Keeril Makan writes music that challenges description and thwarts assumptions about what is beautiful. His commissions include ones from the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the Kronos Quartet, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, and Carnegie Hall. He has received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm Foundation, the Gerbode Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, Meet the Composer, and ASCAP. Makan's work has been featured at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco and the MATA Festival in New York, and internationally at the Gaudeamus Festival in the Netherlands, Le Domaine Forget in Canada, and Voix Nouvelles in France. He has collaborated with poet Jena Osman and choreographer Benjamin Levy and frequently works with emerging new music artists such as the Del Sol String Quartet, percussionist David Shively, and soprano Laurie Rubin. His baritone saxophone solo Voice within Voice appears on Brian Sacawa's CD American Voices on Innova. The first CD of his music, In Sound, will be released on the Tzadik label in June 2008 with performances by the Kronos Quartet and Paul Dresher Ensemble. Current projects include commissions from the California EAR Unit and the American Composers Orchestra with electric guitarist Seth Josel.