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Dennis Báthory-Kitsz
Dennis
Báthory-Kitsz is one of America's most exciting and diverse composers.
He has made work for sound sculptures, soloists, tape & electronics, stage
shows, orchestras, dancers, interactive multimedia, acoustic installations,
and performance events. He directs Il Gruppo Nuke Jitters, and has been commissioned
more than 70 times.
His music ranges widely: He helped initiate the chamber
opera resurgence with Plasm over ocean at the World Trade Center in 1977, using
instruments of his own design; he presented the solo interactive performance
work Echo with handmade instruments, sound sculptures and computers in Vermont
in 1985; In Bocca al Lupo, ane early artistic creation for quasi-intelligent
systems, opened in Montana's Yellowstone Art Center in 1986; the Vermont outdoor
installation Traveler's Rest was a 1991 collaboration with sculptor Fernanda
D'Agostino; in 1999, he was the first American composer commissioned for Prague's
legendary Mánes Museum, conducting Zonule Glaes II for string quartet
& electronic playback; a full concert exploring his music was held at Amsterdam's
Zaal 100 in 2003; and his techno-overture Icecut was premiered by the Vermont
Symphony Orchestra in 2004.
Dennis is working on the vampire opera Erzsébet, appearing at Cséjthe
Castle in Slovakia in 2006, and on commissions for Carson Cooman, Su Lian Tan,
Martin Cikánek, Petr Cigler, Ed Epstein, James Pellerite and others.
Recent commissions are Shahmat for solo flute (Su Lian Tan); LiquidBirds for
three Theremins and video (FlynnSpace); NorthSea Balletic Spicebush for solo
contrabass (P. Kellach Waddle); Bales, Barrels & Cones for drumkit and playback
(Michael Manion); Phylum Euphoria for euphonium and playback (Jiri van der Kaay);
and Sing to Me, an opera scene (Discovery Channel). Among his recordings are
Csárdás (Ursa Minor), Detritus of Mating (Sistrum), zéyu,
quânh & sweeh (Frog Peak), iskajtbrz (UnLimit), The Warbler's Garden
(Capstone), and Snare:Wilding (illegal art.)
He has advocated for contemporary nonpop music for 30
years, from his co-founding of the Trans/Media arts cooperative in 1973 through
his present work as co-host of the radio/cyber show Kalvos & Damian's New
Music Bazaar, which won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award in 2000. He has been project
director for festivals from the 1974 Delaware Valley Festival of the Avant-Garde
through the 2001 Ought-One Festival of NonPop, and co-founded the NonPop International
Network of new music shows.
Dennis speaks and writes about music and composition; is Senior Editor for The
Transitive Empire; is co-founder of OrbitAccess, evaluating website usability;
and is Executive Director of the Vermont Alliance of Independent Country Stores.
Dennis's virtual home is at maltedmedia.com and he lives in Northfield, Vermont.
Web site: http://www.maltedmedia.com/people/bathory/.
Elliott Carter
David Gunn
David
Gunn began his musical training at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia,
studying piano and percussion. He later pocketed a degree in music composition
from a large Midwestern university (if he mentioned its name, you'd recognize
it in an instant). In 1992, the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble commissioned
him to write A Song, a Dance and a Spizder (sic) for the New Music Across America
Series. Since then, the ensemble has performed his music dozens of times in
concert and on public radio. In 1998, VCME recorded a CD of 16 of his chamber
music compositions entitled Somewhere East of Topeka, which Albany Records released
in 2003. Brisk sales are anticipated any day now. Gunn has also been commissioned
by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Vermont Youth Orchestra, Ethel, Essential
Music, the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra, Acolade (sic) and Social Band, among
others. Ray Bradbury's Pandemonium Theater Company is presently treading the
boards accompanied by his fifth clot of incidental music for them. Gunn's compositions
have earned him an ASCAP pecuniary award every year since 1997. And in 2004,
the Vermont Arts Council awarded Gunn its Citation of Meritorious Service to
the Arts, which, unlike his other citations, added no points to his driver's
license. For 10½ years, Gunn co-hosted the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award-winning
weekly radio show, Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar. Gunn is also a writer
and humorist, and lives simultaneously in Barre, Vermont and in hope of, in
order, peace on earth, good will towards men, and a pile of cash in the bank.
Peter Hamlin
Peter Hamlin began his professional career in broadcasting,
working as a host and program producer for public radio stations in San Diego
and Iowa and for National Public Radio. He has also been fine arts host for
Iowa Public Television.
Hamlin studied composition with George Todd during undergraduate
years at Middlebury College, received his masters at the University of Northern
Iowa while studying with Peter Michaelides, and studied with Samuel Adler and
Joseph Schwantner while earning his doctorate at the Eastman School of Music.
He taught at St. Olaf College from 1992-2004, and, in 2004, returned to his
alma mater where he is now Music Department Chair and teaches courses in composition,
theory and electronic music.
He has written numerous works for orchestra, wind ensemble, choir, chamber ensembles, and solo voice. He has also written music for young audiences, music theater works and music for electronic media, and is a long-time member of the live electronic improv band Data Stream.
Joachim Horsley
Joachim
Horsley is a composer, sound designer and recording engineer with interests
in many different styles and genres of music. In addition to works for the concert
hall, he has written music for television programs and independent films with
premiers at major film festivals throughout the world. He is also called upon
as a composer and arranger for many artists on major and independent recording
labels. In 2000, he co-founded LittleHorse Music & Audio, a boutique music
company in Manhattan. He also performs with his own group, LittleHorse, a double-piano
rock band that has recorded three albums of original music and completed several
national tours.
He graduated Cum Laude from Skidmore College in 2000,
where he studied with Chris Brubeck (piano) and Lewis Rosengarten (Composition).
He studied composition with Samuel Adler in 2006 at the Freie Universität
Berlin in Berlin, Germany.
He lives in New York City. www.LittleHorseMusic.com
Charles Ives
David Lang
(01 January 1957 - )
David Lang the prolific, enthusiastic and complicated composer ; embodies the restless spirit of invention. Musically adventurous, yet deeply versed in the classical tradition, Lang is determined to make a music that resists categorization. He is constantly in search of new musical forms. Many of his pieces resemble each other only in the fierce intelligence and clarity of vision that inform their structures.
Lang's catalogue is extensive, and his opera, orchestra, chamber and solo works
are by turns ominous, ethereal, urgent, hypnotic, unsettling and funky. Moments
of heart-wrenching lyricism may be pushed up against metal-crunching chords.
Intense rhythmic patterns may fracture or unravel into luminous pockets of harmonic
sound. Much of his work seeks to expand the definition of virtuosity in music
; even the deceptively simple pieces can be fiendishly difficult to play and
require incredible concentration by the musicians. The effect is spellbinding.
There is no name yet for this kind of music, writes music critic Mark Swed,
but audiences around the globe are hearing more and more of Lang's work: in
performances by such organizations as the Santa Fe Opera, the New York Philharmonic,
the San Francisco Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, and the Kronos Quartet;
at Tanglewood, the BBC Proms, The Munich Biennale, the Settembre Musica Festival,
the Sidney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival and the Almeida, Holland, Berlin, Strasbourg
and Huddersfield Festivals; in theater productions in New York, San Francisco
and London; in the choreography of Twyla Tharp, La La La Human Steps, The Nederlands
Dans Theater and the Royal Ballet; and at Lincoln Center, the South Bank Centre,
Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Barbican Centre, and the Brooklyn Academy
of Music.
Recent projects include monumental musical environments like the dark and meditative
amplified orchestra piece The Passing Measures; The Difficulty of Crossing a
Field ; an opera for the Kronos Quartet with libretto by Mac Wellman and direction
by Carey Perloff; the critically acclaimed opera Modern Painters about the curious
and tragic life of art critic John Ruskin; the evening-length piano solo Psalms
without Words, and the bittersweet comic book opera The Carbon Copy Building,
with cartoonist Ben Katchor, Bob McGrath and the Ridge Theater, and composers
Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe, and World to Come, a Carnegie Hall commission
for cellist Maya Beiser, which Ms. Beiser is performing on an international
tour. He is currently working on the opera Anatomy Theater with visual artist
Mark Dion. Other recent works include Loud Love Songs, a concerto for percussionist
Evelyn Glennie and the Eos Orchestra, which premiered in New York in April 2004
and Fur, a concerto for pianist Andrew Zolinksy and the BBC Symphony Wales,
which had its world premiere in September 2004 in the UK.
Lang has been honored with the Rome Prize, the BMW Music-Theater Prize (Munich),
a Kennedy Center/Friedheim Award, the Revson Fellowship with the New York Philharmonic,
and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts,
the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 1999 he received a Bessie Award for his music for choreographer Susan Marshall's
The Most Dangerous Room in the House, performed live by the Bang on a Can All-Stars
at the Next Wave Festival of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The Carbon Copy
Building won the 2000 Village Voice OBIE Award for Best New American Work.
Lang is co-founder and co-artistic director of New York's legendary music festival,
Bang on a Can, and Composer-in-Residence at the American Conservatory Theater
in San Francisco. Born in Los Angeles in 1957, Lang holds degrees from Stanford
University and the University of Iowa, receiving his doctorate from the Yale
School of Music in 1989. He has studied with Jacob Druckman, Hans Werner Henze
and Martin Bresnick. His work is recorded on the Sony Classical, BMG, Point,
Chandos, Argo/Decca, CRI and Cantaloupe labels.
David Lang's music is published by Red Poppy (ASCAP) and distributed by G. Schirmer, Inc.
September 2004 (bio courtesy or Schirmer Music)
Michael Mower
http://www.itchyfingers.com/mikemower/biography.asp
Erik Nielsen
Erik Nielsen has been composing for 30 years
and his catalog includes works for chorus, orchestra, wind ensemble, solo instruments,
chamber music of many configurations and electronic music. His works have been
performed in Canada, Europe and Australia as well as many locations in the United
States and have been performed by ensembles including the Amabile, Emerson and
Ying String Quartets; the National Symphony Orchestra; the Killington and Manchester
Chamber Players; Bread and Puppet Theater; the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble;
Vermont Symphony; Vermont Youth Orchestra and Village and Northern Harmony.
He has won awards from ASCAP, the Vermont Arts Council, and in 1991 was chosen
Vermont Composer of the Year by the Vermont Music Teachers Association. In 2004
he was awarded a Creation Grant by the Vermont Arts Council to compose a companion
piece to Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat. The work, The Crane Maiden, will
be toured by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble in the near future. In
2002 he received the National Symphony Orchestra's composition prize for Vermont.
The resulting commissioned work, Mr. Nielsen's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings,
was premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. on March 20, 2004.
He has also recently received commissions from the Vermont All-State Music Festival,
Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble
and the Vermont Youth Orchestra. He was a 1994-95 recipient of a Vermont Council
on the Arts Fellowship in music. In 1995 his piano quintet was performed at
Carnegie Hall by the Manchester Chamber Players. In October, 2000, his opera,
A FLEETING ANIMAL: An Opera from Judevine, a collaboration with poet/playwright
David Budbill, was premiered to great acclaim in several locations in Vermont.
In addition, Mr. Nielsen is the former Director of the Consortium of Vermont
Composers, a position he held for three years. He is Composer-in Residence at
Bloomfield, East Hartford, Simsbury and Wethersfield High Schools in Connecticut,
BFA-St. Albans, Randolph and Spaulding high schools in Vermont, as well as composition
mentor with the Vermont Midi Project and the Vermont Teen Voices Project. He
also teaches music theory and composition with the Vermont Youth Orchestra.
Mr. Nielsen lives in Brookfield, Vermont. http://www.eriknielsenmusic.com/
Chan Ka Nin
Chan, Ka Nin was born in Hong Kong in 1949 and moved
with his family to Vancouver in 1965. At the University of British Columbia,
he studied composition with Jean Coulthard while pursuing a Bachelor degree
in Electrical Engineering. After graduation, he decided to further his musical
training by studying with Bernhard Heiden at Indiana University, where he obtained
his Master's and Doctoral degrees in Music Composition. He is currently an Associate
Professor at the University of Toronto, where he has taught music theory and
composition since 1982.
Awards include the Barlow International Chamber Music Competition (1991) for
Among Friends (clarinet, violoncello and piano); and, the Bela Bartok International
Composers' Competition (1982) for his String Quartet No. 2. Additional awards
include the James Madison University Flute Choir Composition Competition (1988);
the Alienor Harpsichord Composition Award (1986); the International Horn Society
Composition Contest (1982); the PROCAN Young Composers' Competition (1979);
the Violet Archer Orchestral Prize (1976); and the Vancouver New Music Society's
Orchestral Composition Contest (1976).
Dr. Chan's music has been performed by such ensembles as the National Arts Centre
Orchestra, the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra,
the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra London Canada, the Symphony Nova
Scotia, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kodaly, Amici, Purcell and Manhattan
String Quartets, the Societe de musique contemporaine du Quebec ensemble, and
the New Music Concerts ensemble.
His orchestral work Ecstasy is recorded on compact disc by the Esprit Orchestra
(Toronto), his Four Seasons Suite is recorded by the Ottawa Winds, and his The
Everlasting Voices is recorded on Centredisc with soprano Rosemarie Landry.
Winner of Juno Awards for Best Classical Composition, CHAN KA NIN was born in
Hong Kong in 1949 and moved with his family to Vancouver, Canada in 1965. At
University of British Columbia he studied composition with Jean Coulthard while
pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. After graduation he
decided to continue studying composition with Bernhard Heiden at Indiana University
where he eventually obtained his Master's and Doctoral degrees in music. Since
1982 he has been teaching theory and composition at the University of Toronto.
His trio for clarinet, cello and piano, Among Friends, a Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation commission for the Amici, won the Barlow International Competitions
in 1991. In 1992, his Saxophone Quartet won the Amherst Saxophone Quartet Composition
Competition. Both performance groups had recorded the winning works on their
own compact discs. His String Quartet No. 2 won the Bela Bartok International
Composers' Competition in 1982, the winning work was published by Editio Musica
Budapest. Other awards include the International Horn Society Composition Contest
1982, the Alienor Harpsichord Composition Award 1986, the James Madison University
Flute Choir Composition Competition 1988, PROCAN Young Composers' Competition
in 1979, the Violet Archer Orchestral Prize and the Vancouver New Music Society's
Orchestral Composition Contest in 1976.
His music has been performed by ensembles such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra,
CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamilton Philharmonic
Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra London Canada, Symphony Nova
Scotia, Kodaly Quartet, Purcell Quartet, Manhattan Quartet, the Thirteen Strings
of Ottawa, the Sociéétéé de musique contemporaine
du Quéébec and the New Music Concerts ensemble.
Arvo Pärt
Born in Paide, Estonia in 1935, Pärt's musical studies began in 1954 at
the Tallinn Music Middle School, interrupted less than a year later while he
fulfilled his National Service obligation as oboist and side-drummer in an army
band. He returned to Middle School for a year before advancing to the Tallinn
Conservatory in 1957 where his composition teacher was Professor Heino Eller.
Pärt started work as a recording engineer with Estonian Radio, wrote music
for the stage and received numerous commissions for film scores so that, by
the time he graduated from the Conservatory in 1963, he could already be considered
a professional composer.
The early 1960s in Estonia saw many new methods of composition being brought
into use and Pärt was at the fore-front; his Nekrolog of 1960 was the first
Estonian composition to employ serial technique. He continued with serialism
through to the mid 60s in pieces such as the 1st and 2nd symphonies and Perpetuum
Mobile, but ultimately tired of its rigours and moved on to experiment, in works
such as Collage on B-A-C-H, with collage techniques.
In 1968 Pärt chose to enter the first of several periods of contemplative
silence, also using the time to study French and Franco-Flemish choral part
music from the 14th to 16th centuries - Machaut, Ockeghem, Obrecht, Josquin.
At the very beginning of the '70's, he wrote a few transitional compositions
in the spirit of early European polyphony, the 3rd symphony of 1971 being an
example: "a joyous piece of music" but not yet "the end of my
despair and search."
Pärt turned again to self-imposed silence, during which time he delved
back through the medievalism of his 3rd symphony and through plainchant to the
very dawn of musical invention. He re-emerged in 1976 after a transformation
so radical as to make his previous music almost unrecognizable as that of same
composer. The technique he invented, or discovered, and to which he has remained
loyal, practically without exception, he calls tintinnabuli (from the Latin,
little bells).
The basic guiding principle behind tintinnabulation made its first public appearance
in the short piano piece, Für Alina. Having found his voice, there was
a subsequent rush of new works and three of the 1977 pieces (Fratres, Cantus
In Memoriam Benjamin Britten and Tabula Rasa) are still amongst his most highly
regarded.
In 1980 Pärt and his family emigrated to Vienna, where he took Austrian
citizenship. One year later, with a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange,
he moved to West Berlin where he still lives.
Since leaving Estonia, Pärt has concentrated on setting religious texts
for various forces. Large scale works include St. John Passion (1982), Te Deum
(1984-86, rev. 1993) and Litany (1994). Works for SATB choir such as Magnificat
(1989) and The Beatitudes (1990) have proved popular with choirs around the
world and there is a growing ouvre of works for string orchestra and various
chamber ensembles. - (1935)
Born in Paide, Estonia in 1935, Pärt's musical studies began in 1954 at
the Tallinn Music Middle School, interrupted less than a year later while he
fulfilled his National Service obligation as oboist and side-drummer in an army
band. He returned to Middle School for a year before advancing to the Tallinn
Conservatory in 1957 where his composition teacher was Professor Heino Eller.
Pärt started work as a recording engineer with Estonian Radio, wrote music
for the stage and received numerous commissions for film scores so that, by
the time he graduated from the Conservatory in 1963, he could already be considered
a professional composer.
The early 1960s in Estonia saw many new methods of composition being brought
into use and Pärt was at the fore-front; his Nekrolog of 1960 was the first
Estonian composition to employ serial technique. He continued with serialism
through to the mid 60s in pieces such as the 1st and 2nd symphonies and Perpetuum
Mobile, but ultimately tired of its rigours and moved on to experiment, in works
such as Collage on B-A-C-H, with collage techniques.
In 1968 Pärt chose to enter the first of several periods of contemplative
silence, also using the time to study French and Franco-Flemish choral part
music from the 14th to 16th centuries - Machaut, Ockeghem, Obrecht, Josquin.
At the very beginning of the '70's, he wrote a few transitional compositions
in the spirit of early European polyphony, the 3rd symphony of 1971 being an
example: "a joyous piece of music" but not yet "the end of my
despair and search."
Pärt turned again to self-imposed silence, during which time he delved
back through the medievalism of his 3rd symphony and through plainchant to the
very dawn of musical invention. He re-emerged in 1976 after a transformation
so radical as to make his previous music almost unrecognizable as that of same
composer. The technique he invented, or discovered, and to which he has remained
loyal, practically without exception, he calls tintinnabuli (from the Latin,
little bells).
The basic guiding principle behind tintinnabulation made its first public appearance
in the short piano piece, Für Alina. Having found his voice, there was
a subsequent rush of new works and three of the 1977 pieces (Fratres, Cantus
In Memoriam Benjamin Britten and Tabula Rasa) are still amongst his most highly
regarded.
In 1980 Pärt and his family emigrated to Vienna, where he took Austrian
citizenship. One year later, with a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange,
he moved to West Berlin where he still lives.
Since leaving Estonia, Pärt has concentrated on setting religious texts
for various forces. Large scale works include St. John Passion (1982), Te Deum
(1984-86, rev. 1993) and Litany (1994). Works for SATB choir such as Magnificat
(1989) and The Beatitudes (1990) have proved popular with choirs around the
world and there is a growing ouvre of works for string orchestra and various
chamber ensembles.
Thomas Read
Thomas
L. Read, DMA, composer and violinist, is Professor of Music at the University
of Vermont. He has composed music for a variety of media and almost entirely
on commission -- music for small ensembles, full orchestra, solo voice, chorus
and musical theater. He has been a recipient of several Arts Council and University
Stipends, and has won awards, grants and fellowships from organizations such
as the American Federation of Teachers, the MacDowell Colony, The Charles Ives
Institute, and the Johnson Composers Conference. Recent premieres include Enchorial
Landscape for tuba and piano at the University of Arizona, Alcyone for narrator,
chorus, accordion, marimbas, steel drums and synthesizer at the Barbican Centre,
London, with subsequent performances at Harvard and Wesleyan Universities, and
various movements of Piano Partita in New York City and at the Warebrook Music
Festival. In February, 2004, a full concert of his music, presented in his honor
by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, included the premiere of Chamber
Concerto. A recording of On October Ground, performed by Philharmonica Bulgarica
was released in March 2004 by ERM Media Masterworks Recordings. C.F. Peters,
Tunbridge Music, Tuba Euphonium Press and the American Composers Edition publish
his work. Web site www.thomaslread.com.
Terry Riley
Belinda Reynolds
Raised
in a Texan Air Force family, Belinda Reynolds now considers herself an 'adopted
native' of California. She is an active composer, organizer, and teacher that
focuses on bringing new music to a variety of audiences and communities. Ms
Reynolds completed her Doctorate at Yale University with Martin Bresnick, Jacob
Druckman, Jonathan Berger, and Tania León. She received her M.A. and
B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied principally
with Andrew Imbrie and John Thow. She has received awards from ASCAP, the International
League of Women Composers, the NACUSA Young Composers Competition, and the CMTA
Composition Competition, among others.
Belinda Reynolds' music has been performed by a number of organizations throughout North America and Europe, including: the Da Capo Players, New Music Consort, The New Millennium Ensemble, Twisted Tutu, Essential Music, Earplay, the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, Citywinds, Alternate Currents Performance Ensemble, Fulcrumpoint (Chicago), Continuum Contemporary Music (Toronto), Artemis (Toronto), New Music Works, Music Now, Seventh Chapter Brass (Australia), and The Albany Symphony's Dogs of Desire. Her music has been featured in such festivals and venues as the Spoleto USA Music Festival, Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series, The Festival of New American Music, Chicago Artists' Series, the Portugal New Music Festival, Wie Es Ihr Gefält, and Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She has also been an Artist in Residence at Djerassi Colony, Banff Centre for the Arts, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the MacDowell Colony.
Recent seasons have been an especially productive for Ms. Reynolds. The Amsterdam based group, ELECTRA, has performed her music as part of Lincoln Center's Great Performances Series They have also toured it across Europe, including performances in London's Queen Elizabeth's Hall and on the island of Sardinia. In addition, Jennifer Hymer and WIREWORKS premiered in Germany Ms. Reynolds' solo piano/sampler/film work, JUST BETWEEN US. Other engagements include being guest artist at the Spoleto Festival USA, the Blueprint Festival, and The Festival of New American Music. Most recently, Ms. Reynolds' guitar concerto, CONVERGENCE, was arranged and performed in Rosario Argentina by the new music group, Ensamble Rosario, and the acclaimed guitarist, Sergio Puccini. Other projects include commissions for BARBWIRE, the Paul Dresher Electro-Acoustic Band, the Southwark Consorts of Winds (UK) and Kathleen Supové. Her CD, COVER, featuring entirely her works for chamber ensembles, was released in January 2006 on the Innova Recordings label.
As an organizer, Ms. Reynolds is Vice-President of the
composers' cooperative, Common Sense. Now in their tenth year, the main objective
of the group has been to explore alternative ways of conceiving and presenting
new works. Common Sense has been responsible for the commission of over 50 new
works, written for such organizations such as the Albany Symphony and the Meridian
Arts Ensemble. Common Sense's premiere CD was recorded on CRI's Emergency Music
label in January, 1997. Their latest CD, Shock of the Old, featuring works from
their collaboration with the Bay Area Ensemble American Baroque, was one of
the winners of the Chamber Music America/WQXR Best Chamber Music CD for 2003.
Ms. Reynolds is also very active in music education. She has been a Meet-the-Composer-in-Residence
for public schools and was the Music Director for the Bethwood Youth Orchestra
in Woodbridge, CT. Additionally, she has taught and guest lectured at Dartmouth
College and Yale University, among others. Ms. Reynolds is the Director of HeShe
Music in San Francisco, a private studio that teaches composition, piano, theory,
and musicianship. Her music is published by Dover, HeShe Music, and Kithara
Editions.
Allen Shawn
Allen Shawn (born 1948) grew up in New York City and started composing music
at the age of ten. After studying composition with Leon Kirchner and Earl Kim
at Harvard University, he spent two years in Paris studying with Nadia Boulanger,
then returned to New York, where he pursued graduate studies at Columbia, taught
at a number of schools, and worked as a theater pianist. He has lived in Vermont
since 1985, and is on the faculty of Bennington College.
Shawn has composed chamber and piano music, ten orchestral works, song cycles
and choral pieces, a chamber opera and a music-theater work to libretti by his
brother, playwright Wallace Shawn, a one act children's opera to a libretto
by Penny Orloff, music for ballet, incidental music for theater, and music for
film. He is represented on CD by a considerable amount of chamber music, music
for solo piano, and a recording of his Piano Concerto performed by Ursula Oppens
with the Albany Symphony. He has received both a Goddard Lieberson Award and
an Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for
his work as a composer. Allen Shawn is also the author of the book Arnold Schoenberg's
Journey, which received a Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP in 2003. His second
book, Wish I Could Be There was published in February, 2007.
Tim Woos
Tim Woos, 15, is a young composer from New Haven, Vermont.
He started composing with the Vermont MIDI Project in 2005, and has had five
pieces performed by professional musicians at the Vermont MIDI Project's Opus
11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 concerts. In the summer of 2006, his piano trio, Travel
by My Dragonfly, was premiered at the Green Mountain Suzuki Institute, and received
a second performance at the New York Summer Music Festival. On New Year's Eve
2006, his Four Scenes for Orchestra was premiered by the Vermont Youth Orchestra
at the Flynn Theater as part of Burlington's First Night Celebration. Four Scenes
for Orchestra won an Honorable Mention in the 2007 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould
Young Composers Awards. His orchestral piece, Rebounce, was commissioned and
premiered by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra in November 2007 as part of its
Student Matinee Series. The VSO will be touring with this piece in May 2009.
Tim has studied composition with Erik Nielsen, David Ludwig, and Vivian Fung.
Tim works closely with a number of prominent Vermont musicians in his study of piano, flute, bassoon and conducting. Tim has studied piano with Cynthia Huard for 8 years. In 2005, in his first competition, he won the Vermont Baldwin Piano Competition of the Music Teachers National Association. Advancing to the next level, Tim received an Honorable Mention, third place out of 13 other state winners in the MTNA Eastern Division Junior Piano Competition. He was one of five young pianists nationally to be selected to perform at the Biennial Suzuki Association of the Americans Conference in May 2006. Tim was invited to perform in both January 2006 and January 2007 in the "Young Artists in Recital" concerts at St. Paul's Cathedral in Burlington, Vermont. Tim performed solo piano recitals in December 2006 in Rochester and Middlebury, Vermont. In March 2007, he placed 2nd in the Plymouth State (NH) Contemporary Piano Music Festival, playing the third movement of Prokofiev's 7th Piano Sonata. Tim was also a finalist in the Vermont Young Musicians Award competition in August 2007.
Tim studies flute with Grammy-nominee Karen Kevra and is co-principal flute in the Vermont Youth Orchestra under the baton of Troy Peters, with whom he studies conducting; he will be 2nd flute in the 2008 All New England Music Festival Orchestra. Tim is a bassoon student of Rachael Elliott of Clogs. Tim also plays keyboards and guitar in his rock band, Mosaic, whose music has been influenced by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and Shostakovich.
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