Tzu-Ling Sarana Chou

Described by The New York Times as "modern and thorny," music of composer Tzu-Ling Sarana Chou is known for its distinct expressiveness and intense musical language. The Birmingham News praised her as "a composer with a convincing point of view and the facility to get her ideas across." As the first prize winner of the 2002 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, Sarana Chou was recently named winner of International Call for Duet at Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China. She was also winner of the Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Prize from International Alliance for Women in Music, and the USA Florida Chapter of the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) competition. Her music has been performed at such venue as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Taiwan National Theater in Taipei, and Akademie der Künste in Berlin, Germany. Born in Taichung City, Taiwan, Sarana Chou began her musical training with piano lessons at the age of four. She furthered her composition studies in the U.S. and subsequently received her degrees from The Juilliard School (B.M.), University of Chicago (M.A.), and Eastman School of Music (D.M.A). Sarana Chou is currently Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.