Alisha Heng is a composer and filmmaker based out of New York City. She discerns that her work is not solely one of a theorist or an author but, rather a combination of both. Through her work, Alisha explores the relationship between art and music, music as the means of creating the world we see before ourselves every day, and the balance between sound, silence, motion, and clarity. Alisha's passion for composing comes from a fascination to create works that provoke the mind through the usage of “dialogue” and different mediums. She’s also fond of words, with her music drawing inspiration from poetry, literature, and the sounds of objects around her.
Alisha was a 2022-2023 Composers Now Second Stage composer, part of Intersection’s LISTEN project, a 2020-2021 Luna Lab Fellow, and previously studied clarinet privately. Her works have been performed across Europe and the USA by performers and ensembles including Jennifer Kummer, Christopher Herbert, Ensemble Lemniscate, members of the Juilliard Pre-College, and Barbora Kolářová.
Outside of music, Alisha is an avid filmmaker and is currently writing the screenplay to her next film. Her film 'Relative Living' was a 7th annual AT&T Film Awards winner in the Short Film - Mobile category as well as the winner of the Underrepresented Filmmaker award. Her films have also been awarded and recognized at other various film festivals including Fresh International Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Popoli e Religioni Terni Film Festival, Annecy Festival, and Four River Film Festival. She has served as a judge for the San Francisco International Film Festival and was also named an Adobe x Sundance Ignite finalist, a 2021 National YoungArts Foundation Finalist, and a U.S. Presidential Scholar semi-finalist.
Alisha studied at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University under Dr. Kevin Puts. She began her music composition studies as a high school student taking lessons from Alexis Lamb. When she isn't composing she can be found running, in a ballet class, or working in political communications on Democratic Congressional races.
