Lisa Scola Prosek was raised in Rome, Italy, and began studying piano at the age of 4. Her mother, Elena Scola, is an accomplished painter and entertained many of the great artists living in Rome at the time. Moving to the United States at the age of 11, Lisa graduated from Princeton University, where she studied with Edward Cone and Milton Babbitt, and privately with Lukas Foss in New York. During this time, Lisa developed a great love for the voice, and studied singing with Margherita Kalil of the Met. After Princeton, Lisa returned to Italy, where she attended the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini, and studied with composer Gaetano Giani-Luporini. To date Lisa has composed 4 operas, in Italian and English, including Satyricon, reviewed by the San Francisco Observer as a "Tour de Force" and featured on KRON TV; and Leonardo’s Notebooks, in Italian, which premiered to capacity audiences in May 2006, and was featured on KQED’s West Coast Live. The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly writes:" This composer’s work is steeped in the Mediterranean world of gestures, writ both big and small. Her vocal writing references bel canto and the madrigal, and the instrumental writing, with it’s shadowy inner voices, has character and point. Intricate and highly expressive music." Sequenza 21. Lisa Scola Prosek is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including for her latest work for choir and orchestra, Libera Me, which premiered in June 2006, with the Schola Cantorum Choir, and the SFCCO Orchestra.

(Contribution by Michael Cooke <cooke@sfcco.org>)