Angel Bat Dawid is a Chicago-based composer, clarinetist, pianist, conductor, DJ, and educator with 35 years of experience as a musician and performer. Since her 2019 debut album, The Oracle—released via International Anthem Recording Company—she has established a career in contemporary music centered on the integration of classical composition, gospel, jazz, avant-garde improvisation, and visual installations. A 2025 United States Artist Fellow and current Artist in Residence at Northwestern University's Black Arts Consortium, Dawid leads the all-male ensemble Tha Brothahood—whose 2020 release LIVE was recognized by NPR—and the all-female group Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty.

 

Dawid works with D-Composed, a Chicago-based Black chamber string ensemble that celebrates Black musicians and composers. She premiered the commissioned work Black Metropolis with the collective in 2025 and, in February 2026, premiered her 14-movement work, The Souls of Black Folk Suite, at the Harris Theater in Chicago. She has maintained a monthly residency on NTS Radio for over five years, focusing on the documentation of Black music. Her performance and recording credits include work with André 3000, Saul Williams, Bilal, Shabaka Hutchings, and Carlos Niño. In film and media, she contributed to the score for season two of HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness and has composed for Adidas and independent film directors.

 

Her practice includes a focus on community pedagogy. She founded the Bloom Residency for Black Women at the Black woman-owned co-creation space The Blk Room in Chicago’s Garfield Park and co-leads the Fireflies program at the Old Town School of Folk Music, providing music education to youth on Chicago’s West and South Sides. Her work with the Carnegie Hall Lullaby Project at the Simpson Academy for Young Women bridges professional composition with teen mothers to co-create original music.

 

Dawid has performed on stages across the United States and internationally, touring the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa. Her performance history includes premier venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Centre, Newport Jazz Festival, and the EFG London Jazz Festival. Notable international performances include appearances at the Philharmonie de Paris and Jazz à la Villette in France, as well as the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and Jazzfest Berlin in Germany. She remains the clarinetist for Damon Locks’ Black Monument Ensemble and is currently preparing for the June 2026 premiere of Henry ‘Box’ Brown: Tales of a Magical Nee Grow at Western Front  in Vancouver, BC.

 

Dawid’s professional foundation is defined by 35 years of musicianship as a clarinetist and pianist. Classically trained and active across gospel, jazz, hip-hop, and avant-garde genres, she specializes in arrangement, multi-track recording engineering, and large-ensemble conducting. This 35-year tenure as a performer informs her technical integration of acoustic instrumentation with electronic production, supporting the tradition and evolution of Black Music.