to Los Angeles in 2020 - TV and film. Co-designs include King Lear at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Los Angeles, Head Over Heels at Pasadena Playhouse, Native Gardens at Merrimack and the world premiere of Stonewall with NYC Opera. More projects are in the works!
A recent collaboration with video artist Akiko Nakayma and my co-composing and sound design partner Danny Erdberg:
The works below are about healing, which seems to be what we all need right now!
"Unwinding" refers to a process in craniosacral therapy in which you unravel deep tensions that have been stored in your muscles and nervous system. Afterwards, you are left feeling light and free. I have tried to capture aspects of both the accident (nervous, frenetic energy) and the healing afterwards (zen-like, floating, free) in my music.
© 2022 Ursula Kwong-Brown
