Zosha Di Castri (born 1985) is a Canadian composer and pianist living and working in New York. She is the Francis Goelet Assistant Professor of Music at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Her work came to international attention when a specially commissioned piece about the lunar landings opened the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

2019.

Early life and education

Di Castri was born in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, and grew up in St. Albert. She completed her bachelor's of music in piano performance and composition at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, and graduated from

with a

Doctor of Musical Arts The Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) is a doctoral academic degree in music. The DMA combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization (usually music performance, music composition, or conducting) with graduate-level academic study in ...

degree.

Career

Di Castri became an assistant professor of music at Columbia in 2014. In 2015 her work ''Dear Life'' was premiered by the National Arts Centre orchestra.Sarah Jennings.
Art and Politics: The History of the National Arts Centre, Second Edition
'. MQUP; 17 October 2019. . p. 408. Her work has also been performed by the San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. On 19 July 2019 her specially commissioned work ''Long is the Journey, Short is the Memory'' opened the

2019 with the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

and the

BBC Singers The BBC Singers are a British chamber choir, and the professional chamber choir of the BBC. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British c ...

conducted by

Karina Canellakis Karina Canellakis (born August 23, 1981) is an American conductor and violinist. Biography Born in New York City, of Greek and Russian background, Canellakis grew up in a family of musicians. Her parents met as music students at the Juilliard Sc ...

. Reviewers praised the composition, and commented on Di Castri's skill as an orchestrator. Di Castri's compositions are also performed by the

JACK Quartet The JACK Quartet is an American string quartet dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in 2005 and is based in New York City. The four founding members are violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, viol ...

. In 2019, Di Castri released a debut album of her compositions in performances by various ensembles and artists."Composer Zosha Di Castri Releases Debut Album TACHITIPO On New Focus Recordings"
''Broadway World'', Oct. 25, 2019 In 2021, she received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

Selected works

* ''Anssi de suite…'' (2015) for solo cello * ''AKKORD I'' (2012) for flute, piano, electronics, and kinetic sculpture installation * ''Alba'' (2011) for orchestra * ''The Animal After Whom Other Aninsls Are named'' (2013) for six singers and electronics * ''The Contours of Absence'' (2018) for string octet (double quartet) * ''Cortège'' (2010) for 13 musicians * ''Dear Life'' (2015) for orchestra, soprano, and recorded narrator * ''Dream Feed Origins'' (2020) for fixed media * ''Dream Feed I. - ZD/Olivia'' (2021) for fixed media, violin, piano * ''Dream Feed II. - ZD/Pauchi'' (2021) for fixed media, violin(s)/voice and processing, and piano * ''Dream Feed III. - ZD/Alice'' (2021) for fixed media, voice/flute and processing, and piano * ''Dream Feed IV. - ZD/Chloe'' (2021) for fixed media, cello and processing, and piano * ''Dream Feed V. - ZD/Aiyum'' (2021) for fixed media, percussion, and piano * ''Du haut de l’Orillon'' (2007, revised 2008) for clarinet and electronics * ''DUX'' (2017) for solo piano * ''Escapement'' (2009) for oboe, saxophone, percussion, piano, and accordion * ''Everything Too Big To Take Apart'' (2012) for tape and interactive wii controller, for dance * ''Four Miniatures for Woodwind Quintet'' (2009, revised 2010) for woodwind quintet * ''how many bodies have we to pass through'' (2017, revised 2019) for solo percussion * ''Hunger'' (2018) for orchestra, improvised drummer, and silent film * ''In the Half-light'' (2022) for Orchestra, commissioned for the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto ...

* ''La forma dello spazio'' (2010) for chamber ensemble * ''L’allée d’ardoise'' (2009) for 12 musicians * ''Lineage'' (2013) * ''Listen to Low'' (2010) for tape * ''Long is the Journey, Short is the Memory'' (2019) for Orchestra & Chorus, commissioned for the BC Proms2019 * ''Manif'' (2013) for percussion quartet * ''Near Mute Force'' (2016) for 2 voices, viola, piano, drum set plus auxiliary percussion * ''Pamplecaribou'' (2013) for amplified flute, piano, cello, and tape * ''Patina'' (2016) for solo violin * ''Phonobellow'' (2015) for 5 instrumentalists, electronics and interactive sound sculpture, co-composed with David Adamcyk * ''The Phonograph'' (2014) for baritone, violin, and cello * ''Phonophotographie'' (2012) for 15 musicians * ''Serafiniana'' (2014) for orchestra, amplified solo violin, amplified harp, and electronics * ''Sprung Testament'' (2018) for piano and violin * ''Strange Matter'' (2011) for 8 musicians * String Quartet No 1 (2016) * ''sulla mappa concava del buio'' (2010) for string quartet, soprano, and electronics * ''Tachitipo'' (2016) for two pianists, two percussionists, and electronics * ''The Thinking Eye'' (2006) for solo piano * ''Wake, Butterfly'' (2015) for 12 musicians * ''Work and Day'' (2012) for percussion duo

References

External links

Profile on the Columbia University website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Castri, Zosha 1985 births Living people 21st-century Canadian composers Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music winners Musicians from Calgary People from St. Albert, Alberta Canadian classical composers Canadian women classical composers Canadian women composers 21st-century Canadian women musicians 21st-century classical composers 21st-century women composers