Reena Esmail | Composer

This piece is out now on all streaming platforms! Rapid fire exchange of musical cultures 🎶💥🎶 This movement is called Mirror|Opposite (Aks aur Saaya) Hindustani singer Saili Oak @sailimusic sings a short phrase in sargam, and soprano @lucy_fitz_gibbon sings the mirror image of it in solfege. This form is called #jugalabandi in Hindustani music — where the exchanges get faster and faster between two ‘competitors’. It requires super quick musical reflexes but also a sense of playfulness. I have loved watching Saili and Lucy sing this piece over the years (their first performance was in 2018!) — you can see even in this game they are playing with one another how deep their relationship is. They are joined by the incredible musicians of @salastinala — who have also been dear collaborators of mine for so many years. And this video was directed by Louis Ng @louisng.wav — who captured the spirit of this piece so beautifully ✨ . . . . #solfège #sargam #music #violin #orchestra #classical #concert #choralmusic #musicians #composer #classicalpiano #chambermusic #classicalmusicians #choir #desi #desimusician #indian #hindustani #hindi #westernclassicalmusic #reenaesmail

This Father’s Day, I’m reposting my 2018 letter to the parents of young artists from immigrant families. The single biggest reason we don’t see more South Asians in the arts is because our parents often encourage us to go into more lucrative and financially secure fields. I totally get it. They’re not wrong to be worried. It’s really, really hard to make a career in the arts. But it was really, really hard to move to a new country and raise children here too. That perseverance against all odds, through the leanest and most adverse times, is just one of many skills our immigrant parents learned — and that we can learn from them. Happy Fathers Day 💕 . . . . . #immigrant #immigrantparents #youngartist #youngmusician #musicstudent #southasian #indian #fathersday #father #mother #loveletter #rilke #letterstoayoungpoet #powerstruggle

What does it mean to “hear between the notes”? This is the image that comes into my mind when I’m trying to explain the difference between how Indian and Western classical musicians hear and interpret notes. When we want complexity in Western music, we notate it exactly. When Hindustani musicians want complexity, they improvise it into simple melodic scaffoldings. When I first started learning Hindustani music ten years ago, I found it so hard to hear anything besides the main note. But having this image in my mind often helped me figure out how to catch things my Western-trained ears weren’t able to hear before. Both systems allow for beautiful things to happen: Hindustani music invites us to explore endless possibilities in a single framework, and Western music invites us to go beyond what our own minds can conceive, into other people’s creative conceptions. #hindustani #westernclassical #listen #listendifferently #swara #notes #notation #classicalmusic #westernnotation #raag #raga #ragameetssymphony #indianwesterncrossover

The most satisfying sonic build-up you'll hear today - (wait for the beat drop) From the 2024 Summermusik Festival with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and Eckart Preu - "Many Colors of India". Reena Esmail's piece 'Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz' (My Sister's Voice) paints a portrait of two sisters from opposing musical traditions coming together to find reflection in one another. This theme is beautifully portrayed symbolically in this particularly memorable section, where the Hindustani Singer and Soprano engage in a rapid conversation of sargam and solfege, demonstrating two pentatonic 'raags' or 'ragas' from the Indian Classical Tradition that perfectly mirror one another intervallically when starting on the same 'Sa' (tonic note): Bhupali & Malkauns. This performance was absolutely electric - one we'll never forget! Conducted by @eckartpreu Composed by @reenaesmail Jackie Stevens, Soprano (@jackies.7095 ) Vidita Kanniks, Indian Classical Vocalist @summermusikcincy #festivalflashbackfriday #aapiheritagemonth #sargam #indianclassicalmusic @classicfm

Terra Infirma, written by composer Reena Esmail, is described by Reena as a one-woman monodrama. I can’t think of a better way to characterize this work. A concerto for harp and percussion (in which I serve as both harpist and percussionist), Terra Infirma is a highly theatrical work that portrays the harp as the protagonist on a journey. Throughout the piece, the harp, which symbolizes Earth, is moved choreographically across the stage as I make my way through various percussion sets. It’s a piece that stretches the sonic boundaries of the harp to their fullest, and I am so thrilled to release the world premiere recording of Terra Infirma on Azica Records next week! The album releases digitally on April 17th (available for pre-save now) and via physical CD on May 15th!

April 1st is a loaded day. 25 years ago, April 1st was the best day of my life. I got into both Juilliard and Stanford, and I got to decide between them. Four years after that, April 1st was one of the worst days of my life. I got rejected by the very same school that had accepted me four years before. Both those moments defined my career in equally important ways. Btw: I had wanted to do a really extensive deep dive on these two experiences and I just didn’t have the time — but it’s coming, I promise ✨ . . . . . #composer #admissions #collegestudent #conservatory #accepted #rejection #juilliard #musiceducation #musicschool #stanford

I’ve been on the road a LOT this spring — and in every city, I’ve been meeting amazing parents who have driven their kids from hours away just to meet me, or to play my music. I am absolutely floored by all of you. You believe in your kids, in their incredible talent and creativity. You might not know exactly what their lives will look like, but you know they will surprise you in the most amazing ways. My parents spent years being the only two Indians in the audience at my concerts. But the fact that you’re there too now means more to us than you could ever know 🥰 . . . . #reenaesmail #composer #hindustani #desimusician #hindi #westernclassicalmusic #chambermusic #classicalmusic #desiparents #indianparents #desimom

I am thrilled to announce my new album Terra Infirma will be released on April 17, 2026 via Azica Records, just in time for Earth Day! This record features world premiere recordings of major new works by the incredible composer Reena Esmail and includes performances by violinist Vijay Gupta, the Interlochen Center for the Arts Orchestra and Chorus, conductor Andrew Grams, choral director Carter Smith. On this album not only am I the harp soloist (a familiar role), on the title track, Reena’s concerto for harp and percussion, I am featured in the dual role of both harp and percussion soloist (first time for everything!). Each of the three works on this album delves into our relationship to the environment, an ongoing theme in both Reenas’s and my work. I can’t wait to share this with you!

Mirabai was a 16th-century poet-saint who walked away from royal life and went wandering, singing to Krishna with a kind of love that the world around her called madness. She is often described as having gone mad with devotion, undone by ecstasy, intoxicated by a love that refused to be domesticated or contained. That intensity, that single-minded surrender, is the heart of @reenaesmail “Meera Kahe”, which we are so excited to be performing this weekend at @colburnschool and @ojaimusicfestival !

Join me, @gilshaham_official and @conductordavidrobertson tonight, Friday and Saturday for the WORLD PREMIERE of @reenaesmail ’s Double Concerto with the @natsymphonydc !!! Warm up for the joy by listening to this @wetaclassical interview with Nicole Lacroix (such a pleasure speaking with her!)

Here’s a moment from @reenaesmail ’s stunningly gorgeous breath of fresh air, “Saans” out now on the new @pacificsymphony album, American Tapestry …And if you want more of her beauty, join me, @gilshaham_official , @conductordavidrobertson at the @natsymphonydc next week for the world premiere of her new double concerto (yes, for me and Gil, Feb 26-28!) #americantapestry #pacificsymphony @tonsehen @segerstromarts @ebpmusic @eileenjeanette @denniskimviolin44 @joshranz @smolenben @richardeff #WarrenHagerty #MeredithCrawford #TonyEllis

@reenaesmail writes in dendrites as she charts the growth of the Aśvattha, the Hindu sacred fig tree, growing from Heaven to Earth, whose leaves are the Vedic mantras. Hear its European sister tree in the wood wide web of ‘Eternity in an Hour’, our reimagining of the Bhagavad Gita, this Saturday 21st February at @kingsplacelondon Premiered @oxfordsong October 2024 @kevalshahpiano @bobbysaviour @clareparkphoto @askonasholt @rowan.bidmead #hinduism #bhagavadgita #meditation #song #ritual #contralto #piano #spirituality