ella joklik, 2022
SHORT BIO (200 words)
NY-based composer inti figgis-vizueta (b.1993) braids a childhood of overlapping immigrant communities and Black-founded Freedom schools—in Chocolate City (DC)—with direct Andean & Irish heritage and a deep connection to the land. “Her music feels sprouted between structures, liberated from certainty and wrought from a language we’d do well to learn” writes The Washington Post. inti's work explores the transformative power of group improvisation and play, working to reconcile historical aesthetics and experimental practices with trans & Indigenous futures. Recent highlights include the Carnegie Hall premiere of her string quartet concerto, Seven Sides of Fire, written for the Attacca Quartet and American Composers Orchestra, conducted by Mei-Ann Chen; performances of Coradh (bending) by the Spoleto Festival, PODIUM Festival, and Oregon Symphony; and the REDCAT premiere of her evening-length show Music for Transitions, created in collaboration with two-time Grammy Award-winning cellist Andrew Yee, praised as “thrilling” and “revolutionary” by I Care If You Listen. Upcoming projects include Animate Earth for Kronos Quartet’s 50th Anniversary, a new Carnegie Hall-commissioned work for Ensemble Connect, continued development of Earths to Come for vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, and a new piano concerto for Conrad Tao and the Cincinnati Symphony, conducted by Matthias Pintscher.
LONG BIO (550 words)
NY-based composer inti figgis-vizueta (b.1993) braids a childhood of overlapping immigrant communities and Black-founded Freedom schools—in Chocolate City (DC)—with direct Andean & Irish heritage and a deep connection to the land. “Her music feels sprouted between structures, liberated from certainty and wrought from a language we’d do well to learn” writes The Washington Post. inti's work explores the transformative power of group improvisation and play, working to reconcile historical aesthetics and experimental practices with trans & Indigenous futures.
inti engages ongoing collaborations with ensembles such as Kronos Quartet, Attacca Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, and Ensemble Reflektor; mentorship and teaching through programs like Luna Composition Lab and Wildflower Composers; artist presentations at university programs such as UC San Diego and NYU; and advocacy through panel speaking at conferences like Sphinx Connect and the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam. Her curation includes ongoing contributions to online music archive Score Follower and the curation of programs for spaces like REDCAT, the Museum of Latin American Art, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Joe’s Pub, and Green Umbrella at Walt Disney Concert Hall. She has contributed writing to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Sound American. inti is the recipient of the Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences, The ASCAP Foundation Fred Ho Award, the National Sawdust Hildegard Award and fellowship residencies from Dumbarton Oaks, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Copland House, and the American Composers Orchestra.
Her recent work includes concertos; Amaru for cellist Jay Campbell and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni; Seven Sides of Fire for Attacca Quartet and the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Mei-Ann Chen; new work for pianist Conrad Tao and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Matthias Pintscher; and string quartets; branching patterns, music by yourself, and Animate Earth for Kronos Quartet, Imago for Attacca Quartet, mayu (the great river) for JACK Quartet, Talamh (land) for Spektral Quartet, and 30 mengstraße for Cramer Quartet with upcoming works for The Rhythm Method and the 2024 Felix Mendelssohn Competition at Konzerthaus Berlin. Other projects include Earths to Come, an upcoming 30-minute work for Roomful of Teeth based on poetry by Emily Dickinson and James Joyce, set to animation by Rose Bond; and a new Carnegie Hall-commissioned work for Ensemble Connect. Her evening-length show Music for Transitions, recently premiered at REDCAT and made in collaboration with two-time Grammy Award-winning cellist Andrew Yee, was praised as “thrilling” and “revolutionary” by I Care If You Listen. Her music has been recorded by Jennifer Koh (quiet city on her Grammy Award-winning album Alone Together) and Matt Haimovitz (the motion between three worlds on his album Primavera I: The Wind), among others.
inti studied with Marcos Balter, Felipe Lara, George Lewis, and Donnacha Dennehy. She received mentorship from Tania León, Angélica Negrón, Gavilán Rayna Russom, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Du Yun. inti received her Bachelor of Arts at American University. Her continuing education includes participation in artist-in-residency programs through National Sawdust, New Amsterdam Records, Center for Ballet & the Arts at NYU, LA Phil National Composer Intensive, and the JACK Studio program.
inti loves reading poetry, particularly Danez Smith and Joy Harjo, and science fiction like Ursula K. Le Guin and N.K. Jemisin. inti honors her Quechua bisabuela, who was the only woman butcher on the whole plaza central and used to fight men with a machete.
inti engages ongoing collaborations with ensembles such as Kronos Quartet, Attacca Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, and Ensemble Reflektor; mentorship and teaching through programs like Luna Composition Lab and Wildflower Composers; artist presentations at university programs such as UC San Diego and NYU; and advocacy through panel speaking at conferences like Sphinx Connect and the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam. Her curation includes ongoing contributions to online music archive Score Follower and the curation of programs for spaces like REDCAT, the Museum of Latin American Art, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Joe’s Pub, and Green Umbrella at Walt Disney Concert Hall. She has contributed writing to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Sound American. inti is the recipient of the Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences, The ASCAP Foundation Fred Ho Award, the National Sawdust Hildegard Award and fellowship residencies from Dumbarton Oaks, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Copland House, and the American Composers Orchestra.
Her recent work includes concertos; Amaru for cellist Jay Campbell and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni; Seven Sides of Fire for Attacca Quartet and the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Mei-Ann Chen; new work for pianist Conrad Tao and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Matthias Pintscher; and string quartets; branching patterns, music by yourself, and Animate Earth for Kronos Quartet, Imago for Attacca Quartet, mayu (the great river) for JACK Quartet, Talamh (land) for Spektral Quartet, and 30 mengstraße for Cramer Quartet with upcoming works for The Rhythm Method and the 2024 Felix Mendelssohn Competition at Konzerthaus Berlin. Other projects include Earths to Come, an upcoming 30-minute work for Roomful of Teeth based on poetry by Emily Dickinson and James Joyce, set to animation by Rose Bond; and a new Carnegie Hall-commissioned work for Ensemble Connect. Her evening-length show Music for Transitions, recently premiered at REDCAT and made in collaboration with two-time Grammy Award-winning cellist Andrew Yee, was praised as “thrilling” and “revolutionary” by I Care If You Listen. Her music has been recorded by Jennifer Koh (quiet city on her Grammy Award-winning album Alone Together) and Matt Haimovitz (the motion between three worlds on his album Primavera I: The Wind), among others.
inti studied with Marcos Balter, Felipe Lara, George Lewis, and Donnacha Dennehy. She received mentorship from Tania León, Angélica Negrón, Gavilán Rayna Russom, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Du Yun. inti received her Bachelor of Arts at American University. Her continuing education includes participation in artist-in-residency programs through National Sawdust, New Amsterdam Records, Center for Ballet & the Arts at NYU, LA Phil National Composer Intensive, and the JACK Studio program.
inti loves reading poetry, particularly Danez Smith and Joy Harjo, and science fiction like Ursula K. Le Guin and N.K. Jemisin. inti honors her Quechua bisabuela, who was the only woman butcher on the whole plaza central and used to fight men with a machete.
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photo credits: ella joklik