Mari Esabel Valverde, Composer

About Mari Esabel Valverde

Bios

Mari Esabel Valverde is an award-winning transgender Mexican-American composer in steady demand in the United States and abroad. A native of North Texas, she holds degrees from St. Olaf College and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a member of ASCAP and the American Choral Directors Association.

Award-winning transgender Mexican-American composer Mari Esabel Valverde has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Boston Choral Ensemble, Cantus, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, Los Angeles Master Chorale, One Voice Mixed Chorus, Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club. A native of North Texas, she holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, France, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a member of ASCAP and the American Choral Directors Association.

Award-winning transgender Mexican-American composer Mari Esabel Valverde has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Boston Choral Ensemble, Cantus, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, Los Angeles Master Chorale, One Voice Mixed Chorus, Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club. She has also built a reputation as a singer, educator, adjudicator, and translator. Following six years as a high school classical voice instructor, she spent two years specializing in transgender voice training. Proficient in Spanish, French, and Brazilian Portuguese, she has translated numerous vocal works and documents including phonetic guides of Ravel’s opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and Villa-Lobos’s Rasga o Coração.

A native of North Texas, she holds degrees from St. Olaf College and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a member of ASCAP and the American Choral Directors Association.

Award-winning transgender Mexican-American composer Mari Esabel Valverde, whose music has been reviewed as “heart-stopping” (BBC Music Magazine) and “of shimmering beauty” (The WholeNote), has composed art songs, chamber music, and works for chorus, orchestra, and wind ensemble. She has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Boston Choral Ensemble, Cantus, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, Los Angeles Master Chorale, One Voice Mixed Chorus, Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club. Her music appears on multiple albums: Ensemble Vocapella Limburg’s Vom Werden und Vergehen—Songs of Life and Death, Peninsula Women’s Chorus’s Women Making Waves, Cantus’s The Covid-19 Sessions, the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco’s Hope in Times of Disquiet,  SACRA/PROFANA’s A Longing for Christmas, Seattle Pro Musica’s Solstice: Music of  Light for the Holidays, Resonance Ensemble’s LISTEN, and Eric Ferring and Madeline Slettedahl’s No Choice But Love: Songs of the LGBTQ+ Community.

A native of North Texas, she holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, France, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a member of ASCAP and the American Choral Directors Association.

Award-winning transgender Mexican-American composer Mari Esabel Valverde has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Boston Choral Ensemble, Cantus, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, Los Angeles Master Chorale, One Voice Mixed Chorus, Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club. Her music appears on multiple albums: Ensemble Vocapella Limburg’s Vom Werden und Vergehen—Songs of Life and Death, Peninsula Women’s Chorus’s Women Making Waves, Cantus’s The Covid-19 Sessions, the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco’s Hope in Times of Disquiet,  SACRA/PROFANA’s A Longing for Christmas, Seattle Pro Musica’s Solstice: Music of  Light for the Holidays, Resonance Ensemble’s LISTEN, and Eric Ferring and Madeline Slettedahl’s No Choice But Love: Songs of the LGBTQ+ Community.

She has also built a reputation as a singer, educator, adjudicator, and translator. She has recently performed with Border CrosSing, Dallas Chamber Choir, and EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble. Following six years as a high school classical voice instructor, she spent two years specializing in transgender voice training. Proficient in Spanish, French, and Brazilian Portuguese, she has translated numerous vocal works and documents including phonetic guides of Ravel’s opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and Villa-Lobos’s Rasga o Coração.

A native of North Texas, she holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, France, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a member of ASCAP and the American Choral Directors Association.

Award-winning transgender Mexican-American composer Mari Esabel Valverde, whose music has been reviewed as “heart-stopping” (BBC Music Magazine) and “of shimmering beauty” (The WholeNote), has composed art songs, chamber music, and works for chorus, orchestra, and wind ensemble. Her music has been performed throughout the United States and abroad in Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Taiwan.

She has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Boston Choral Ensemble, Cantus, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, Los Angeles Master Chorale, One Voice Mixed Chorus, Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club. Her music appears on multiple albums: Ensemble Vocapella Limburg’s Vom Werden und Vergehen—Songs of Life and Death, Peninsula Women’s Chorus’s Women Making Waves, Cantus’s The Covid-19 Sessions, the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco’s Hope in Times of Disquiet,  SACRA/PROFANA’s A Longing for Christmas, Seattle Pro Musica’s Solstice: Music of  Light for the Holidays, Resonance Ensemble’s LISTEN, and Eric Ferring and Madeline Slettedahl’s No Choice But Love: Songs of the LGBTQ+ Community.

She has also built a reputation as a singer, educator, adjudicator, and translator. She has recently performed with Border CrosSing, Dallas Chamber Choir, and EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble. Following six years as a high school classical voice instructor, she spent two years specializing in transgender voice training. Proficient in Spanish, French, and Brazilian Portuguese, she has translated numerous vocal works and documents including phonetic guides of Ravel’s opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and Villa-Lobos’s Rasga o Coração.

A native of North Texas, she holds degrees from St. Olaf College, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, France, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a member of ASCAP and the American Choral Directors Association.

Photography

Mari Esabel Valverde © Vero Kherian
Mari Esabel Valverde © Vero Kherian
Mari Esabel Valverde © Vero Kherian
Mari Esabel Valverde © Vero Kherian
Mari Esabel Valverde at Crossing Premiere © John Pai
Mari Esabel Valverde at Crossing Premiere © John Pai
Portrait of Mari Esabel Valverde © 2019 Marie Claire Macadar
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Résumé

Education

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, California; Master of Music, 2012
La Schola Cantorum, Paris, France; Diplôme, July 2011
St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota; Bachelor of Music, 2010
L’École Normale de Musique de Paris, Paris, France; Diplôme, July 2009

Employment

Fellowship Mentor, Luna Composition Lab, New York, New York, since 2024
Alto, Border CrosSing, St. Paul, Minnesota, since 2023
Arranger, La Voz Music Publishing, Aberdeen, North Carolina, since 2023
Alto, EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble, Detroit, Michigan, since 2018
Composer-Arranger, Walton Music, Chicago, Illinois, since 2014
Translator, since 2013
Composer, earthsongs, Corvallis, Oregon, since 2010
Composer, since 2008
Artist-in-Residence, Central Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, Minnesota, 2024-25
Alto, Dallas Chamber Choir, Dallas, Texas, 2014-24
Honorable Mention Mentor, Luna Composition Lab, New York, New York, 2023-24
Composer, Consortio, St. Paul, Minnesota, 2018-23
Voice Instructor, Your Lessons Now LLC, Vancouver, Washington, 2020-22
Alto, Pasión, McAllen, Texas, 2021
Voice Instructor, L.D. Bell High School, Hurst, Texas, 2019-20
Voice Instructor, Timber Creek High School, Fort Worth, Texas, 2012-16, 2018-19
Composer-in-Residence, International Orange Chorale, San Francisco, California, 2018
Adjunct Instructor in Orchestration, Adams State University, Alamosa, Colorado, 2017
Voice Instructor, Euless Junior High School, Euless, Texas, 2016
Voice Instructor, Legacy High School, Mansfield, Texas, 2015-16
Alto, Vox Humana, Dallas, Texas, 2013-16
Voice Instructor, Keller High School, Keller, Texas, 2014-15
Alto, New World Voices, Dallas, Texas, 2014-15
Soloist-Section Leader, University Park United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas, 2013-15
Voice Instructor, Fossil Ridge High School, Fort Worth, Texas, 2012-14

Awards

Finalist, the Latinx Composer Miniature Challenge, 2024
Semi-Finalist, the American Prize in Composition “Shorter Choral Works” in the Professional Division, 2023-24
Finalist, Ensemble Companio’s Tenth Anniversary Commission Competition, 2022
Semi-Finalist, the American Prize in Composition “Shorter Choral Works” in the Professional Division, 2019-20
Third Place, the American Prize in Composition “Music for Chorus” in the Professional Division, 2017-18
First Place, Boston Choral Ensemble‘s Commission Competition, 2017
Finalist, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble‘s Composition Contest, 2017
Recipient, the ASCAP PLUS Award, 2014
Recipient, the ASCAP PLUS Award, 2013
Finalist, Simon Carrington Chamber Singers’ Choral Composition Competition, 2012
Recipient, the ASCAP PLUS Award, 2012
Second Place, Minnesota Music Educators Association‘s Collegiate Composition Contest in the Chamber Music Division, 2009
Semi-Finalist, National Association of Teachers of Singing‘s Regional Competition, 2007

Organizations

American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), since 2010
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), since 2008