Zeena Parkins

New York based electro-acoustic composer / improviser Zeena Parkins is a pioneer of contemporary harp practices. Using expanded techniques, object preparations, and electronic processing she has re-defined the instrument’s capacities. Concurrently, Parkins self-designed a series of one-of-a-kind electric instruments. She leans into the harp’s physical limitations pushing its boundaries and impossibilities. In her compositions, Parkins utilizes collections, recombination, historic proximities, geography, tactility, spatial configurations and movement.

Awards include the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for Composition, Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, DAAD Artist Residency and Fellowship, Foundation for Contemporary Arts “Grants to Artists” Award, and three Bessies for her groundbreaking work with dance. Parkins and Ikue Mori received the Prix Ars Electronica honorary mention for their project Phantom Orchard.

Parkins’ compositions have been commissioned by the Whitney Museum, Tate Modern, Sharjah Art Foundation, Donaueschinger Musiktage, and Bang on a Can. Her long-standing collaborations with choreographers have produced scores for Merce Cunningham Company, Jennifer Monson, Neil Greenberg, John Jasperse, Dd Dorvillier, and Jennifer Lacey, among others. She has provided film scores for Daria Martin, Cynthia Madansky, and Abigail Child.

Over a 30-year career, Parkins has worked with an unlikely range of collaborators. She has recorded and toured with Björk, and a series of concerts with Yoko Ono led to the live album Blueprint for a Sunrise. Long-standing collaborations also include John Zorn, Butch Morris, Fred Frith, and Phantom Orchard with Ikue Mori, alongside projects with Nels Cline, William Winant, and Elliott Sharp.