I create immersive, multidimensional worlds for us to linger in together. I often draw my inspiration from exploring human development at the intersection of technological advances and speculative visions of the future. While my music often uses programmatic elements, it refuses clear dramaturgical narratives and instead forms a basis for both abstract and analytical fantasy forms.

In my recent work I have explored themes such as a future humanity, neuralink, socially constructed algorithms and free will, and fantasized, conscious digital beings. I find music particularly powerful as it speaks to the human mind and invites us into spaces that are simultaneously real and intangible. I find the perception of sound fascinating because it is so immaterial that it is much harder to deny its veracity.

My greatest desire is to create a world in which aesthetics is understood as a fundamental medium for shaping human existence.

Zara Ali (b. 1995) is an American composer living and working in Germany. Her diverse musical style encompasses vivid programs, rich microtonal harmonies, close attention to electroacoustic tone color, and the translation of structural concepts (e.g., (geometry, kinetics, modal temporality) into sound. Her music has been programmed in Europe, North America and Asia, including in Berlin Konzerthaus, ECLAT Festival, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, impuls Festival for Contemporary Music, cresc. Biennale für aktuelle Musik Frankfurt Rhein Main, the Royaumont Festival, Archipel Festival, Tanglewood Festival, and Seoul International Computer Music Festival, the resonanzraum, Podium Esslingen, Deutsche Oper Berlin (Tischlerei), UpToThree, Bielefeld Philharmoniker and Münster Sinfonieorchester. In 2023, she won the renowned Gaudeamus Award and was selected for Deutsche Oper's Neue Szenen VII for a new work for chamber opera. In 2022, she received the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Award in Composition from the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb, the oldest classical music competition in Germany. She is currently the Composer-in-Residence for the Bielefeld Philharmoniker and Theater. She also received the Sonderpreis from the Freunde Junger Musiker Deutschland. In 2021, she received the JACK Studio Award competitive studio grant from the renowned JACK Quartet to compose a new work to be premiered in their 2023 season. In 2017, she received the Robert H. Burns Prize in chamber music composition. Zara received her B.A. from Columbia University in 2018 and her M.M. in music composition at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold in 2022. Zara was the composer-in-residence of the Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie for 2022-23. Prior teachers were Georg Friedrich Haas, Ake Parmerud, and Mark Barden. She is a frequent collaborator of ensemble mosaik.