Joan Tower | |
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_(Vol._I).jpg) Tower (circa 2003) | |
| Born | (1938-09-06)September 6, 1938 (age 86) New Rochelle,New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
Joan Tower (born September 6, 1938)[1][2] is aGrammy-winningcontemporaryAmericancomposer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded byThe New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world. After gaining recognition for her first orchestral composition,Sequoia (1981), atone poem whichstructurally depicts a giant tree from trunk to needles, she has gone on to compose a variety of instrumental works includingFanfare for the Uncommon Woman, which is something of a response toAaron Copland'sFanfare for the Common Man, theIsland Prelude, fivestring quartets, and an assortment of other tone poems. Tower was pianist and founding member of theNaumburg Award-winningDa Capo Chamber Players, whichcommissioned and premiered many of her early works, including her widely performedPetroushskates.
Born inNew Rochelle, New York, in 1938, Tower moved toBolivia when she was nine years old, an experience which she credits for making rhythm an integral part of her work. Tower discovered this love for rhythm in the local saint’s day celebrations. There, she learned how to play percussion and then started her musical journey.[3] For the next decade Tower's talent in music, particularly on the piano, grew rapidly due to her father's insistence that she benefit from consistent musical training. Tower's relationship with her mineralogist father is visible in many aspects of her work, most specifically her "mineral works" includingBlack Topaz (1976) andSilver Ladders (1986). She returned to the United States as a young woman to study music, first atBennington College and then atColumbia University where she studied underOtto Luening,Jack Beeson, andVladimir Ussachevsky and was awarded her doctorate in composition in 1968 .[4]
In 1969 Tower, along with violinist Joel Lester and flautist Patricia Spencer, founded the New York-basedDa Capo Chamber Players where she served as the group's pianist. Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s Tower wrote a number of successful works for the Da Capo Players, includingPlatinum Spirals (1976),Amazon I (1977) andWings (1981). The group won several awards in its early years, including the Walter W. Naumburg International Competition Award in 1973. Tower left the group in 1984, buoyed by the immediate success of her first orchestral composition,Sequoia (1981). Tower also was influenced by jazz music by seeing performers such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane in various clubs in New York City. This inspired her to become a jazz pianist for ten years and implement jazz chords in many of her works.[5]
In 1972 Tower had accepted a faculty position atBard College in composition, a post she continues to hold today.[4] Tower received aGuggenheim fellowship in 1976.[1] From 1985 to 1988 Tower was composer-in-residence at theSt. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Tower became the first woman recipient of theGrawemeyer Award for Music in 1990 for her compositionSilver Ladders.[6][7] In 1993, under commission from theMilwaukee Ballet, Tower composedStepping Stones, and she conducted sections from it at theWhite House. Other compositions from the 1990s include the thirdFanfare for the Uncommon Woman, several piano concertos (notably 1996'sRapids (Piano Concerto no. 2) andTambor (1998) written for thePittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In 1999 Tower accepted a position as composer-in-residence with theOrchestra of St. Luke's and in 1998 she won theDelaware Symphony'sAlfred I. DuPont Award for Distinguished American Composer.[8]
In 2002 Tower won the Annual Composer's Award from theLancaster Symphony. During the 2003–2004 season two new works were debuted,DNA, a percussion quintet commissioned for Frank Epstein, andIncandescent. In 2004 theNashville Symphony's recording[9] ofTambor,Made in America, and herConcerto for Orchestra earned a Grammy nomination. In 2004Carnegie Hall's "Making Music" series featured a retrospective of Tower's body of work, performed by artists including theTokyo String Quartet and pianistsMelvin Chen andUrsula Oppens. In 2005 Tower became the first composer commissioned for the "Ford Made in America" program, the only project of its kind to involve smaller-budget orchestras as commissioning agents of new work by major composers, in which her 15-minuteMade in America was performed in every state of the union during the 2005–2007 season.[10] In 2008, Tower'sMade in America and the recording of it by theNashville Symphony conducted byLeonard Slatkin won threeGrammy Awards: in the categoriesBest Orchestral Performance,Best Classical Album andBest Classical Contemporary Composition.[11]
Alongside those listed above, her work has been performed by many of the world leading orchestras and chamber ensembles, including The Orchestra Now, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seraph Brass, and the renowned American Brass Quintet.
She is currently the Asher B. Edelman Professor of Music atBard College inAnnandale-on-Hudson, New York, and as a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters. She also serves on the Artistic Advisory panel of theBMI Foundation.
Tower's early music reflects the influence of her mentors atColumbia University and is rooted in theserialist tradition, whose sparse texture complemented her interest in chamber music. As she developed as a composer Tower began to gravitate towards the work ofOlivier Messiaen andGeorge Crumb and broke away from the strict serialist model. Her work became more colorful and has often been described as impressionistic. She often composes with specific ensembles or soloists in mind, and aims to exploit the strengths of these performers in her composition.[8]
Among her most notable work is the six-partFanfare for the Uncommon Woman, each dedicated to 'women who are adventurous and take risks'. Inspired by Aaron Copland'sFanfare for the Common Man, four of the six parts are scored for 3 trumpets, 4 horns, 3 trombones, tuba and percussion. The first was debuted in 1987 and conducted byHans Vonk. For the second, which premiered in 1989, Tower added one percussion while the third, debuted in 1991 was scored for a double brass quintet. The fourth and sixth are scored for full orchestra. The fifth part was commissioned for the Aspen Music Festival in 1993 and was written specifically forJoan W. Harris.[12][13] The first five parts were added to theNational Recording Registry in 2014.
she attended Bennington College in the 1950s...at Columbia University, .. she studied under serialist composers like Otto Luening, Chou Wenchung, and Jack Beeson and earned her doctorate in 1968.
Jeoung, Ji-Young.An analysis of Joan Tower's solo keyboard works. 2009.
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Finalists:Pulitzer Prize for Music (1991–2000) | ||
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