Erika Ji

Discipline: Composing

Based In: Queens, NY

Year at Millay: 2025

Awards/Honors: Artist-In-Residence, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Taos, NM (2024); Artist-in-Residence, KHN Residency, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Nebraska City, NE (2023); Award Winner, The Vivace Award, The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation, New York, NY (2023); Participant, Songwriter Initiative, The Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals, East Haddam, CT (2022).

Website: https://www.erikaji.com/

Erika Ji is a cross-genre composer-storyteller who loves soaring melodies, dream worlds, and stories that challenge our preconceptions about what is true, good, or worth wanting. Her work has premiered at Lincoln Center and the Public, and been supported by the National Music Theater Conference, National Alliance for Musical Theater, and New York Foundation for the Arts. 

Recent works include Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria (5th Avenue Theatre Commission, 2021, Civilians R&D, 2022, Orchard Project, 2023, O’Neill NMTC, 2023, NAMT Festival, 2023, Rhinebeck, 2024, VISARE (New Voices Winner, 2021). Ji is a Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Artist (2024), Vivace Award Winner (2023), KHN Artist (2023), Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriter (2022), among many others. Ji performs as a pianist, accordionist, and vocalist on Broadway (Cabaret, Kimberly Akimbo) and national TV (CBS Sunday Morning).

The proud daughter of Chinese immigrants, Ji grew up in California, studied computer science and philosophy at Stanford, and built products at Dropbox before deciding to follow the music.