Keiser Southern Music is pleased to welcome Laura Schwendinger to its growing catalog of accomplished contemporary composers, which also includes the work of Stephen Hartke, William Bolcom, Peng-Peng Gong, George Walker, Kenneth Fuchs, Roger Sessions and many others. She is first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin Prize, and is Professor of Composition at UW Madison. In this issue, we present some a few highlights from her considerable catalog spanning over 30 years.
Schwendinger’s music has been performed by world-class musicians including the Berlin Philharmonic, New Juilliard Ensemble, Dawn Upshaw, Eighth Blackbird, Boston Musica Viva, and the Jack Quartet. She has been LAO Composer in Residency with the Richmond Symphony, with additional honors including those from the Guggenheim, Koussevitzky (2), and Fromm Foundations; and two American Academy of Arts and Letters awards.
Her work has been described as “evince(ing) an acute sonic imagination and sure command of craft.” (Chicago Tribune), and “darkly attractive, artful and moving” (New York Times).
FEATURED
Van Gogh Nocturnes for Piano Order Here
Duration (minutes): 12
This set of Nocturnes is inspired by three of Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpieces:
1. Starry Night Over the Rhone;
2. Night Cafe at Arles;
3. Starry Night. Van Gogh
Noctures was premiered by Christopher Taylor at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
SELECTED ORCHESTRA WORKS
Animal Rhapsody (2016) 9″ – Orchestra
Bellagio Suite (2000) 12″ – String Orchestra
Betes de la Mer (Oceania) (2005) 9″ – Chamber Orchestra
Chiaro di Luna (1998) 4″ – String Orchestra
Chiaroscuro Azzurro (2008) 32″ – Violin and Orchestra
Esprimere (2007) 31″ – Cello Solo and Orchestra
Shadings (2011) 16″ -Orchestra
Sinfonietta (2013) 14″ – Chamber Orchestra
Waking Dream (2009) 11″ – Flute and Chamber Orchestra
2018-19 PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
2019
Mar 24: High Wire Act – dèdalo ensemble, Brescia, Italy
Feb 24: Sinfonietta – UW Iowa
Feb 10: All the Pretty Little Horses – Ensemble 4 These Times, San Francisco
Jan 26: High Wire Act – Collage New Music
Jan 25: Love Sonnets – Chair Collaborative Ensemble
2018
Dec 2: Aurora for Flute and Orchestra – Minnesota Orchestra, Adam Kuenzel, soloist
Nov 18: Van Gogh Nocturnes – Amy I-Lin Cheng, piano faculty recital
Sep 23: For Paris – University of Indianapolis, Michael Strauss, viola
May 17: Violinists in My Life – Chicago Composer’s Consortium, Eleanor Bartsch and Larry Axelrod
May 6: Three Movements for Solo Viola – Kurt Rohdes
Apr 3: Until the Sunrise – Chicago Composer’s Consortium
Mar 23: C’e la Luna Questa Sera? – University of Washington piano chamber competition
Mar 10: Footfalls – Cygnus Ensemble
Mar 1: Love Sonnets – The Cortona Duo UW Madison
Feb 27: Rapture – Brandeis University; Joshua Gordon, Rand Hodgkinson
Feb 4: Footfalls – Cygnus Ensemble at Sarah Lawrence
Jan 30: Over the Misty Mountains for solo oboe – US Premiere UW Madison; Aaron Hill, Soloist