New Paltz Associate Professor Alex Peh, composer Susie Ibarra collaborate on 2025 Pulitzer Prize-winning composition

 

Composer and percussionist Susie Ibarra’s “Sky Islands” won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in music in May, featuring the piano stylings of New Paltz Associate Professor and Director of Piano Studies Alex Peh.  Click here to listen to a performance.

The instrumental composition was performed by an eight-person musical ensemble led by Ibarra, who was the 2018 Davenport Artist-in-Residence at SUNY New Paltz, featuring Peh, Harvard University professor and flutist Claire Chase and percussionist Levy Lorenzo, who make up an improvisational group known as the Talking Gong Ensemble, along with the Bergamot String Quartet. Alumnus Aleks Pilmanis ’23 (Music; Computer Science) assisted Ibarra in preparing the final score. 

“It’s validation of our collaborative approach to making this piece. It’s not every day an honor like this is given,” said Peh. “As a classical pianist, I’m normally one to play a piece where the notes are already provided for me, and this experience was special because Susie wove together her own set composition that was fully notated, with our improvisations to create a coherent piece, one that empowered our artistic agency.”

“Sky Islands” is a composition of ethereal sounds with themes of ecosystems and biodiversity. Its structure challenges the perception of the compositional voice by interweaving the profound musicianship and improvisational skills of soloists. 

The Talking Gong Ensemble and Bergamot String Quartet premiered “Sky Islands” at Asia Society in New York City in July 2024 and Ibarra will self-release the composition in November 2025 through the platform Habitat Sounds.  

The California premiere of the composition took place at the Ojai Festival on June 8, featuring the JACK quartet, and will be followed by performances in Hong Kong and Manila, before an album release performance next March at SUNY New Paltz, as part of the University’s Music Concert Series. Click here for the full performance at the Ojai Festival.

“Sky Islands” was commissioned by Asia Society, with support from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University. Peh, for his part, applied for a grant with Ibarra via the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) through the Village of New Paltz’s Unison Arts Center to support the composition.   

Click here to learn more about the Department of Music at SUNY New Paltz.