Described as “intricate” and “captivating”, the music of Juhi Bansal takes its inspiration from extramusical origins: photography and images from nature, poetry, or prose. As an Indian composer brought up in Hong Kong, her writing draws subtly on those traditions, entwining them closely and intricately with the gestures of classical music.

Her works have received numerous national awards, including the Five Colleges New Music Festival Competition, ASCAP Lotte Lehman Foundation Art song Competition, Boston Metro Opera International Composers Competition, and multiple ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer awards. She has been awarded fellowships to attend the Atlantic Music Center, Seasons Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Symposium, and the Pacific Music Festival. Recent commissions include Begin, for the LA Philharmonic Association and 21C Liederabend; Where Shadow Chases Light, commissioned by the Oakland East Bay Symphony, Land of Waking Dreams, commissioned by Piano Spheres, and I’ve Looked For You, commissioned by the AIDS Quilt Songbook Project.

An active conductor as well as composer, Juhi often premieres works of other composers as well as her own. She was co-artistic director of the New Lens Concert Series from 2011-2013. She is currently on the music faculty of Pasadena City College.

A Line-storm Song

A Line-Storm Song is a setting of one of Robert Frost’s earliest published poems, and one striking in its innocence and simplicity. Amidst a scene filled nature – tattered clouds, wet woods, crushed flowers and gusting winds, Frost places two lovers whose story mirrors the flow and ebb of the sea. In this setting of the text, the piano evokes the shapes and gestures of the sea and wind, while the voice captures the innocence and sweetness of the lovers.