Welsh-born composer, Hilary Tann, lives in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York where she is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music at Union College, Schenectady.  She holds degrees in composition from the University of Wales at Cardiff and from Princeton University.  She was guest Composer-in-Residence at the 2011 Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival and 2013 Women Composers Festival of Hartford and was appointed Composer-in-Residence for the Welsh Music Center for 2015. Praised for its lyricism and formal balance, her music is influenced by a strong identification with the natural world. 

 

A deep interest in the traditional music of Japan has led to private study of the shakuhachi and guest visits to Japan, Korea, and China.  Her compositions have been widely performed and recorded by ensembles such as the European Women’s Orchestra, Tenebrae, Lontano, Thai Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC NOW, and KBS Philharmonic in Seoul, Korea.