Lois V Vierk, from Lansing Illinois, in suburban Chicago, was born in 1951. She studied composition at California Institute of the Arts with Mel Powell, Leonard Stein, and Morton Subotnick. For ten years she studied Gagaku (Japanese Court Music) with Mr. Suenobu Togi in Los Angeles, and for two years she studied in Tokyo with Mr. Sukeyasu Shiba, the lead ryuteki flutist of the emperor's Gagaku Orchestra. Ms. Vierk has spent most of her career in New York City. Her music has achieved an impressive international reputation. Recently it was presented in "composer's portrait" concerts at German Radio, Cologne and by other German and Swiss ensembles. Commissions include Silversword for the Lincoln Center Festival, where it was performed by the Reigakusha Ensemble of Tokyo, River Beneath the River, commissioned by the Barbican Center, London, for the Kronos Quartet, which has played it many times.

Among the many performers and presenters who have commissioned her are pianists Ursula Oppens, Frederic Rzewski, Aki Takahashi, and Margaret Leng Tan; accordionist Guy Klucevsek, cellist Maya Beiser and percussionist Steven Schick, Ensemble Modern, the Kitchen, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, the Bang on a Can Festival, L'Art Pour L'Art, and Music from Japan. Co-creations with tap-dance choreographer Anita Feldman have been commissioned by the American Dance Festival, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Meet the Composer and others.  Films by Holly Fisher which feature her music have screened at major film festivals in the US and Europe.

Ms. Vierk's music has been performed at major venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Bang On A Can festivals, Darmstadt, Radio Bremen, the Huddersfield Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Edmonton New Music Festival (Canada), the Suntory Festival (Tokyo), the Adelaide Festival (Australia). Her recordings are available on New World Music, Tzadik Records, XI Records, Sony Classical, Starkland Records.

Ms. Vierk has composed for many types of performing forces, from solo piano (Yeah Yeah Yeah; To Stare Astonished at the Sea) to string quartet (River Beneath the River; Into the Brightening Air) to chamber ensemble (Timberline, Red Shift for mixed ensemble; Simoom for 8 cellos; Tusk for 18 trombones; Go Guitars for 5 electric guitars; Cirrus for 6 trumpets etc.) to orchestra (Devil's Punchbowl).