Liliʻu


Leilehua Lanzilotti

Leilehua Lanzilotti is a Kanaka Maoli composer, multimedia artist, and curator.

Artist Bio

Liliʻu is an experimental opera project by Leilehua Lanzilotti connecting performance, community activations, and indigenous language revitalization.

Set in 1895, when Queen Lili‘uokalani was imprisoned for almost a year in ʻIolani Palace for her alleged knowledge of an attempt to take back the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, Lili‘u is a story of resilience and hope.

For more information, please visit https://liliuopera.com/


Award Year
2025
Status

In Progress

a person with medium skin tone and short dark hair in a black sweater standing on a balcony, looking out

Leilehua Lanzilotti

Honolulu, HI

Leilehua Lanzilotti is a Kanaka Maoli composer, multimedia artist, and curator. By world-building through multimedia installation works and nontraditional concert experiences/musical interventions, Lanzilotti’s works activate imagination around new paths forward in language sovereignty, water sovereignty, land stewardship, and respect. Uplifting others by crafting projects that support both local communities and economy, the work inspires hope to continue.

Lanzilotti was honored to be a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music for with eyes the color of time (string orchestra), which the Pulitzer committee called, “a vibrant composition . . . that distinctly combines experimental string textures and episodes of melting lyricism.”

Other honors include a Native Arts & Cultures Foundation’s SHIFT – Transformative Change and Indigenous Arts Award in partnership with Te Ao Mana and Native Launchpad Advancing Indigenous Performance Award. Lanzilotti has received additional distinguished fellowships & residencies through The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, Casa Wabi, and the MacGeorge Fellowship at the University of Melbourne.