Allen Evan Shawn (born August 27, 1948)^[2] is an American composer, pianist, educator, and author based inVermont.

Shawn began composing at the age of ten, but dates his mature work from 1977. He has written a dozen orchestral works, including a symphony, two piano concertos, a cello concerto, and a violin concerto; three chamber operas; five piano sonatas and many additional works for piano; and a large catalogue of chamber music, songs and choral music. Among Shawn's available recordings are several ofchamber music, four CDs of piano music, including a CD devoted to his piano work by German pianist Julia Bartha, a piano concerto performed byUrsula Oppens with theAlbany Symphony Orchestra under the direction ofDavid Alan Miller, and the chamber operaThe Music Teacher, with a libretto by his brother,Wallace Shawn.

Shawn is the author of a book about Austrian composerArnold Schoenberg,Arnold Schoenberg's Journey, and a book aboutLeonard Bernstein,Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician.

He is also the author ofWish I Could Be There: Notes from a Phobic Life, which examines his experiences withanxiety andpanic disorder, as well as his relationship with hisautistic twin sister Mary,^[3] andTwin: A Memoir, also about Mary and his relationship with her.^[4] He discussedTwin withTerry Gross onWHYY'sFresh Air on January 3, 2011.^[5]

Shawn is a son ofThe New Yorker editorWilliam Shawn, and the brother of the actor and playwrightWallace Shawn. His family is of Jewish background. He received a bachelor's degree fromHarvard University, a master's degree from Columbia University, and studied in France withNadia Boulanger.^[6]

He teaches composition and music history atBennington College and was formerly married to novelistJamaica Kincaid, with whom he has a son, Harold, and a daughter, Annie.

He is married to pianist Yoshiko Sato, with whom he has a son, Noa.^[2]

• Arnold Schoenberg's Journey (New York:Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002,ISBN 0374105901)
• Wish I Could Be There: Notes from a Phobic Life (New York:Viking, 2007,ISBN 9780670038428)
• Twin: A Memoir (New York: Viking, 2011,ISBN 9780670022373)
• Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician (New Haven:Yale University Press, 2014,ISBN 9780300144284)

• Allen Shawn biography
• Terry GrossFresh Air interview with Allen Shawn, NPR.org, February 20, 2007.
• Allen Shawn at theInternet Off Broadway Database
• Allen Shawn Biography at Chaspen Foundation for the Arts
• Resume at Bennington College

• 1948 births
• 20th-century American male musicians
• 20th-century American classical composers
• 21st-century American male musicians
• 21st-century American classical composers
• American male classical composers
• American music educators
• Bennington College faculty
• Classical musicians from New York (state)
• Columbia University alumni
• Educators from New York City
• Harvard University alumni
• Jewish American classical composers
• Living people
• Composers from New York City
• People from Bennington, Vermont
• Writers from New York City
• American twins
• 21st-century American Jews
• Schoenberg scholars

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2013
• Articles with hCards