A young woman with shoulder-length dark hair smiling outdoors with a city skyline and water in the background.

2021/22 YOUNG COMPOSER RESIDENCY

Gwen Maramba

Gwen Maramba is a Filipino-American vocalist and composer. A member of the Main South High School class of 2021, she is currently pursuing a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Gwen is a former member of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Youth Opera Council, a graduate of the Merit School of Music, and the inaugural recipient of the the Hearing in Color Young Composer Residency. She loves to sing and compose pieces for treble ensembles, and is a member of the Women’s Glee Club at the University of Illinois.

Gwen has loved music ever since she was young, and her family is a huge source of musical inspiration to her. Gwen's piece “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” was premiered on March 5, 2022 as part of La Caccina and Constellation Men’s Ensemble’s concert To Touch the Sky.

Young Composer Residency Commissions

“Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” premiered March 2022 by La Caccina

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

La Caccina performs Gwen Maramba's "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" live in concert on March 6, 2022 at Alice Millar Chapel in Evanston, IL. Carling FitzSimmons, conductor. Video by Atlas Arts Media.

INTERVIEW

Young Composer-in-Residence

As a high school senior at Maine South High School, Gwen was chosen as the inaugural Young Composer-in-Residence for Hearing in Color and La Caccina. As part of that residency, Gwen secured an opportunity to write for a professional ensemble, working collaboratively with artists and leaders from La Caccina and Hearing in Color. Writing the piece, Gwen looked to her past, drawing inspiration from her ancestors. In particular, she was moved by her grandparents, who were born in the Philippines “with not a lot,” she recounts. “And then through their hard work and their love, they had created such a legacy.” In a time of loss and transition, Gwen says, writing the piece helped her process the recent passing of her grandmother. “I felt like I was coming up with a new connection,” she expresses, “And I definitely became a stronger person because of that.”

The residency also gave Gwen the opportunity to grow as an artist. She says she’d never before written her own lyrics, nor had she had the opportunity to have her piece performed by an ensemble of the caliber of La Caccina.

Hear excerpts of Gwen Maramba’s resounding original composition, Standing On the Shoulders of Giants, and hear her conversation with Hearing in Color founder and artistic director LaRob K. Rafael and La Caccina artistic director Carling FitzSimmons.