Beata Moon

Beata Moon (b. North Dakota, 1969 - ) – Composer and pianist. Although born in North Dakota, Korean-American Beata Moon grew up in Indianapolis and started studying piano at age five. Only three years later, she appeared as a soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. After getting a B.M. in Piano Performance from Juilliard in 1990, Moon developed into a self-taught—yet highly regarded—contemporary composer. In her young career, she has already completed twenty-three chamber works, seventeen solo piano pieces, seven art songs with varying accompaniment, four solo works for various unaccompanied instruments, two pieces for orchestra, and one orchestral transcription of an original piano piece. A teaching artist at New York’s Lincoln Center Institute since 1997, Moon is a strong advocate of outreach programs and mentors at-risk children through the Police Athletic League and the Portrait Project of Composer Kevin James. An active performer of her own works and those of her peers, she gathered together some of New York’s most outstanding female musicians to join her in the Beata Moon Ensemble in 2002. Since 2001, there have been three CDs devoted exclusively to her compositions: Perigee and Apogee (Albany, 2001), Earthshine (Bibimbop Records, 2004), and her own piano solo CD on Naxos (2007). Recently, Lifetime Television chose her as one of twenty women to be featured in a series of profiles demonstrating the diverse roles and contributions made by women in contemporary society. In addition to performing her own piano works, Moon is also well-versed in standard piano literature.