(Farhad) Forrest Pierce, composer and poet, lives in Lawrence, Kansas. Originally from the Columbia Plateau of Washington state, he writes music of meditative stillness and ecstatic virtuosity rooted in a deep connection to the natural world. Guided by a love of mysticism across world traditions, he has written 200 or so compositions, which include solo vocal, chamber, and choral music in equal measure. Winner of the Barlow Prize, the Ortus and Avalon international competitions, as well the international choral competitions of the Boston Chamber Singers and Boston Choral Ensemble, his “otherworldly compositions” (Flutist Quarterly) have been praised as “marvelously appealing” (National Sawdust Log) for their “flowing legato lines” and “expansive depiction of Mother Earth” (I Care if You Listen), as “persistent and captivating…the most emotional experience of the evening’s program” (KCMetropolis), and simply, “glorious.” (San Francisco Classical Voice) His music is recorded on New Focus, Blue Griffin, Innova, and Meyer Media labels, and has been premiered by Volti, The Kansas City Chorale, the BBC Singers, the Esoterics, the Australian Voices, the Latvian Radio Chorus, and noted chamber musicians across the world. A former student of Dominick Argento, Don Freund, Stephen Paulus and Judith Lang Zaimont, Pierce inherited from his teachers a love of the vocal instrument and choral ensembles. A longtime member of the vividly convivial faculty of the Cortona Sessions for New Music and an indiscriminate enthusiast, he is Professor of Composition at the University of Kansas. Forrest teaches Sufism in the Inayati tradition, enjoys camping at high altitude, and leads zikr in his local community.