Ravi Kittappa

Ravi Kittappa is a composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electronic music currently living in Oakland, CA. 

His music has been heard across the US, Europe, and Asia. The New York Times described the “vivid soundscapes” of a recent performance of his work, Decantations III, as ”alluring” and “meditative”. His music has also been commissioned and performed by violist Garth Knox, Ensemble dal Niente, counter)induction, Talea Ensemble, Ostravská Banda, The Janacek Philharmonia, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Color Field Ensemble, Concert Black, TIGUE, and Parias Ensemble, among others. He has had sound art works commissioned and installed by The Baltimore Museum of Art, The American Visionary Art Museum, The United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, and the Columbia University Computer Music Center. He has been honored to be selected as a participant at international festivals like Ostrava Days, Bowling Green New Music Festival, Etchings Festival, Minot Modern, Color Field Festival, MATA Festival, Make Music NY, World Saxophone Congress, Avaloch Farms Music Institute, and the Bang on a Can Summer Institute.  

Also active as a guitarist and improviser, Ravi has performed alongside artists such as Fred Frith, Myra Melford, J. A. Deane, Daniel Carter, and Ritwik Banerji, among many others.

In the spring of 2012, Ravi founded the bicoastal (NYC and SF Bay Area) performance and fundraising series, Permutations, which he currently curates along with pianist, Karl Larson. 

In 2013, Ravi created the soundtrack for director Jake Boritt’s The Gettysburg Story, a documentary film narrated by Stephen Lang that aired on Public Broadcasting stations across the US to coincide with The 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.

Ravi is currently completing his Ph.D in music composition at University of California, Berkeley. He studied philosophy at The Johns Hopkins University and music at Columbia University. His composition teachers include Tristan Murail, Arthur Kampela, Franck Bedrossian, Edmund Campion, David Wessel, and Ken Ueno. Ravi has lectured on his work at academic institutions such as The Janacek Conservatory, Columbia University, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Minot State University, Silpakorn University (Bangkok, Thailand), and KM College of Music and Technology (Chennai, India).