Susie Ibarra (born Anaheim, November 15, 1970) is a contemporary composer and percussionist who has worked and recorded with jazz, classical, world, and indigenous musicians. One of SPIN's "100 Greatest Drummers of Alternative Music," she is known for her work as a performer in avant-garde, jazz, world, and new music. As a composer, Ibarra incorporates diverse styles and the influences of Philippine Kulintang, jazz, classical, poetry, musical theater, opera, and electronic music. Ibarra remains active as a composer, performer, educator, and documentary filmmaker in the U.S., Philippines, and internationally. She is interested and involved in works that blend folkloric and indigenous tradition with avant-garde. In 2004, Ibarra began field recording indigenous Philippine music, and in 2009 she co-founded Song of the Bird King, an organization focusing on the preservation of Indigenous music and ecology. Early years The youngest of five children, Ibarra was born in Anaheim, California, and raised in Houston, Texas. Her parents Bartolome and Herminia Ibarra were both physicians who immigrated from the Philippines. She began playing piano at the age of four. In grade school she sang in church and school choirs and played in a punk rock band in high school. While at Sarah Lawrence College in the late 1980s, Ibarra attended a Sun Ra performance which she has credited with kindling her interest in jazz. She also attended the Mannes College The New School for Music and Goddard College, where she received her B.A. in Music. Ibarra has lived in New York since 1989. She has studied with notable jazz and avant-jazz drummers Vernel Fournier, Earl Buster Smith, and Milford Graves. She has studied Philippine Kulintang music with National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Artist and Danongan "Danny" Kalanduyan and the Kalanduyan family, both in the United States and in Cotabato, Mindanao Philippines. As a performer Ibarra was named "Best Percussionist" in the 2010 Downbeat International Readers Poll and "Best Percussionist, Rising Star" in the 2009 and 2011 Downbeat Critics Poll. Ibarra has been featured on the cover of percussion magazines such as Tom Tom and Modern Drummer. Ibarra is a Yamaha Drums, Vic Firth, and Paiste Cymbals Artist. Susie Ibarra continues to tour and perform internationally in music festivals and other venues. She has received music commissions and performed her work for Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall, NYC; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.; Banlieues Bleues Festival in Paris; Tampere Jazz