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THE COMPOSER
THE COMPOSER
After earning an M.A in Scoring for Film & Media from NYU and a B.A. in Contemporary Music Composition from UC San Diego, Mary Kouyoumdjian (b. 1983) started her career as a composer and orchestrator for film, working on projects such as The Place Beyond the Pines (2013) and Demonic (2015).
As a first-generation Armenian-American whose family has been directly affected by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide, Kouyoumdjian constantly draws on her heritage in her compositions, which seek to blend the old with the new.
THE HISTORY
THE HISTORY
Become Who I Am was commissioned by the Brooklyn Youth Orchestra , who requested a piece that could be both modern and relevant while also having the ability to truly move young choristers. Kouyoumdjian came up with the title for this piece while talking with the choristers for whom she was composing it – as she asked the students what they wanted to become in the future, one responded “to become who I am,” which inspired her.
THE MEANING
THE MEANING
Kouyoumdjian has described this piece as “an open conversation about gender inequality in the workplace.” She has additionally expressed concern at the lack of female conductors and composers in the world of classical music, an issue which Chicago Sinfonietta is also dedicated to addressing.
This beautiful composition will be performed with the Waubonsie Valley High School Mosaic Choir alongside the featured string CS quartet of Becky Coffman, Carol Dylan, Ann Griffin, and Karen Nelson.
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