November is National Native American Heritage Month, a celebration of Indigenous Americans' culture. Here at KBACH, we'll be highlighting Native American composers and their works. A few of the composers you'll hear ...

Connor Chee
Navajo pianist and composer Connor Chee is known for combining his classical piano training with his Native American heritage. Chee made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 12 after winning a gold medal in the World Piano Competition. He currently lives in Phoenix.

George Quincy
George Quincy is an American composer and conductor of Choctaw heritage, now based in New York. He has composed for theater, dance, music, and television. Quincy holds degrees from the Juilliard School, where he has also taught.

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate 
A citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, Jerod Tate is dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition. In 2021, he was appointed a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. State Department.

Louis Wayne Ballard
A Native American composer of Cherokee and Quapaw descent, Louis W. Ballard is often reffered to as the "father of Native American composition." Ballard's Desert Trilogy, his second work for ballet, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1971. He died in 2007.