Ileana Perez Velazquez
Ileana Perez Velazquez is a Cuban-American composer and Professor of Composition at Williams College since 2000. She was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, and then studied as an undergraduate in piano and composition from the Higher Institute of Arts (ISA), Havana, Cuba before moving to the United States for graduate work in composition at Dartmouth College and Indiana University, where she earned her DMA. Her work draws from a range of influences, which a New York Times review characterized having an "otherworldly quality mirrored in the accompaniment and sounding like a musical expression of the Latin American  literary form magical realism." In contrast, one of her compositions performed in 2019, "Tu, paz mia," was reviewed as "Processional and solemn, the work is Baroque in tone." She has been commissioned to compose works by many organizations, including the 2015 Commission from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University. She has written works for numerous performers and ensembles, including Continuum" " (New York City), Momenta String quartet (NYC), Cassatt Quartet (NYC), "Ensemble Dal Niente" from Chicago Festival performances of her work includes venues such as the Sonidos de las Americas Cuba Festival at Carnegie Hall, by the American Composers Orchestra  Chamber Players, and the Composers Now Festival in New York City, but also in Cuba, the United States, throughout South and Central America, Europe, China, and the Middle East.