With works described as "visceral" (Lucid Culture), "propulsive" (Bachtrack) and "austere" (New Music Box), composer Leaha Maria Villarreal’s output includes music for dance, film, opera, and the concert hall. She has worked with organizations and ensembles such as Beth Morrison Projects and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; ETHEL and Friends concert series at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; andPlay; Wild Rumpus; JACK Quartet; Experiments in Opera; and TRANSIT New Music, among others. Past composition teachers include Roger Reynolds, Steven Kazuo Takasugi, and Chinary Ung. Villarreal holds a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and an M.M. from New York University where she studied with Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon. She is a co-founder of contemporary music ensemble Hotel Elefant; a Jerome Fund for New Music recipient; and taught composition with New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers Bridge Program. Villarreal is currently pursuing a D.M.A. at the University of Southern California.