Composer in Residence

Gabriela Lena Frank
(Photo © Eric England)

The SFCO’s strong commitment to supporting the work of the region’s most distinctive and forward-thinking artists is at the core of its Composer in Residence Program.

Gabriela Lena Frank

Composer in Residence: 2009–2013

In 2009, Dr. Gabriela Lena Frank was chosen to inaugurate our Composer in Residence program, and she will continue to serve as resident composer until the premiere of her new masterwork, Journey of the Shadow, at the final Main Stage Concert of our 2012–2013 concert season.

Thus far during her tenure, Dr. Frank has won a Latin Grammy award and a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, she was nominated for a second Grammy award, and she has composed two new works for chamber orchestra.

Dr. Frank has composed recent works for the Houston and Indianapolis symphonies, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Manuel Barreco, the Brentano Quartet, the King’s Singers, and many others. She attended Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she earned both a B.A. (1994) and M.A. (1996), studying composition with Paul Cooper, Ellsworth Milburn, and Sam Jones.

Frank was born in Berkeley, California, to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, and this multicultural heritage has continually informed her innovative works.