Michael Foumai (composer)

Michael Thomas Foumai (born 1987, Honolulu, Hawai’i) is an American composer of classical music. He is the first Composer-in-Residence at the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra as well as its Director of Artistic Engagement. Foumai serves on the faculty of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in the Theory & Composition area. He cites composer John Williams as inspiration as well as film, anime, poetry, classical music and Hawaiʻi. Education Foumai was raised on Oʻahu, in Makiki. Foumai discovered his love for music, playing the violin at Kawānanakoa Middle School. Foumai attended Roosevelt High School, where he performed his first orchestra piece, graduating in 2005. Foumai graduated from University of Hawaiʻi with a Bachelor of Music in 2009. He earned his Masters of Music (2011) and Doctorate of Music (2014) in composition from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Career In the early part of Foumai’s career, he garnered fellowships, grants and accolades for his compositions. In 2014, the Alabama Orchestra Association named Foumai its 2014 winner of their annual composition contest, with his original work, Kinder-Und Hausmärchen: A Grimm Overture, which premiered at the All-State Orche