Called “startling and brilliant” by PBS Arizona, Annie Nikunen is a composer, flutist, dancer, choreographer, and curator whose work fuses sound, movement, and space. Trained in ballet and once on track for a professional dance career, she has since crafted a personal movement language rooted in somatic expression, musicality, and humanity. Her interdisciplinary practice has spanned experimental music, classical ensembles, jazz, dance, theater, and film. Rooted in personal yet collective experience, Annie’s genre-fluid work explores deep connections between movement and sound. Annie is a founding member, flutist and Director of Artistic Planning of BlackBox Ensemble as well as a flutist/dancer with Isogram, often collaborating with artists across disciplines. Her work has been presented at Tanglewood, Roulette, The Whitney Museum, and Helsinki Music Centre, and performed by ensembles including The Phoenix Symphony and International Contemporary Ensemble. A former DJ, Business Manager and Classical Director at WKCR 89.9FM NY, she brings a storyteller’s voice to everything she does—on air, on stage, and on the page. A 2023 Tanglewood Composition Fellow and 2025 Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences recipient, Annie holds degrees from NYU and Barnard College of Columbia University.