Paper Pianos · 2026

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Paper Pianos is rooted in stories of displacement, survival, and resettlement. Visit the support page for direct access to organizations connected to this work.

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The Piece / The Album

Paper Pianos

“A socially urgent multi-media work that boldly melds music and audio documentary with first-person stories of refugees, exploring how music serves as solace and inspiration under conditions of displacement.”
— 2024 Pulitzer Prize Committee

Paper Pianos (2024 Pulitzer Prize in Music Finalist) is an evening-length music-theatre and sonic-documentary work that speaks eloquently and evocatively to this moment, hauntingly exploring the journeys and obstacles refugees confront as they uproot lives and livelihoods, families and friendships, in search of safer harbors.

Co-created by Armenian-American, GRAMMY®-nominated composer Mary Kouyoumdjian and South African-American director and writer Nigel Maister, and performed by the contemporary, GRAMMY® Award–winning ensemble Alarm Will Sound, the work examines dislocation, longing, and optimism—both from the perspective of refugees themselves and from those who provide services to them.

Drawing on interviews conducted by Maister and Kouyoumdjian with refugees and refugee resettlement workers, Paper Pianos resists abstraction in favor of deeply personal testimony.

Listen to the Album

Tracklist

IOverture: This is Not a Choice (Gee-Gee's Primer)
IIChild of War
IIIAll Good Things
IVBad to Worse
VFlight
VIAn Open Fist

Music by Mary Kouyoumdjian. Text by Nigel Maister. Performed by Alarm Will Sound, conducted by Alan Pierson.

Release: 2026
Label: Cantaloupe Music
Catalog: CA21223
Format: Live recording
Premiere: Recorded live · February 25, 2023 · EMPAC, Troy, NY
Streaming: Streaming links coming soon

About the Creators

The Team Behind Paper Pianos

Mary Kouyoumdjian
Co-Creator · Composer · Documentarian
A first-generation Armenian-American whose family was directly affected by the Lebanese Civil War and the Armenian Genocide, Mary Kouyoumdjian is a GRAMMY®-nominated composer and documentarian whose work integrates recorded testimony and field recordings to humanize experiences of social and political conflict. A finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Music for Paper Pianos, she has received commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Beth Morrison Projects, Alarm Will Sound, and Roomful of Teeth, among others. She is on faculty at The New School and is based in Brooklyn, NY.
Nigel Maister
Co-Creator · Writer · Staging Director
Nigel Maister is a director, writer, designer, visual artist, and performer, and a founding member of Alarm Will Sound. He has staged, developed, and designed concerts at venues across the country and internationally, including Columbia's Miller Theatre, The Kitchen, Zankel Hall, Cal Performances, the Holland and River to River festivals, and in Korea. He wrote the libretto for and directed I Was Here I Was I at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Temple of Dendur, co-developed and directed AWS's acclaimed 1969, and conceived, designed, and directed John Cage's Song Books for the Holland Festival. A MacDowell fellow, he serves as Artistic Director of the International Theatre Program at the University of Rochester.
Kevork Mourad
Projection Design · Animation
Born in Qamishli, Syria, Kevork Mourad studied at the Yerevan Institute of Fine Art and now lives in New York. A painter and video artist, he creates animated and live visuals presented worldwide — including at the Spoleto Festival, Korea National Opera, Washington National Cathedral, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Aga Khan Museum, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Elbphilharmonie. His work is held in major collections, including the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and the Aga Khan Museum, which acquired Seeing Through Babel in 2023. A longtime member of the Silkroad Ensemble, he was featured in The Music of Strangers (dir. Morgan Neville).
Alan Pierson
Music Director · Conductor
GRAMMY®-winning conductor Alan Pierson is the founding Artistic Director and conductor of Alarm Will Sound, praised by The New York Times as “a dynamic conductor and musical visionary” and by The New Yorker as “a sensational force” with “powerful ideas about how to renovate the concert experience.” He cultivates deep relationships with living composers, including Steve Reich, Donnacha Dennehy, Mary Kouyoumdjian, David T. Little, and Jlin, and is a premier interpreter of contemporary opera. Pierson has released more than 30 albums and is Co-Director of the Northwestern University Contemporary Music Ensemble.
Alarm Will Sound
Performing Ensemble
“One of the most vital and original ensembles on the American music scene” (The New York Times), Alarm Will Sound is a GRAMMY®-winning, 22-member band committed to innovative performances and recordings of today's music. Stylistically omnivorous and physically versatile, the group's repertoire ranges from the arch-modernist to the pop-influenced, and includes deep relationships with composers at the forefront of contemporary music. Alarm Will Sound is the resident ensemble at the Mizzou International Composers Festival and may be heard on nineteen recordings, including their most recent release, Land of Winter.

Stories

Stories from the Work

Learn more about the individuals whose experiences shape Paper Pianos.

Milad Yousufi
Born under Taliban rule that banned the arts, he painted piano keys on paper to practice.
Read the Story
Getachew Bashir
A judge from Ethiopia forced to leave when judicial independence was threatened.
Read the Story
Hani Ali
Born on the run, she came of age in a displacement camp.
Read the Story
Akil Aljaysh
He fled Iraq after torture and made his way through Syria and Lebanon to the U.S.
Read the Story

SupportRefugees

Paper Pianos

Tracklist

Mary Kouyoumdjian

Nigel Maister

Kevork Mourad

Alan Pierson

Alarm Will Sound

Milad Yousufi

Getachew Bashir

Hani Ali

Akil Aljaysh