Liliya Ugay

Liliya Ugay is a composer and pianist whose work focuses on exploration of the immigrant experience, cultural diversity, female identity, and motherhood, often through raw storytelling and influenced by material tools, such as children's toys, capturing "curiosity, awkwardness, and wonder to play" (Tyler Klyne, Modern Notebook). Her music has been described as "evocative" (The Washington Post), "assertive, steely... [then] lovely and supple writing" (The Wall Street Journal), "fluid and theatrical, with lancing atonal gestures brushing up against folk-sounding materials... creative decisions all serve clear, expressive purposes — the music makes its case with immediacy" (The Art Fuse), and praised as the music that "tugs at our heart strings" (OperaGene), "heartwarming", “vivid, yet ultimately enigmatic” (South Florida Classical Review).

Since 2019 Liliya has been serving on composition faculty at Florida State University, where she directs the FSU ensemble of new music Polymorphia. Between 2019-2024 Polymorphia presented 16 programs, featuring over 100 works of contemporary composers, including the winners of FSU Polymorphia Call for Scores and special recitals such as Music of Korean Women Composers. Polymorphia is a crucial part of FSU International Biennial Festival of New Music.

She was a recipient of the awards from American Academy of Arts and Letters (2016), ASCAP Morton Gould (2019), International Alliance of Women in Music (2024), and grants from Opera America (2021) and National Endowment of the Arts (2020). She was also a finalist for the Rome Prize (2019), and Paul & Daisy Soros fellowship (2014). She won prizes in a number of composition competitions including New England Philharmonic Call for scores, MTNA Young Artist national winner, Quatuor Molinari, Oslo Grieg International Competition, Crystal Camerton (Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory) among many others. Ugay adjudicates International Luigi Nono Composition competition (Italy) since 2021 and FSU International New Music Festival Call for Scores. In the past served on jury for the CULTIVATE program for Copland House, Sing Out Strong (White Snake Projects), MTNA composition competitions, Florida Division of Arts and Culture grants, FSU Rockwood piano competition for doctoral students, and FSU concerto competitions.

Liliya's music was performed by Nashville and Albany Symphonies, Yale Philharmonia, American Composers Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, Raleigh Civic Symphony, The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, in addition to several university orchestras; ensembles such as Aspen Contemporary Music Ensemble, Music from Copland House, icarus Quartet, Unheard-Of//Ensemble, Molinari Quartet, Ensemble Flageolet, ensemble vim, Victory Players, Antico Moderno, Omnibus Ensemble, and many others. Her works were commissioned and performed by such soloists as Paul Neubauer, Andrea Lam, Robert Fleitz, Sunmi Chang, Clara Yang, Min Kwon, Melvin Chen; conductors David Alan Miller, Giancarlo Guerrero, Peter Askim, Paul Hostetter, Simon Carrington, and George Manahan. Among the festivals that featured her compositions are Aspen, Norfolk, Chelsea, Darmstadt, New York Electroacoustic, MIFA, June in Buffalo, Venice Biennale. Most recently she has worked with innovative opera company White Snake Projects on the projects "Fractured Mosaics" uncovering the experiences of Asian-Americans, and "Let's Celebrate!" about the national holiday dish, as well as completing commissions for Borealis Quintet and Redlands Symphony. Her other operatic collaborations include Washington National Opera and American Lyric Theater, for which she was a commissioned composer-in-residence. Her works have been performed at John Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall New York, Pablo Casals Symphony Hall (Puerto Rico), and in many countries across the globe.

Originally from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and carrying Korean and Tatar ethnic heritage while being a native Russian speaker, Liliya received rigorous training as a pianist and composer at the Uspensky special music school (1999-2009) with Polina Medyulyanova and Felix Yanov-Yanovsky, regularly participating in annual composition program of Omnibus Laboratorium (2006-2010) prior to moving to the United States in 2010 upon receiving a generous Woodruff Award to study piano with Alexander Kobrin and composition with Fred Cohen at Columbus State University ('14BM).

Liliya graduated from Yale University ('16MM; '22DMA), receiving mentorship from Aaron Kernis, Martin Bresnick, Christopher Theofanidis, Han Lash, and David Lang. At Yale she was a recipient of a school-wide Horatio Parker Memorial Prize (2017), as well as two Frances Kellogg composition awards (2016, 2018), and Yale School of Music Alumni prize (2018). Despite being a composition major at Yale, as a pianist Liliya was receiving mentorship from Boris Berman. Liliya received prizes at several piano competitions, and of a particular importance for her was international competition Verfemte Musik (Ostracized Music) in Germany, prizewinners of which toured Germany, Austria, Poland, and Czech Republic performing music by composers oppressed by Nazis. Since 2016 Liliya is an artistic director of Silenced Voices, a concert series that promotes music of politically oppressed composers from Soviet Era.