Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti (born 1983)
Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti is a Kanaka Maoli (one of the indigenous Polynesian people native to the Hawaiian Islands) who grew up in Honolulu and began her musical education taking private violin lessons. She later attended the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Yale School of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music. She currently teaches composition and viola at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.
Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti’s website states that her music “is characterized by explorations of timbre and interest in translating everyday sounds to concert instruments using nontraditional techniques.” Her orchestral composition with eyes the color of time was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2022. (It’s been recorded, but a life performance on YouTube is not available.)
Her 2017 composition koʻu inoa (“my name is”) is based on the anthem Hawaiʻi Aloha and exists in versions for solo violin, viola, and cello, and for orchestra. Here is the version for viola.