Ihlara is a composer and musicologist from Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand, currently based in Montreal, Canada. Her compositions have been performed and recorded in Aotearoa, Australia, Japan, and Canada by artists including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand National Youth Orchestra, Argonaut Ensemble (resident ensemble at the Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music), Stroma (NZ), the Ximenez Quartet (Canada), Orchestra Wellington (NZ), and NZ Trio. She is currently studying towards her Masters in Musicology at McGill.
