"Jeita" by Michaela Rea Catranis, emerged...as something like a musical allegory of the cave, an earthly meditation as a sonorous, moving narration of a single, lonely voice. The immense "TONALi" festival in the Elbphilharmonie ended with such a courageous appeal to the inner world."​ Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich, Edition Faust-Kultur
"I write about our humanness, our connection to each other and the world around us, both natural and digital worlds. It could be like Laughter or a Prayer, or maybe a Shadow, muscles and sinew rippling, a Kiss. The movements of Love, trembling, electric, or a Scream, life tearing through the flesh of a Mother, a tiny heart beating, new against her chest, both of them still dripping from her wound, washed in blood. The Body, charged up with Soul, spirit-stuff and the ecstasy of the moment. Being. It is all this, a Polyphony of human experience, so brief, sensuous, writhing, soft, dirty, naked, full of rage, of joy, of tenderness. It's a courageous smile and then some silence too. It is how I talk to you, with moonbeams in my eyes; a conversation between lovers." ​~ M
Michaela Rea Catranis is an interdisciplinary artist whose work bridges classical training, experimental practice, and collective creation. Born into a family of eleven in eastern Pennsylvania, she began playing piano at age four, discovering early in music a space for imagination, play, and togetherness.
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Formative years living in Kuwait and Beirut, and later working in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, deepened her engagement with folk and community-based musical traditions, where music is woven into daily life. Alongside her studies at the Peabody Conservatory and the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, these experiences led her to cultivate a highly versatile sonic language blending classical, experimental, electronic, and jazz influences. Her work integrates folk memory with electronics, creating multisensory performances that invite deep listening and embodied presence.
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Her internationally presented multimedia projects move fluidly across music, art, technology, and dance. Collective art-making lies at the heart of her practice—a reflection of her lifelong belief in music as a site of shared humanity. She draws inspiration from her early years performing with her family band, SPACE CATS, as well as from the sounds gathered in forests, cities, and across cultures.
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Michaela is the recipient of the TONALi Composition Prize and has received commissions and support from Ensemble Modern, Académie Voix Nouvelles at Royaumont, Zafraan Ensemble, Mivos Quartet and Riot Ensemble, among others. Her work has been presented at venues including the Elbphilharmonie, Berliner Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, and Roulette in New York.
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In 2018, she founded MENAJIRI, a cross-disciplinary collective dedicated to immersive, collaborative performance rooted in sustainability and hybrid artistic practice. Since becoming a mother in 2022, themes of vulnerability, care, and connection have moved to the center of her work, embracing the arts as a space for deep feeling and relational exchange.
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