KEERIL MAKAN
Composer

Keeril Makan (b. 1972) was born and raised in New Jersey, U.S.A. After initial studies in violin and oboe, he completed degrees in composition and religion at Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio. He has been studying at the University of California, Berkeley, pursuing his doctorate in composition, where he has studied composition with Edmund Campion and Jorge Liderman, and computer music at the Center for New Music and Audio Technology (CNMAT) with David Wessel.

Keeril has attended numerous festivals, including Voix Nouvelles in Royaumont, France, the International Gaudeamus New Music Week in Amsterdam, the Wellesley Composers Conference, Le Domaine Forget in Quebec, the Advanced Master Class in Composition at Aspen, and most recently the 2001 MATA Festival in New York. He has received prizes from ASCAP, Le Domaine Forget, and the University of California. Ensembles such as the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the New York New Music Ensemble, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Continuum, Ensemble Nomad, the Del Sol String Quartet, and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, among others, have performed his music.

He has received commissions from the Bang on a Can People's Commissioning Fund, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Fondation Royaumont, the Del Sol String Quartet and CNMAT. He received a Fulbright Grant to study at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, from 2000-2001. The summer of 2001 he took part in the Djerassi Artists in Residence Program where he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship. Keeril has been awarded the George Ladd Prix de Paris from UC Berkeley, which will allow him to live in Paris for two years starting in fall 2002.