Biography
Anna Brake (b. 1988) affects performers, audiences, and musicians seeking opportunities for growth to be intrigued, inspired, and holistically well through her compositions, writings, retreats, and concerts. She incorporates creativity of various mediums into her work and elements of nature, art, literature, spirituality, and science into her emotionally rich and colorful compositions.
She loves collaborating with performers and writing for a variety of instruments. She has worked with Christopher Larson on Dilating Impulse, Elena Stabile and Grace Odell on I am Light, and Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat Choir and Matthew Gold on Something New. Fascinated by all instruments, she learned how to repair and play all wind instruments at SE Technical College in Red Wing, MN, and developed the Moment Miniatures project, in which she composed a collection of fifty solo miniatures for different instruments, each based on a different mood. The project led to some of her most impactful commissions. She has received commissions from Dr. John Thomson for the University of South Dakota Orchestra Festival, Matthew Turek for the Euphonium Grant Project, American Music Therapy Association of Students at UWEC for Samana, Grace Odell for Drops Form the Sea for solo piano, Logan Jungman for a New Music for Tuba Grant, and Megan Ihnen and Alan Theisen present . . . for Silver Songs. Brake also enjoys writing for other art forms. She was commissioned by Elisabeth O’Keefe to collaborate on a composition for a dance recital and took part in the 24-hour Theater Project where she worked with actors and directors to incorporate her music into a play.
Brake often takes inspiration from other arts and views creativity holistically. Many of her songs use her own poetry as text, and she wrote the libretto for The Nightingale and the Rose, based on a short story by Oscar Wilde. She is the author of Music Trends for the 21st Century: Technology Influencing Culture and is currently working on a podcast/video series, Empowering Creatives. She has done research and written on music and patronage in the Renaissance, gender in 17th century French salons, and the history of the lament tradition. In her spare time, she sews, sings, draws, crafts, does yoga, meditates and hikes.
She also inspires others to be well-rounded creatives. Brake is the founder and creative director of Breath Mark Retreat, an event with the collaboration of a music festival and the intimacy and focus of a creative artist residency. The retreat gives creatives the opportunity to rest, relax, find inspiration, discuss what it means to be holistically well as an artist, and collaborate on new music for a public concert. Brake has put on concerts and events as a member of Program Council at USD, as a coordinator of the New Music Series Grant at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and has put on several of her own recitals and workshops at UWEC and UMKC.
Anna Brake earned her Bachelor of Music in Composition, summa cum laude, from UWEC studying under Ethan Wickman. She earned her master's degree in composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. During her studies, she took lessons from James Mobberley, Mara Gibson, Paul Rudy, and Chen Yi. While there, she was awarded the Women’s Council Grant, taught classes through the musicology department, attended the UMKC Composers Workshop, has been featured in Johnson County Listen Local, and participated in masterclasses under Jennifer Higdon.
She loves collaborating with performers and writing for a variety of instruments. She has worked with Christopher Larson on Dilating Impulse, Elena Stabile and Grace Odell on I am Light, and Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat Choir and Matthew Gold on Something New. Fascinated by all instruments, she learned how to repair and play all wind instruments at SE Technical College in Red Wing, MN, and developed the Moment Miniatures project, in which she composed a collection of fifty solo miniatures for different instruments, each based on a different mood. The project led to some of her most impactful commissions. She has received commissions from Dr. John Thomson for the University of South Dakota Orchestra Festival, Matthew Turek for the Euphonium Grant Project, American Music Therapy Association of Students at UWEC for Samana, Grace Odell for Drops Form the Sea for solo piano, Logan Jungman for a New Music for Tuba Grant, and Megan Ihnen and Alan Theisen present . . . for Silver Songs. Brake also enjoys writing for other art forms. She was commissioned by Elisabeth O’Keefe to collaborate on a composition for a dance recital and took part in the 24-hour Theater Project where she worked with actors and directors to incorporate her music into a play.
Brake often takes inspiration from other arts and views creativity holistically. Many of her songs use her own poetry as text, and she wrote the libretto for The Nightingale and the Rose, based on a short story by Oscar Wilde. She is the author of Music Trends for the 21st Century: Technology Influencing Culture and is currently working on a podcast/video series, Empowering Creatives. She has done research and written on music and patronage in the Renaissance, gender in 17th century French salons, and the history of the lament tradition. In her spare time, she sews, sings, draws, crafts, does yoga, meditates and hikes.
She also inspires others to be well-rounded creatives. Brake is the founder and creative director of Breath Mark Retreat, an event with the collaboration of a music festival and the intimacy and focus of a creative artist residency. The retreat gives creatives the opportunity to rest, relax, find inspiration, discuss what it means to be holistically well as an artist, and collaborate on new music for a public concert. Brake has put on concerts and events as a member of Program Council at USD, as a coordinator of the New Music Series Grant at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and has put on several of her own recitals and workshops at UWEC and UMKC.
Anna Brake earned her Bachelor of Music in Composition, summa cum laude, from UWEC studying under Ethan Wickman. She earned her master's degree in composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. During her studies, she took lessons from James Mobberley, Mara Gibson, Paul Rudy, and Chen Yi. While there, she was awarded the Women’s Council Grant, taught classes through the musicology department, attended the UMKC Composers Workshop, has been featured in Johnson County Listen Local, and participated in masterclasses under Jennifer Higdon.