Gabriela Lena Frank, composer

Born: 1972 in Berkeley, California

Education: attended Rice University, where she earned a BA and MA; received her DMA in composition from the University of Michigan; studied composition with William Albright, William Bolcom, Leslie Bassett, Michael Daugherty, Paul Cooper, Ellsworth Milburn, and Sam Jones, and piano with Logan Skelton and Jeanne Kierman Fischer

Key Works: Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout, Illapa: Tone Poem for Flute and Orchestra, Three Latin American Dances, La Llorona: Tone Poem for Viola and Orchestra, Quijotadas, Peregrinos, Hailí Lirico

Best known for: being something of a musical anthropologist; she has travelled extensively throughout South America and her pieces reflect her studies of Latin-American culture

Has collaborated with: Dawn Upshaw, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, The King’s Singers, violinist Robin Sharp and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Ballet Hispanico, Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Concertante, Brentano String Quartet, Chanticleer, Kronos Quartet, Modesto Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella new music series

Awards and honors: in 2009, received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship to assist in research and artistic creation; with guitarist Manuel Barrueco and Cuarteto Laninoamericano, received the 2009 Latin Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for her work Inca Dances