Maria Grenfell (b.1969) was born in Malaysia and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand. She received music degrees from the University of Canterbury, the Eastman School of Music, and a doctorate from the University of Southern California, where she was also a lecturer. Maria Grenfell’s work takes much of its influence from poetic, literary and visual sources and from non-Western music and literature. Her orchestral and chamber music has been performed in the USA, South Africa and Mexico as well as in New Zealand and Australia. Maria has been a violinist with the Christchurch Symphony and the New Zealand Youth Orchestra. She is currently a lecturer at the Conservatorium of Music of the University of Tasmania in Hobart.