WORKS
KAMALA SANKARAM.
"strikingly original."
The New York Times
oNE OF THE MOST EXCITING Composers in THE COUNTRY.
Praised as “one of the most exciting opera composers in the country” (The Washington Post), composer Kamala Sankaram moves freely between the worlds of experimental music and contemporary opera. Known for her work pushing the boundaries of the operatic form, she has created operas as varied as The Last Stand, a 10-hour opera created for the trees of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, Looking at You, techno-noir featuring live datamining of the audience and a chorus of 25 singing tablet computers, all decisions will be made by consensus, one of the first live performances over Zoom, and The Parksville Murders, the world’s first virtual reality opera. She has been commissioned by the Minnesota Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the PROTOTYPE Festival, and Creative Time, among others.
MAY BE ITS SAVIOR."
"Step aside, “Netflix and chill”— opera is experiencing a vital revolution and composer Kamala Sankaram
The Observer
2o24/25 PROJECTS.
An active member of her vibrant musical community, Kamala maintains notable positions including Composer-in-Residence at Minnesota Opera, Composer Mentor at Chicago Opera Theatre, and Co-Chair of the Artistic Services Council of Opera America. She enjoys regular performances of her works internationally and also performs as a singer and instrumentalist across the globe, most recently at the Sibiu International Theater Festival in Romania. She has several commissions premiering in the 2024/25 season, including Custom of the Coast, a 60-minute chamber opera for the Kilkenny Festival; Jungle Book, a 60-minute chamber opera for Washington National Opera, a 12-minute song cycle for soprano and piano for Jennifer Lien; and a 10-minute song cycle for Sasha Cooke and Music Academy of the West.
"A Rousing Composer" & "compelling singer" LA TIMES
Kamala’s work as a vocalist, improviser and accordionist encompasses new music, opera, jazz, and indie rock. She has performed in spaces ranging from LA’s Disney Concert Hall to London’s Kings Cross to Brooklyn’s Barbés, collaborating with composers including Anthony Braxton, Petr Kotik, and Meredith Monk. Her band, Bombay Rickey, has released three award-winning albums and toured internationally. As an advocate for building connection through sound and music, she has also created several public sound installations, most recently The Buried Brook, an augmented reality music-walk on the former site of Tibbetts Brook, for City as Living Lab and Van Cortlandt Park. She regularly leads workshops on listening and community recording, including recently for Creative Time, The Nature of Cities, and Jane’s Walk. She is also developing “Singin’ Sing-In,” a community singing website and form of proto-notation to allow non-musicians to write and play songs together. She has demoed the platform at Kaufman Music Center and the Sonic Festival. Her advocacy work also extends to her work as an artist leader with Experiments in Opera, which has commissioned over 80 new works, many from first-time opera composers.
