UW Music Faculty, Students to Perform with American Composer Dec. 5

During the 2016-17 concert season, the University of Wyoming Department of Music will host a number of world-renowned eminent artists. The season continues the week of Dec. 5-9 with the music of Eminent Composer-in-Residence and Grammy winner Libby Larsen.

UW Department of Music faculty and students will perform a free concert, “American Notes: Chamber Music of Libby Larsen,” Monday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall.

A variety of works from solo to small chamber ensemble will be performed, including “Four on the Floor” with music faculty members John Fadial, violin; Beth Vanderborgh, cello; Gonzalo Teppa, double bass; and Theresa Bogard, piano.

“Four on the Floor” is inspired by boogie-woogie, and is a celebration of American music and American musicians.

Larsen is among America’s most prolific and most performed living composers. She has created a catalog of more than 500 works spanning virtually every genre, from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and more than 12 operas.

Her music has been praised for its dynamic, deeply inspired and vigorous contemporary American spirit. She constantly is sought after for commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles and orchestras around the world, establishing a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory.

Larsen has received numerous awards and accolades, including a 1993 Grammy as producer of the CD “The Art of Arlene Augér,” an acclaimed recording that features Larsen’s sonnets. Her opera “Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus” was selected as one of the eight best classical music events of 1990 by USA Today.

The first woman to serve as a resident composer with a major orchestra, Larsen has held residencies with the California Institute of the Arts, the Arnold Schoenberg Institute, the Philadelphia School of the Arts, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony and the Colorado Symphony.

Larsen’s many commissions and recordings are a testament to her fruitful collaborations with a long list of world-renowned artists, including the King’s Singers, Benita Valente and Frederica von Stade. Her works are widely recorded on such labels as Angel/EMI, Nonesuch, Decca and Koch International.

She is a past holder of the 2003-04 Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education at the Library of Congress and also a recipient of the Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Peabody Award.

During her residence, Larsen will work with UW faculty to rehearse her chamber music, visit classes to talk about her music career and give composers private lessons. In the spring, she will be on campus Feb. 6-10 and April 3-7, working with UW’s larger ensembles.

For a complete schedule or more information, call the UW music department at (307) 766-5242 or email Anne Guzzo, music associate professor, at guzzo@uwyo.edu.