From Grace, today’s guest blogger. “As we head towards fall, we are starting a blog series introducing each of our fabulous 2011 Con Edison Composers-in-Residence.  We begin with Kamala Sankaram, who starts her residency at Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy in September.

Kamala describes her music as reflecting “the musical life of the modern listener” and her compositions draw from diverse pop and world cultural references. More recently, Kamala has been interested in combining her Indian cultural heritage with her Western training. Her compositions have been performed in many venues, including the venerable Bang on a Can Summer Festival, the Santa Fe New Music Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Music with a View Festival, and was the featured commission for the 2009 21C Liederabend (selected as one of Time Out’s 10 Best Classical Concerts).

For her residency at BYCA, Kamala plans to work on “The Thumbprint of Mukhtar Mai,” a chamber opera blending Western and Hindustani classical music, in collaboration with acclaimed playwright Susan Yankowitz.  She’ll also put finishing touches on “Miranda,” a 60-minute steampunk murder-mystery opera that will go into production at HERE Arts Center in January 2012.

To catch the Brooklyn-based Kamala, stayed tuned for her upcoming performances – including concerts at Barbes in Park Slope on August 28^th and at the Ditmas Acoustic Series on September 4^th.”