Maya (Giovannina Luigia) Verlaak is a Belgian composer and performer (born in Ghent, 1990). In 2008 she moved to the Netherlands to study at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague (NL). During her Bachelor studies, she studied major Composition and minor Sonology (Sound Analysis and Technology). She studied with Gilius Van Bergeijk, Diderik Haakma Wagenaar and Peter Adriaansz. In 2013 she graduated and enrolled in a two year Master in Composition, also at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague (NL). The first year of the master was spend on exchange at Birmingham conservatoire (UK), studying with Michael Wolters and Howard Skempton. She moved back to The Hague to finish her masters degree with Peter Adriaansz and Martijn Padding and in June 2015 she graduated with a distinction. In March 2015, Maya got accepted in the AHRC funded Midlands3Cities Doctoral Training Partnership. She moved to Birmingham (UK) and started her Phd in October 2015. Her supervisors are Michael Wolters, Howard Skempton and John Richards. Reflection and analysis are pivotal to her compositional process. One of her latest series "All x music is y" was performed by established ensembles at several leading festivals across the UK and the Netherlands, (e.g. London Simfonietta, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Ensemble Klang, Gaudeamus Festival) and involved focusing on the characteristics of the instruments, musicians and place of residence of the ensemble. During the process of composing a new piece she distances herself from the conventional sound-focussed compositional process. She applies a ‘Hexe’ attitude: taking a critical approach by analysing the context and re-evaluating the situation. This process creates a distance from the subject because she is standing near the fence so to speak, observing the situation from the periphery. Working from such a distance often results in the creation of humour in the final realisation of a composition.