Wiki Category: Women Composers

Vehar, Persis

29 September 1937; New Salem, New York
American composer

Works for Brass Ensemble
  • Sonata for brass quintet
  • The Four Directions for brass ensemble
Biography

Vehar holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College and a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, and had three years’ postgraduate study in New York City. Her private composition studies were with Warren Benson, Ross Lee Finney, Roberto Gerhard and Ned Rorem. She had additional advanced composition workshops with Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Leon Kirchner, Roger Sessions, Jacob Druckman and John Corigliano. Vehar frequently presents master classes in composition at such institutions as SUNY Fredonia and Potsdam, Pittsburg State (Kan.), Austin-Peay State (Tenn.), Wake Forest U. (N.C.), Syracuse, and the Eastman School of Music.

Persis Parshall Vehar has had works commissioned and performed by leading orchestras, opera companies, ensembles, soloists and schools throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. With over 300 compositions ranging from solo song to full orchestral works and operas, Vehar’s works have been performed at many of the leading concert halls. She is the recipient of 30 annual ASCAP Plus Awards for excellence in composition and seven Meet the Composer grants, and is included in the International Museum’s Collection of Distinguished Musicians in London and the Biblioteque Internationale De Musique Contemporaine in Paris.

Conductor JoAnn Falletta said, “Persis is a composer of great imagination and tremendous talent. She enjoys writing for musicians whom she knows and cares about, and her music is always deeply personal and very communicative.”

References

Persis Vehar official website

Vaughan, Dindy

1938, Australia
Australian composer & educator

Official Dindy Vaughan website

Works for brass ensemble
  • Blue Whales (2009) for brass quintet
Biography

Dindy Vaughan is a writer, educator, environmentalist and composer. A graduate BA (Hons) Sydney and MA Flinders, she has held tertiary lectureships at RMIT and VUT, as well as being an Academic Assessor for Deakin University.

Dindy Vaughan’s compositions range widely, encompassing vocal, choral, chamber, keyboard and orchestral works, as well as youth music and music for theatrical productions. In 2006 she was commissioned to write a choral symphony, celebrating the Great South West Walk; this was premiered in Portland by Music Glenelg Festival Singers and the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Wailes, and was greeted with a standing ovation. Discovery Symphony is now available on CD/DVD, with visuals by Peter Corbett.

Prior to the writing of this work, Dindy Vaughan had worked with Anne Norman (shakuhachi) and Peter Hagen (harpsichord), producing the CD Up the Creek, works concerned with the the present state, and future, of Australian waterways; with this she was a finalist in the Australian Classical Music Awards in 2006.

Recent compositions include the orchestral work Melbourne Suite – In Memoriam Matthew Krel (2010, requested by Matthew shortly before his untimely death), Sea Shells on Bruny (2010) for soprano and string quartet, for Suzie LeBlanc, Nu Day (2008-2010), twelve pieces for the year of the Apology performed by David Lempriere Laughton at the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 2015 during the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards, and Violin Sonata No 2, Montsalvat, written during and after holding an artist in residence position at Montsalvat, and both performed and recorded by Helen Ayres (Violin) and Larissa Cox (piano).

Current projects include production of a new CD Homecoming, with works for clarinet, flute, cello and piano, with performers Craig Hill, Mardi McSullea, Rosanne Hunt, Tamara Kohler and Larissa Cox (to be issued in Spring 2016), a CD of the piano suite Nu Day, performed by David Lempriere Laughton, and a CD of Recollections from Childhood, piano music sketches, and poetry by Jane Vaughan Donnelly.

Dindy Vaughan has worked extensively in community research and development, including oral history, adult education, Australian social history and environmental programs. Through her business, Gallery Without Walls, she has worked closely with artists, writers and musicians, integrating programs and organising performances, exhibitions and events. Her publications include books, music scores and articles.

In 1996 Dindy Vaughan was the recipient of the prestigious University of Sydney Alumni Award for Achievement in Community Service. She appears in Marquis Who’s Who in the World Millenium 2000 Edition and subsequent editions, as well as other national and international biographies.

Van de Vate, Nancy

1930
American composer and educator, living in Vienna

  • 1972 – Short Suite for brass quintet
  • 1974 – Brass Quintet
  • 1975 – Contest for brass quintet
  • 2005 – Brass Quintet No. 2: “The Streets of Laredo”

Biography

Born in the United States and living in Vienna for many years, Nancy Van de Vate is known worldwide for her music in the large forms. She currently teaches music composition at the Institute for European Studies in Vienna. Nancy Van de Vate has also been a faculty member at eleven colleges and universities in the United States and at the Jakarta Conservatory (Yayasan Pendidikan Musik) in Indonesia. Her full-length opera, All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Western Nichts Neues) premiered in Osnabrück, Germany in 2003 and was performed there ten times to great critical acclaim. The same work was included in May 2003 by the New York City Opera in its VOX 2003: Showcasing American Opera series, again to critical acclaim.

Her 26 orchestral works include the well-known Chernobyl, which has been performed in Vienna, Hamburg, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and in the United States at the Chautauqua Festival and by the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra. A special performance on February 25, 2006 by the Yale Symphony Orchestra, Toshiyuki Shimada, conductor, marked the 20th anniversary of the world’s most famous nuclear accident. Chernobyl has been widely broadcast worldwide since its first appearance on compact disc in 1987. Many of Van de Vate’s recordings are available for streaming on You Tube.

The composer has also created a large body of solo and chamber music for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles. Among her newest chamber works are String Quartet No. 2, commissioned by the Vienna Mozart Year 2006, and Brass Quintet No. 2: Variations on the “Streets of Laredo,” commissioned by the University of Mississippi for an October 2005 festival of her music. Journeys Through the Life and Music of Nancy Van de Vate, a complete biography and extensive anaylsis of her music, written by Laurdella Foulkes-Levy and Burt Levy, was published in 2004 by Scarecrow Press.

Usher, Julia

945 UK

The angel standing in the sun 1985 Primavera

Tiutiunnik, Katia

19 March 1967, Sydney Australia
Australian composer, violist, & educator

Works for brass ensemble
  • Out of the Depths (2009) for brass quintet
Biography

Katia Tiutiunnik is a composer and scholar who has studied several languages as an adjunct to her research. She is of Russian, Ukrainian and Irish descent. Tiutiunnik was the first Australian composer to be appointed visiting scholar at Columbia University, New York. She was also the first Australian to complete a residency at Charles Morrow Productions, New York, where she composed a work for three-dimensional soundcube, presented in Cologne, in November 2005. Most recently, she was a Senior Lecturer in Composition at the Faculty of Music, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia, from March 2012 until April 2016 (after which she declined the offer of a further extension to her contract there) and an Honorary Research Associate at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the University of Sydney, from June 2010 until June 2016. In August 2016, Tiutiunnik was appointed Professor of Music at SIAS University, Xinzheng, Henan Province, China where she worked until embarking on a privately sponsored sabbatical in South East Asia on November 20 2019.

Tiutiunnik has been awarded numerous international travel grants, commissions and other sponsorship from the government and private sectors.

Tiutiunnik earned her PhD from the Australian National University and was awarded the highest Italian postgraduate diploma from the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome, where she studied with Franco Donatoni. She obtained her BMus from Sydney Conservatorium, where she was awarded all three of their composition prizes. In December 2009, Tiutiunnik’s PhD dissertation was published and released internationally.

Besides Franco Donatoni, Tiutiunnik’s former composition teachers include Michael Smetanin, Larry Sitsky, Gillian Whitehead, Bozidar Kos and Richard Toop.

In March 2007, Tiutiunnik was invited to Saint Petersburg as part of festivities held in celebration of two hundred years of business relations between Australia and Russia. Prominent Russian musicians, including the Rimsky-Korsakov Quartet of Saint Petersburg and pianist Anna Shpagina, performed Tiutiunnik’s works in a concert held in the Palace of the Saint Petersburg Composers’ Society, as part of those festivities (Tiutiunnik performed the viola during the concert). Tiutiunnik also lectured at the Saint-Petersburg Conservatory of Music and was interviewed by Radio Maria. Tiutiunnik’s travel to this event was funded by a sponsor and her concert and reception were sponsored by the Australian Embassy in Moscow, the Honorary Australian Consul in Saint Petersburg and others.

Tiutiunnik’s music has been performed in Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan (including a historical performance of a symphonic poem dedicated to Queen Noor of Jordan, in September 1999 as part of the 28th General Assembly of the International Music Council), Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand the UK and the USA. Tiutiunnik has lectured worldwide and her works are held in numerous international libraries, including the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, Princeton University Library, Columbia University Library, Stanford University Library, the New York Public Library and many others

Presentations on Tiutiunnik’s music have been given by Professor James Bicigo (of the University of Alaska Fairbanks), in Australia and the USA. Tiutiunnik’s music has also been used for theatrical productions in Australia, the UK and the USA. Commercial CD recordings of her work include those by Laura Chislett, Stephanie McCallum and Borealis Brass of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 40 live and studio recordings of her worked are commercially published by Alexander Street Press, as are over 35 of her scores. Other publishers include TauKay Edizioni Musicali (TEM), Italy, and Charles Morrow Productions.

In December 2009, the historic ‘Borealis in Australis’ tour featured over ten Australian performances of Tiutiunnik’s compositions, by Borealis Brass of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Borealis Brass also completed a historic tour of Tanjung Malim, Shah Alam and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as a guest of the Faculty of Music, Universiti Teknologi MARA,Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris UPSI) and Yamaha, Malaysia.

Tiutiunnik’s music continues to be broadcast internationally and performed by numerous international artists, including Iwona Glinka, Bridges Collective, Elizabeth Reid, Roberto Fabbriciani, Vilma Campitelli, University of Teramo Flute Ensemble, Flutopia Flute Orchestra, Luis Casal, Emille Blondel, Bridges Collective, Pemi Paull, Merietta Oviatt, Giovanni Pattavina, Nathan Fischer, Alice Bennett, Laila Engle, Laura Chislett, Ross James Carey, Shaowen Tan, Chiara Dolcini, Beatrice Petrocchi, Side Band, Arya BastaninEzhad, Brad Gill, Jane Bishop, John Sharpley, Akiko Otao, Monica Moroni, Chiara Dolcini, Lachlan Dent, Kalin Yong, Roger Vigulf, Arcko Symphonic Ensemble and others.

From September 2016 to November 2019, Tiutiunnik was was a violist in the SIAS University Symphony Orchestra, Xinzheng, Henan Province, China and she also played the viola for a number of years in the Australian National University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, as well as in the Sydney Youth Orchestra. Her most important viola teacher was the celebrated Australian violinist/violist, Tor Fromyhr. She has performed as a viola soloist in the Palace of the Saint-Petersburg Composers’ Society, Saint-Petersburg, Russia; St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney; LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore; Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, Malaysia; UPSI, Malaysia; the Russian Centre for Science and Culture, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, Bangkok, Thailand; International House, New York, USA; Sias University, Xinzheng, Henan Province, China and in other international venues. As an erhu player, Tiutiunnik performed with the SIAS University Chinese Traditional Orchestra from February 2017 to November 2019 and she has also given solo recitals on the erhu at the 2019 China-ASEAN Music Festival, Nanning, Guangxi Province, China; at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture, Kuala Lumpur; at Sias University, Xinzheng, Henan Province, China and Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China.

Thomas, Augusta Read

24 April 1964, Glen Cove, NY
American composer and educator

Augusta Read Thomas website

Works for Brass Ensemble
  • Scherzi Musicali (2007) for brass quartet
  • Fête - a fanfare (2010) for brass ensemble
  • Avian Capriccio (2016) for brass quintet
Biography

The music of Augusta Read Thomas is nuanced, majestic, elegant, capricious, lyrical, and colorful — “it is boldly considered music that celebrates the sound of the instruments and reaffirms the vitality of orchestral music” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

A composer featured on a Grammy winning CD by Chanticleer and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Thomas’ impressive body of works “embodies unbridled passion and fierce poetry” (American Academy of Arts and Letters). The New Yorker magazine called her “a true virtuoso composer.” Championed by such luminaries as Barenboim, Rostropovich, Boulez, Eschenbach, Salonen, Maazel, Ozawa, and Knussen, she rose early to the top of her profession. The American Academy of Arts and Letters described Thomas as “one of the most recognizable and widely loved figures in American Music.”

She is a University Professor of Composition in Music and the College at The University of Chicago. Thomas was the longest-serving Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for conductors Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez (1997-2006). This residency culminated in the premiere of Astral Canticle, one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music. During her residency, Thomas not only premiered nine commissioned orchestral works, but was also central in establishing the thriving MusicNOW series, through which she commissioned and programmed the work of many living composers. For the 2017-2018 concert season, Thomas was the Composer-in-Residence with the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, while Francesco Lecce-Chong served as Music Director and Scott Freck as Executive Director. Thomas was MUSICALIVE Composer-in-Residence with the New Haven Symphony, a national residency program of The League of American Orchestras and Meet the Composer.

Thomas won the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, among many other coveted awards. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Thomas was named the 2016 Chicagoan of the Year.

In 2016, Augusta Read Thomas founded the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition, which is a dynamic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary environment for the creation, performance and study of new music and for the advancement of the careers of emerging and established composers, performers, and scholars. Distinguished by its formation within an uncompromising, relentlessly searching, and ceaselessly innovative scholarly environment, which celebrates excellence and presents new possibilities for intellectual dialogue, the Center comprises ten integrated entities: annual concert series featuring the Grossman Ensemble, CHIME, visiting ensembles, distinguished guest composers, performances, recordings, research, student-led projects, workshops and postdoctoral fellowships.

Not only is Thomas one of the most active composers in the world, but she is a long-standing, exemplary citizen with an extensive history of being deeply committed to her community. She is the former Chairperson for the American Music Center; Vice President for Music, The American Academy of Arts and Letters; and Member of the Conseil Musical de la Foundation Prince Pierre de Monaco.

In February 2015, music critic Edward Reichel wrote, “Augusta Read Thomas has secured for herself a permanent place in the pantheon of American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. She is without question one of the best and most important composers that this country has today. Her music has substance and depth and a sense of purpose. She has a lot to say and she knows how to say it — and say it in a way that is intelligent yet appealing and sophisticated.”

Recent and upcoming commissions include those from the Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with the San Francisco Opera and other opera companies, PEAK Performances at Montclair State University and the Martha Graham Dance Company, The Cathedral Choral Society of Washington D.C., The Indianapolis Symphony, Tanglewood, The Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Boston Symphony, the Utah Symphony, Wigmore Hall in London, JACK quartet, Third Coast Percussion, Spektral Quartet, Chicago Philharmonic, Eugene Symphony, the Danish Chamber Players, Notre Dame University, Janet Sung, Lorelei Vocal Ensemble, and the Fromm Foundation.

Thomas has the distinction of having her work performed more frequently in 2013-2014 than any other living ASCAP composer, according to statistics from the performing rights organization (New York Times). Her discography includes 88 commercially recorded CDs.

from the composer’s website