Dika Chartoff | composer
music for concert stage, film and dance
“ Dika’s compositional voice is unique...This is all fused with a “new music” sensibility and a slowcore vibe that is all at once engaging, contemporary, and complex, without ever being overly academic. Her work is sophisticated, yet also down-to-earth. She never overnotates, and the sound she achieves in her work is always heartfelt and precise—yet also leaves plenty of room for performer interpretation.”
- Rob Paterson, composer
Suspiro
Written for clarinetist Tasha Warren and cellist Dave Eggar, Suspiro appears on their 2026 album Motherload (Bright Shiny Things label), a collection of new works by seven composers on motherhood, lullaby, and memory.
“The clarinet-cello pairing proves remarkably expansive throughout, especially in works like Dika Chartoff's wonderfully hypnotic Suspiro”
— BBC Music Magazine
"[Suspiro] manifest[s] almost entirely with overtones and resonance spectrum... moving sonic energy... What sound[s] like electronic synthesizers... is literally just organic cello and clarinet."
— Dave Eggar, cellist, Hear Us Out podcast, June 2026
“Dika is an incredibly thoughtful person and musician, with a deep, spiritual way to stop time in her music.”
— Tasha Warren, clarinetist
“The sense of a deep, womb-like inner space, sustained throughout the album, reaches profound depths in this track.”
— Lawrence Cosentino, City Pulse
Listen On Apple Music & Spotify
un-controlling
for cello, piano and two ebows composed by Dika Chartoff (ASCAP 2022)
World Premiere: Bargemusic | New York, Oct 21, 2022
European Premiere: Mostly Modern Festival | The Netherlands, April 22, 2023
I don't remember my dreams too much. I hardly have ever gotten ideas from nighttime dreams. But I love daydreaming and dream logic and the way dreams go
- David Lynch