“Her music is striking, varied, and emotionally mature beyond her youth.”

-Sounds of the World Podcast

Composer/soprano Hannah Rice is drawn to extremes. She writes with dense textures and stark contrasts to highlight experiences of womxn and queer folks. She is interested in capturing the politics of non-verbal communication through a feminist lens and channeling its energy through raw, cathartic, and sometimes childlike sounds in concert music.

Hannah’s music has been performed at notable festivals and venues including Carnegie Hall, Cadogan Hall in London, New Music on the Point, the International Clarinet Festival, and Atlantic Music Festival. In the summer of 2024, Hannah attended the Aspen Music Festival as a Susan and Ford Schumann Composition Fellow, where she was awarded the Hermitage Prize in Composition. She has received commissions from organizations such as Piano Spheres, Vox Anima London, the Cincinnati Song Initiative, and the Prima Voce Emerging Artist Series. In 2021, her choral piece “To Fly a Plane” from Dear World was published by Hal Leonard under the Craig Hella Johnson series, and several of her film tracks were published through APM Music’s sound library, MPATH.  

Not only is Hannah a composer but she is also an active performer of opera and new music. Her recent roles include the Soprano Soloist in Kaija Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone, Controller in Flight, Soeur Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her own chamber opera, Seneca Falls. She performs throughout Los Angeles as a professional soloist and chorister with organizations such as Opera Buffs, St. James in the City, Exilio Ensemble, and Black House New Music.

Hannah is also a passionate music educator, currently teaching private voice at Citrus College, as well as private piano, voice, and composition at Music on Main and in her own studio. She has also taught private lessons at the Aspen Music Festival through the PALS Program. Most recently, Hannah was selected as a 2025 Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Teaching Artist.

Hannah holds Master of Music degrees in both Composition and Vocal Arts & Opera from USC’s Thornton School of Music where she studied with Ted Hearne, Elizabeth Hynes, Andrew Norman, Frank Ticheli, and Nina Young. While at USC, she was awarded the Peter David Faith Endowed Memorial Award in composition for her orchestra piece, [æ], and the Outstanding Graduate Award in both Composition and Voice. She also holds a dual Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University where she was named a Presser Scholar and University Medalist.