UAH Arora Lecture series to host Indian American composer Reena Esmail on April 9

Indian American composer Dr. Reena Esmail will discuss her work on Thursday, April 9, 2026, at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) as part of the Dr. Mulk R. Arora Endowed Lecture series presented by the UAH College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences.

Courtesy Dr. Reena Esmail

Dr. Reena Esmail, a celebrated Indian American composer who has spent more than 25 years creating vivid mixtures of Indian and Western classical traditions, is the next featured speaker in the Dr. Mulk R. Arora Endowed Lecture series presented by The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences.

Esmail will discuss her works on Thursday, April 9, at 6 p.m. in Morton Hall 145. A reception will follow. Sponsored by the UAH Humanities Center, the program is open to the public free of charge. UAH is a part of The University of Alabama System.

“We were initially drawn to Dr. Esmail’s work because of her special ability to blend together musical traditions from both Hindustani and Western cultures,” said Dr. Jack Hontz, assistant professor and director of bands, UAH Department of Music, Theatre, & Film. He is a member of the Arora Endowed Lecture series committee.

“Much of Dr. Esmail’s music utilizes musical elements that are unique to Hindustani music, exposing audiences to sounds that are less common in the sphere of Western concert music. This cross-cultural approach to making music struck the committee as something that would be particularly interesting to our students and the greater community.”

Esmail’s life and work have been featured on PBS’s Great Performances: Now Hear This and on Frame of Mind, a podcast from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has served as composer-in-residence with leading ensembles, including the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Seattle Symphony, and her music has appeared on several Grammy-nominated albums.

She holds degrees from The Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music and was a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar to India. She has received honors from the Kennedy Center, United States Artists and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives and works in her hometown of Los Angeles.

“In her keynote lecture, Dr. Esmail will share lessons that she has learned over the course of her career that reflect on creating spaces in which musicians, artists and citizens of all backgrounds can come together in pursuit of meaningful collaboration and connection,” Hontz said.

He is particularly excited about the opportunity Esmail’s visit offers to his students.

“As the conductor of our Wind Ensemble, I’m especially looking forward to our students getting the chance to work with Dr. Esmail on her composition ‘Tuttarana.’ I know her insight will be fascinating and add another layer of meaning to our study of that particular piece. More broadly, I’m excited to hear about how Dr. Esmail’s music has impacted students and music communities across the country.”

The Dr. Mulk R. Arora Endowed Lecture in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences was funded by a gift from Arora’s sons – Dr. Amit Arora, Vivek Arora and Rahul Arora – in 2022 in honor of their father. The endowment supports an annual program aimed at building community engagement, promoting meaningful scholarship and inspiring global connections beyond the United States. Past guest speakers have included art historian Dr. Sonal Khullar in 2025 and award-winning journalist and author Vauhini Vara in 2024.

For more information on the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and its programs, visit the College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences page .