Ennis Harris is a Los Angeles-based composer, arranger, saxophonist, and flutist whose work bridges

musical cultures and forms through the lens of storytelling. His music moves fluidly across genre and

cultural traditions, and has been performed by leading artists and ensembles across the U.S. and abroad.

Ennis’ recent work includes performances of his arrangement of Nino Rota’s La Dolce Vita Finale by the

Orchestre Sinfonica del Conservatorio Niccolò Piccini featuring Joe Lovano and conducted by Vince

Mendoza, as well as the premiere of his latest orchestral work From The Wind, That Which Augurs,

commissioned and conducted by Dr. Larry Livingston with the 2026 TMEA Symphonic Orchestra. His

work Water Painter for percussion ensemble is being premiered at the 2026 Northwest Percussion

Festival with virtuoso marimbist Kana Funayama and the Central Washington University Percussion

Ensemble.

Ennis created original arrangements in collaboration with the University of Southern California,

Thornton School of Music Dean Jason King, conducting chair Dr. Larry Livingston, and Visions and

Voices for the 2025 Quincy Jones Symphonic. Ennis contributed fresh orchestrations of The Color

Purple, In Cold Blood, and more as well as re-imaginations Just Once for Symphonic Orchestra to feature

Yafeu Tyhimba alongside Greg Phillinganes and JR Robinson. He also created a new setting of

Everything Must Change, bringing together baritone Derrick Lawrence, cellist Seth Parker Woods, and

Greg Phillinganes at the keyboard. The orchestra was led under the baton of maestro Anthony Parnther.

Ennis is a 2024 recipient of the BMI Composer Award for his concertino for clarinet and orchestra,

entitled Adarna. That same year, he received 1st prize in the Van Alexander Arranging Competition

presented by ASMAC, for Tango inspired arrangement of Duke Ellington’s The Lake.

In 2023, he was awarded the Jeff Clayton New Note Commission Award by the Los Angeles Jazz

Society, which resulted in his 23-minute work Images and Sillhouettes for 19-piece jazz chamber

ensemble being premiered at the Angel City Jazz Festival. He also recieved the ISJAC/USF Prize for

Emerging Black Composers for his big band work Eye In The Sky.

Earlier recognitions include the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award for Portrait Poem (2022),

written for chamber orchestra and jazz septet, and a commission from theBABAorchestra, which

premiered his big band piece Ruggell later that year.

As a saxophonist and flutist, Ennis has performed with artists including Emily Bear at the Blue Note Los

Angeles, the Jon Hatamiya Sextet and Big Band, the Bill Holman Big Band, Pete Escovedo, The 7Teen

Big Band, and Sammy Miller and The Congregation. He appeared with Red Bull Symphonic alongside

acclaimed producer Metro Boomin, under the direction of Anthony Parnther, and has been featured as a

saxophone soloist with the San Bernardino Symphony. Recent engagements include his 2025 Ravinia-

Steans Institute Jazz Fellowship and his October debut at Sam First with Sam Reid.

Ennis holds a B.A. in Global Jazz Studies from UCLA and an M.M. in Jazz Performance from the

University of Southern California. He earned his DMA in Jazz Studies at USC, with an academic field in

Music Teaching and Learning, and elective fields in Composition and Instrumental Conducting.

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