The Composers Conference is honored to announce 2026 Fromm Foundation Composer Fellow Ana Luisa Díaz de Cossío as the 2027 Susan Horvath Chamber Music Workshop Composer.
Ana will attend the 2027 Conference at Avaloch Farm Music Institute for rehearsals and the premiere of the new work for our 2027 Chamber Music Workshop.
CMW participants, CPI Fellows, Conference Ensemble members, and our New Music Conductor Fellow will come together to prepare and perform Ana’s wonderful new work at our home at Avaloch Farm Music Institute in Summer 2027.
ABOUT ANA
I am an improviser-composer whose work traverses the space between social structures, individuality, and spontaneity, exploring resonance in both physical and cultural spaces. Through extreme extended techniques and experimental methodologies, I challenge conventional approaches to instrumental playing, exploring the possibilities and limits of sound. My music is deeply informed by a political and social awareness of the systems that shape our societies, focusing on how personal forms of expression emerge through collaboration, improvisation, and deep listening.
Growing up in Mexico and regularly crossing the border to study in San Diego, questions of migration, access, and agency remain central to my practice. I view performers as active collaborators whose unique histories, instincts, and lived experiences shape the music alongside me. This collaborative impulse has led me to work across different cultural and geographic contexts through creative projects and residencies. My work is about creating intentional spaces where people can experiment, bring their whole selves, and bring different ways of knowing into conversation with one another through sound.
IN THE COMPOSER’S WORDS
I was genuinely surprised and deeply honored to learn that I had been selected for the Susan Horvath Commission. The possibility of returning to Avaloch is especially meaningful to me, not only because of the opportunity to create a new work, but because of what my time at the Conference came to mean personally.
I arrived at the Conference during a difficult period in my life and, at one point, was very close to canceling my participation. I ultimately decided to go because I didn't want to lose the experience, and I am so grateful I did. The generosity and care of the other fellows Cat, Geli, Jason, Jellal, Michele, Rodrigo, and Sofia, gave me a sense of support I didn't know I needed. They listened to me, stayed with me through moments when I struggled, and made space for me simply as a person and an artist.
Even small gestures stayed with me. Hearing people say my full name, Ana Luisa Díaz de Cossío, somehow felt deeply affirming. It reminded me that being fully seen and recognized can itself be a form of care. This experience brought me back to the heart of why I make art. My practice has always been about how we find our own voices within complex systems, using extended techniques, flexible notation, and deep listening to make room for our lived experiences and allow different identities and ways of knowing to coexist.
I don't yet know exactly what this new piece will become, and I am grateful for that uncertainty. I hope to return to Avaloch with the same openness that made the Conference so meaningful, creating a work that grows from listening, collaboration, and the possibility of discovering something together.