Ellen Reid (composer)
Ellen Reid is a composer originally from Oak Ridge, Tennessee but living and working in New York City and Los Angeles. Reid is the first composer to have been commissioned by all of Los Angeles's four major classical music institutions: Los Angeles Opera at REDCAT, Los Angeles Philharmonic, L.A. Master Chorale and L.A. Chamber Orchestra. She is the only female composer to ever have been performed by all four and the first composer to have world premieres by all four. In addition to classical music, Reid also writes music for films, TV, and art installations.
Her first feature film score was for the 2014 drama-mystery The Midnight Swim. She also contributed original music to the soundtrack of the 2016 mystery film Buster's Mal Heart. Both films were written and directed by Sarah Adina Smith. Reid and Missy Mazzoli co-founded Luna Composition Lab, a mentorship program for young self-identified female, non-binary, and gender non-conforming composers.
Her first opera, Prism, about a sexual assault survivor's psychological struggles, premiered in L.A. in November 2018 and was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Music. The New York Philharmonic conducted by Jaap van Zweden performed the world premiere of her work When the World as You've Known It Doesn't Exist on February 20, 2020.
Reid graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University in 2005.
