Gity Razaz
Hailed by The New York Times as “ravishing and engulfing” and named a 2022 “Rising Star” by BBC Music Magazine, Gity Razaz’s music ranges from concert solo pieces to large symphonic works. Her music has been commissioned and/or performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, National Sawdust, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, former cellist of the Kronos Quartet Jeffrey Zeigler, cellist Inbal Segev, violinist Jennifer Koh, violinist Francesca dePasquale, and Metropolis Ensemble, among others.
Programming highlights include a world premiere with the San Diego Symphony under the direction of Rafael Payare, a commission for MacArthur Award–winning cellist Alisa Weilerstein and her ground-breaking project “Fragments,” a commission from BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sakari Oramo for the prestigious Last Night of the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall, a song cycle for Israeli Chamber Project and Grammy Award–winning tenor Karim Sulayman, and an upcoming concerto for world-renowned flautist Sharon Bezaly and London’s Wigmore Soloists. Other commissions have included a full-length ballet for Ballet Moscow, which still receives regular performances ever since its 2017 world premiere in Moscow, and her first short opera commissioned by Washington National Opera and premiered at the Kennedy Center. Her compositions have earned numerous awards, such as the Andrew Imbrie Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters that is “is given to a composer of demonstrated artistic merit in mid-career.”
Gity Razaz’s debut album, The Strange Highway, which was recently released on Sweden’s preeminent BIS Records, has garnered international praise. As described by BBC Music Magazine, “There’s an uncompromising beauty to these works by the Iranian-born American composer, the opening title work, for cello octet, is a wild rhythmic ride, while the closing Metamorphosis of Narcissus offers some fantastic musical storytelling. Impressive.”
Gity Razaz attended The Juilliard School on full scholarship, and received her Bachelor and Master of Music in Composition under the tutelage of Samuel Adler, Robert Beaser, and John Corigliano.