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The 2012 Grammys confirmed that EDM had entered the mainstream, but Dave Grohl didn't really seem to be on board. A debate ensued. But if you ask Summer Shee-Singh Swee-Singh -- who's been playing the piano since she was 8 -- EDM is quite worthy. She's been putting together classical arrangements of genre stars like Skrillex and Daft Punk, and works to draw out the musical qualities beneath the production.
Swee-Singh is half Chinese and half Indian. She laughs often, and adds a "that's what she said" whenever possible. Blessed with perfect pitch, her arrangements usually feature piano and violin, and she also plays the flute.
She started performing for friends at the all-girls boarding school she attended in Claremont, California at age 12 14. She didn't get serious about covers until college, when she and fellow Cal students re-did Skrillex songs for Youtube. Three days after she posted the video, them man himself shared them with his fans. "My friend Sylvia texts me 'Skrillex posted it! He put it on his facebook!' and I just started screaming and ran out the door," she remembers.
Soon she was invited backstage to meet Skrillex to talk about her music. "He told me that if I could come up with a thirty minute set of his songs he would let me open for him," she says, adding that she is waiting to see if the offer is still on the table. 
Photo courtesy of Summer Swee-Singh
In the meantime she continues to perform with violinist Miren Edelstein. Together they call themselves the Dubutantes. "We think it would be really great to pair up with a DJ or learn to DJ ourselves, and be able to play live sets where there is both an electronic component and an acoustic component."
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