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Susie Ibarra

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Susie Ibarra
Background information
Born (1970-11-15) November 15, 1970 (age 54)
Anaheim, California, U.S.
GenresNew Music, Jazz, Classical, Experimental, Sound Art, Electro-Acoustic, Sound Installation, Spatial Sound, Environmental Field Recordings, Sound Research
Occupation(s)Composer, Percussionist, Sound Artist
Instrument(s)Drumset, Kulintang, Percussion, Sound Installation
LabelsHabitat Sounds, New Focus Recordings, Innova, Tzadik, Offair Records, Splice Soundpacks, Golden Hornet Records, Greenleaf Records
Websitesusieibarra.com
Susie Ibarra on Drumset

Susie Ibarra (born Anaheim, November 15, 1970) is a Filipina-American contemporary composer, percussionist, sound artist, sound researcher, and author. Her music and sound practice focus on relationships to built and natural environments, water landscapes, and climate issues.

Early years

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Ibarra was born to Filipino immigrant parents and grew up in Houston, Texas. She studied classical piano, then percussion, and later studied percussion and improvisation at Sarah Lawrence College, Mannes College The New School for Music and Goddard College. After moving to New York City and during her studies, Ibarra also studied and performed Philippine Kulintang, Javanese Gamelan, and Balinese Gamelan traditional music.

Drum Artist Endorsements

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Susie Ibarra is a Yamaha Drums, Avedis Zildjian Company Cymbals, and Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets drum artist.

Awards and Fellowships

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Composer and Performer Highlights

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  • CHAN: Sonnets and Devotions in the Wilderness (2025), a major new work for poets,

soprano, tenor, baroque pipe organ, speaker tree, and ensemble commissioned by MaerzMusik Berlin and co-produced with DAAD Artist Program Berlin.

  • Parallels and Confluence: Bugang and Pasig Rivers (2024), commissioned for Arneis

String Quartet and pianist Alex Peh.

  • Morning Malabar (2023), commissioned by the Chamber Music Society Mandolin

Orchestra.

  • Walking on Water (2021), composed by Susie Ibarra.
  • Talking Gong (2021), title piece and album released by New Focus Recordings.

Performances and Collaborations

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She performs with and has collaborated with Talking Gong Trio, Claire Chase, Alex Peh, Daniel Louis Doña, Arneis String Quartet, Bergamot String Quartet, Levy Lorenzo, Yuka Honda, Jake Landau, Tarek Atoui, Uriel Barthelemi, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Yoshimio, Ziur, Tashi Dorji, Audrey Chen, Lane Shi Otayonii, Richard Reed Parry, Kronos Quartet, Jeffrey Ziegler, Graham Reynolds (composer), INSECTUM, Craig Taborn, Josh Rubin, Jennifer Choi, Tania Leon, John Zorn, Makoto Fujimura, Ikue Mori, Sylvie Courvoisier, William Parker (musician), Wadada Leo Smith, George E. Lewis, Miya Masaoka, Laurie Anderson, Kaoru Watanabe and Bloodlines Interwoven Ensemble, Pauline Oliveros, and Danongan Kalanduyan.

Concert venues and festivals include Carnegie Hall 2023, Ojai Music Festival 2025, Coastal Jazz Vancouver 2025, MaerzMusik Berliner Festspiele 2025, Asia Society New York (Sky Islands premiere 2024), Barbican Centre, Museum of Modern Art New York, Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery, and Lincoln Center.

Habitat Sounds Label and Publishing

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Susie Ibarra co-founded Habitat Sounds with multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer Jake Landau. Habitat Sounds is an artist-run label and publisher dedicated to ecoacoustic, experimental, and cross-cultural music, fostering an international community of artists focused on environmental and cultural storytelling through sound. The label prioritizes works that engage with the natural world, traditional musical practices, and sonic innovation. It operates at the intersection of music, sound research, and environmental awareness. Recent releases from Habitat Sounds include Fauna by Merche Blasco, Weled Bambra by Azzeddine Ait-Faraji, Attune by Alex Peh, Causing the Invisible Gong to Sound by Trey Cregan, and A Place I Recognized by Trē Seguiritan Abalos. Habitat Sounds also serves as a publishing house for composers and sound artists, supporting projects that emphasize ecological listening and the integration of science, art, and traditional

Rhythm In Nature

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In collaboration with Jake Landau, Susie Ibarra co-produces Drum Labs: Rhythm in Nature, an educational platform that explores rhythmic perception within natural environments. Through field recordings, rhythmic exercises, and theoretical frameworks, Rhythm in Nature connects listeners to biodiversity and ecosystems through sonic experiences.

In 2024, Ibarra published her book, Rhythm in Nature: An Ecology of Rhythm, a groundbreaking study that bridges musical rhythm with the inherent patterns and cycles found in natural habitats. The work investigates how biological, ecological, and geophysical rhythms influence human perception of time and sound. The Rhythm in Nature project continues to grow as a creative and research-driven initiative, inspiring musicians, scientists, educators, and environmentalists to rethink the role of rhythm in understanding and preserving biodiversity. It includes workshops, interdisciplinary collaborations, field expeditions, and original compositions derived from ecological data.

DAAD Artist in Berlin Fellowship

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In 2024, Susie Ibarra was awarded the prestigious Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Artist in Berlin Fellowship in Music and Sound. The fellowship supports outstanding international artists to live and work in Berlin, fostering interdisciplinary exchange and major new projects. During her residency in Berlin, Ibarra expanded her Rhythm in Nature project, collaborating closely with community organizations such as Tegel Willkommen Elementary School for Ukrainian refugees, Nürtingen Grundschule, and Campus Stadt Natur. She partnered with Bauhaus Archiv and KulturAgenten Berlin to create workshops and performances that connected rhythm, ecology, and community storytelling. A major outcome of her DAAD fellowship was the development of CHAN: Sonnets and Devotions in the Wilderness— a large-scale composition for poets, soprano, tenor, baroque pipe organ, speaker tree, and ensemble. Commissioned by MaerzMusik Berliner Festspiele and produced in collaboration with the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, the work explores themes of devotion, impermanence, and the wild sacred spaces in nature, blending musical composition, sonic architecture, and environmental listening practices. The fellowship allowed Ibarra to deepen her research into urban and wild sonic ecologies while creating new works that connect musicality, language, and the environment on an expansive, multidisciplinary level.

Sound Artist

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In collaboration with glaciologist and geographer Dr. Michele Koppes, Ibarra created Water Rhythms, recording glaciers from six global water towers (the Himalayas, Greenland, North American Rockies, Alps, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia). Fieldwork in the Himalayas and along the Ganga Basin was supported by National Geographic Storytellers Grants and the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship. Water Rhythms was featured on the Counterflows Festival and Onassis Foundation Environmental Projects Website. It was also the basis for a BBC-produced podcast in collaboration with the Counterflows Festival.

Selected Discography

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  • INSECTUM (with Jeffrey Zeigler and Graham Reynolds (composer), Golden Hornet Records, 2023
  • Heart and Breath: Rhythm and Tone Fields (with Richard Reed Parry), Offair Records, 2022
  • Talking Gong, New Focus Recordings, 2021 (featuring Susie Ibarra, Claire Chase, and Alex Peh)
  • Drum Sketches, Innova, 2007
  • Folkloriko, Susie Ibarra Trio, Tzadik, 2004
  • Songbird Suite, Susie Ibarra Trio, Tzadik, 2002

Sound Packs with Splice

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Ibarra has created and co-produced multiple soundpacks for Splice alongside Jake Landau, Richard Reed Parry, and Josh Robertson:

  • Percussion Sounds (Splice Originals)
  • Percussion Templates (Splice Originals)
  • Sounds of the Draa Valley (Sonic Collective)
  • Bizung: Power of the Drums (Sonic Collective)
  • Lithophones (Soundscapes)
  • Kirina Lolow: Sounds of Mali (Soundscapes)
  • Heart and Breath (Montage)

References

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