Gabriela Lena Frank

The music of composer Gabriela Lena Frank incorporates elements of her Latin American background into a classical orchestral framework. Frank is also a noted pianist.

Frank was born in Berkeley, California, on September 26, 1972. Her father was of Lithuanian Jewish background, her mother Peruvian Chinese; they met when her father was in Peru as a Peace Corps volunteer. Frank grew up in the progressive, multicultural environment of Berkeley and had her first piano lessons from a South African refugee who assigned her pieces by <a href="spotify:artist:5aIqB5nVVvmFsvSdExz408">Bach</a>. She attended Rice University for bachelor's and master's degrees, and went on to the University of Michigan for a doctorate in composition, studying with <a href="spotify:artist:0Uj2XBKJsuZZsf5xSEPfmS">William Bolcom</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0BZseIJjqUmfe7t2bPBz33">Leslie Bassett</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4LKCxq8mQn0cFlccW9cCBQ">Michael Daugherty</a>, among others. Frank's music has been performed and often commissioned by a large variety of American ensembles. Orchestras that have performed her works include the <a href="spotify:artist:6TD08jYeuN128P2MZTbc8E">Chicago</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1qHStDLIc8uV7hvTG6FGRJ">San Francisco</a> Symphonies, and the <a href="spotify:artist:0jJszR81GjA87jeRq0Jgwz">Cleveland Orchestra</a>; smaller groups include the <a href="spotify:artist:18GoE5XttLPXdolNzLs5ev">Chiara String Quartet</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4p6DfIA6NnKmWeRgDJPLT0">Chanticleer</a>, and the <a href="spotify:artist:33Jkw9vRz13pxeEU7zcump">Silk Road Project</a> of cellist <a href="spotify:artist:5Dl3HXZjG6ZOWT5cV375lk">Yo-Yo Ma</a>. She was a member of the latter group for a time. Frank has held composer-in-residence posts with the Berkeley, <a href="spotify:artist:1TuMl6QKOFwgQZzzhzuds4">Detroit</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4b1OFVRz9W1m6T5pFtwjGG">Houston</a> Symphonies, and her works have been featured at various festivals, including Tanglewood and Music@Menlo. She is also active as a pianist, and her recording of works by Bassett was nominated for a Grammy Award. She earned a Latin Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her 2009 work Inca Dances. Her works evoke the sound of Latin American music but generally use the instruments of conventional classical ensembles.

A number of Frank's works have been recorded, including Hilos for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Naxos%22">Naxos</a>, with the composer on the piano, in 2011. In 2020, the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival released Her Own Wings, a collection of Frank's works. Frank has won several important awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2009 and, in 2020, the Eddie Medora King Award from Butler University. She is the founder of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in Boonville, California, where she lives on a farm with her husband.