Mieke Doezema

The dual roots of Mieke Doezema’s raw and poignant music are New Mexico’s high desert and her work as an advocate for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in Washington state, where she studied cello performance and composition. In 2019, Mieke premiered an evening of electro-acoustical and large ensemble compositions including Drunk Masculinity, Evolution to Equilibrium, Forget Me Not, and Unwelcome.

“My proudest moment as an artist was the premiere of my piece, Unwelcome,” Mieke says. “I wrote the violin solo with wind symphony for a colleague, friend, and trauma survivor to tell her story for the first time. That night showed me the power of art and music to give a voice to those who have been silenced and to tell stories that need to be heard.”

Mieke, 24, volunteered at Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services, where she received more than 50 hours of training and helped those traumatized by violence connect with critical community resources. Her experiences have inevitably enriched the poignancy and complexity of her art. As she tells the stories of others through music, she also examines who she is. Mieke has come closest to manifesting her authentic self in I Carry the Weight of Memories, a piece for solo piano.

Mieke won first place in the Western Washington Composers Competition, and Symphony Tacoma premiered her work Godless Galisteo on YouTube last year. Like many other works, Covid delayed or moved online first performances of her compositions, including Anthropocene: A Lament to Earth; Monsoon Season for solo marimba; and Reverie & Petrichor for music box and piano.