Susie Ibarra

Susie Ibarra (born Anaheim, November 15, 1970) is an American contemporary composer and percussionist who has worked and recorded with jazz, classical, world, and indigenous musicians. One of SPIN’s “100 Greatest Drummers of Alternative Music”, she is known for her work as a performer in avant-garde, jazz, world, and new music. She received the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Music. As a composer, Ibarra incorporates diverse styles and the influences of Philippine Kulintang, jazz, classical, poetry, musical theater, opera, and electronic music. Ibarra remains active as a composer, performer, educator, and documentary filmmaker in the U.S., Philippines, and internationally. She is interested and involved in works that blend folkloric and indigenous tradition with avant-garde. In 2004, Ibarra began field recording indigenous Philippine music. Early years The youngest of five children, Ibarra was born in Anaheim, California, and raised in Houston, Texas. Her parents Bartolome and Herminia Ibarra were both physicians who immigrated from the Philippines. She began playing piano at the age of four. In grade school she sang in church and school choirs and played in a punk rock band in high school