Hannah Lash, Composer

Hailed by the NY Times as "striking and resourceful," "handsomely brooding," Lash's music has been performed widely in such venues as the Times Center, Chicago Art Institute, Tanglewood Music Center, Harvard University, The Chelsea Art Museum, and on the American Opera Project's stage in New York City. She has received commissions from The Howard Hanson Foundation's Commissioning Fund and Case Western Reserve's University Circle Wind Ensemble, among others; she has written pieces for such artists and ensembles as Yolanda Kondonassis, harpist, Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano, The JACK Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, the Arditti Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, and Ensemble NEM.

Lash has received numerous honors and prizes, including the Barnard Rogers Prize in Composition, the Bernard and Rose Sernoffsky Prize in Composition, and Honorable Mention in BMI's International Women's Music Commission. Her recent orchestral work, "Furthermore", was selected by the American Composers Orchestra for the 2010 Underwood New Music Readings.

NY Times music critic Steve Smith praised Lash's work for the JACK Quartet: "Frayed:" "Ms. Lash's compact sequence of pale brush strokes, ghostly keening and punchy outbursts was striking and resourceful; you hoped to hear it again..." A performance of Lash's song cycle "From Five Tzu-Yeh Songs" was acclaimed by the Chicago Sun Times: "Lash's songs were...worldly, sending Bentley [the soprano] into huge, perilous leaps against austere accompaniment from Barbara Butler's trumpet and Michael Burritt's percussion. At times, Butler's muted trumpet took on a film noirish quality floating behind Bentley's often-whispered words like a distant breeze rustling across rain-soaked streets." Esteemed music critic Bruce Hodges praised Lash's piece "Stalk" for solo harp as being "appealing...florid, and introspective."

In addition to performances of her music in the USA, Lash's music is known internationally. In April of 2008, her string quartet "Four Still" was performed in Kyev in the Ukraine's largest international new music festival: "Musical Premieres of the Season," curated by Carson Cooman.

Lash obtained her Ph.D in music (composition) from Harvard University in 2010. She has held teaching positions at Harvard University (Teaching Fellow) and at Alfred University (Adjunct Professor of Composition).