Much of my music draws from the emotional world of childhood memories and family history. I am interested in the way these foundational stories and experiences accompany us throughout our lives and the way they become abstract, universal, or mythologized when we share them. The concerto Tell Me Again was inspired by the retelling of immigration stories across generations within families--the cadenza suggests an attempt to scrub away previous memory and attachments. Music for the Passing of Days is a series of miniatures each written in the span of one day. Green Line weaves cello with the voice of Karen Ouzounian’s mother, my mother-in-law, Lena, as she recounts a dramatic day during the Lebanese civil war. Just Keep Smiling channels the way we learn as children to smile through awkwardness, discomfort and embarrassment and Baltic Crossings is a reflection of the Gulf of Finland, as seen both through Estonian lore and childhood trips to Estonia. 

Estonian-American composer, pianist, and animator Lembit Beecher, winner of the 2025-2026 Samuel Barber Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome, writes “hauntingly lovely and deeply personal” music (San Francisco Chronicle) filled with “astonishing musical invention” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). From song cycles such as After the Fires, based on conversations with residents of his hometown following the CZU Lightning Complex Fires, to Say Home, a 38-minute piece for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Beecher’s work is rooted in a fascination with how memories, histories, and stories permeate contemporary life. Recent premieres include Tell Me Again for cellist Karen Ouzounian and the Orlando Philharmonic, Sky on Swings an opera featuring Frederica von Stade and Marietta Simpson tracing the relationship of two women diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, A Year to the Day, a song cycle featuring tenor Nicholas Phan and violinist Augustin Hadelich, and string quartets for the Juilliard, Aizuri and Lydian quartets.