Willa Fine Hawthorne is a 2020/21 fellow in the LA Phil Nancy and Barry Sanders Composer Fellowship Program. Willa attends Polytechnic School, where she is a member of the class of 2022. She currently studies composition with Reena Esmail. She began her studies in cello in 2008 and currently studies privately with Margaret Edmondson. Willa joined the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus in 2012 and is now a member of LACC’s Chamber Singers and SATB Ensemble.  With LACC, she has performed with the LA Phil at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl; on NPR’s From the Top; and in Los Angeles Opera’s production of La bohème at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. She attended Interlochen’s 2020 summer program in composition. She is a member of her school’s varsity dance team. In her spare time, Willa enjoys reading, cooking, visual arts and design, and matcha.