Eliza Brown's music is motivated by sound and its potential for meaning; questions about the nature of human existence, social relationships, and responsibilities; and vivid sensory experiences. Their compositions have been performed by leading interpreters of new music, including Ensemble Dal Niente, Spektral Quartet, ensemble recherche, International Contemporary Ensemble, Network for New Music, Ensemble SurPlus, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and Wild Rumpus New Music Collective; heard on stages throughout the USA and in Mexico, Colombia, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Canada, and the UAE; and recorded on multiple labels. Eliza's work has been supported by grants from the Illinois Council on the Arts and the Paul R. Judy Center for Applied Research, among others, as well as residencies at the Ragdale Foundation (IL) and A Position on Retreat (BC).
Eliza’s work is frequently intertextual, opening dialogues with existing pieces of music, historical styles, field recordings, and other artifacts. It is also frequently interdisciplinary, with a particular focus on music-theater and opera. Recent projects include The Listening Year (2024), an hour-long music-theater work for cello-percussion duo New Morse Code and fixed media that incorporates and responds to a year of field recordings made along Big Walnut Creek in Greencastle, Indiana. Eliza consulted with scientists, conservationists, local residents, fellow artists, and students to interpret the recordings; the form and content of the piece reflect the site's ecology and annual cycles, human uses and understandings of the site, and the transformative experience of a year-long environmental listening practice. This work was awarded the 2023-24 DePauw University Fisher Fellowship. The chamber work sussurra (2023), commissioned by Classical Music Indy for the Micro Composition Project, was inspired by visual artist Antonia Contro's kinetic sculpture foglia, and in turn became the sonic layer of a film featuring the sculpture that Eliza co-created with Contro and video artist Jon Satrom of studiothread.
Eliza’s artistic interests give rise to questions about the interpretation and meaning of music and words that drive their scholarship, creation, and teaching. Their dissertation, A Narratological Analysis of ‘Pnima…ins innere’ by Chaya Czernowin, used methods drawn from the interdisciplinary field of narratology (the study of narrative) to examine how Czernowin’s opera tells its story by means of music alone, as singers in Pnima sing phonemes and wordless vocal sounds. Eliza writes original and co-created texts and libretti, drawing upon a wide range of influences including scholarship, contemporary poetry, and a childhood steeped in protest, folk, parody, and camp songs.
Eliza is a dedicated teacher who enjoys helping students develop as creators and engage complex ideas with rigor and enthusiasm. They are currently Associate Professor of Music at DePauw University, where they teach composition, music theory, and career development courses. Eliza has enjoyed a long-term affiliation with the Walden School Young Musicians Program, where they spent many summers in various roles including faculty and Academic Dean. Eliza holds a B.Mus. summa cum laude in composition from the University of Michigan and a D.M.A. in composition with program honors from Northwestern University.
photo credit: Ash Dye