Aiyana Braun is a composer and sound artist based in Los Angeles, California.

Aiyana was commissioned at the age of fifteen to write her first orchestral work for the New York Philharmonic. She was also commissioned by famed television pioneer and political activist Norman Lear (“All in the Family,” "The Jeffersons,” "The Golden Girls,”) and Maya Angelou (Poet, Humanitarian) to perform an original composition at the Marian Anderson Awards. The ceremony also featured performances by broadway veteran Ben Vereen, Grammy Award winner Harry Belafonte, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. 

She has since worked with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (workshop led by John Adams), Berkeley Symphony (two-year residency mentored by Anna Clyne, made possible through the “Music Alive” residency from the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA), Orkest de Ereprijs (Netherlands), New York Youth Symphony, as well as musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Santa Cecilia Orchestra (Italy), Buffalo Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, New York City Ballet, and Minnesota Opera Orchestras, among others. 

Aiyana has been the recipient of many honors and awards from the BMI Foundation, ASCAP Foundation, American Composers Forum, Copland House, and has been featured on the NPR’s “From the Top” as well as several episodes of PBS’s “On Stage at Curtis” including a mini-documentary about Aiyana. She was honored to receive a Resident Fellowship at Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU from 2020-21. Her cohort included dancers, composers, and scholars from around the world (including the Resident Choreographer of the famed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Jamar Roberts; Semi-Finalist of Africa’s Got Talent, Aguibou Bougobali Sanou; among others). She also was commissioned by the Curtis Institute of Music to write a short ballet for the Rock School for Dance Education (featured in Sundance films’ First Position) and frequently collaborates with choreographers, dancers, and visual artists. 

Currently, she is a faculty member at California State University, Fullerton, where she provides private instruction in Composition, and serves as a Lecturer for courses in Orchestration, Music Theory, and Ear Training. She was a Teaching Artist at the New York Philharmonic’s “Very Young Composers Program” for three years, during which time she taught composition to middle school and high school students alongside other educators such as Angélica Négron, and Danny Felsenfeld. She was also on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music’s “Summerfest” where she taught Music History and Theory, and was a Teaching Assistant at the University of Southern California where she taught Ear Training and Music Theory.

Aiyana received her M.M. from the University of Southern California where she studied Composition with Ted Hearne, Psychoacoustics with Nina C. Young and Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother), and Production with Jae Deal, under full scholarship. She received her B.M. at the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied Composition with Jennifer Higdon and David Ludwig under full scholarship, and also attended The Juilliard School’s Pre-College for four years where she studied Composition with Manuel Sosa. She has had lessons or masterclasses with Kaija Saariaho, John Adams, Un Suk Chin, Chen Yi, Libby Larsen, Caroline Shaw, Derek Bermel, Christopher Theofanidis, Anna Clyne, Stephen Stucky, Ian Krouse, and Augusta Read Thomas, among others.