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APPENDIX A

Biography of Libby Larsen¹

“Music exists in an infinity of sound. I think of all music as existing in the substance of
the air itself. It is the composer's task to order and make sense of sound, in time and
space, to communicate something about being alive through music. ”

— Libby Larsen

Libby Larsen (b. 24 December 1950, Wilmington, Delaware) is one of America’s most
prolific and most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 400
works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive
orchestral works and over twelve operas. Her music has been praised for its dynamic,
deeply inspired, and vigorous contemporary American spirit. Constantly sought after for
commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles and orchestras around the world,
Libby Larsen has established a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory.

Larsen has been hailed as “the only English-speaking composer since Benjamin Britten
who matches great verse with fine music so intelligently and expressively” (USA Today);
as “a composer who has made the art of symphonic writing very much her own.”
(Gramophone); as “a mistress of orchestration” (Times Union); and for “assembling one
of the most impressive bodies of music of our time” (Hartford Courant). Her music has
been praised for its “clear textures, easily absorbed rhythms and appealing melodic
contours that make singing seem the most natural expression imaginable.” (Philadelphia
Inquirer) “Libby Larsen has come up with a way to make contemporary opera both
musically current and accessible to the average audience.” (The Wall Street Journal).
“Her ability to write memorable new music completely within the confines of traditional
harmonic language is most impressive.” (Fanfare)

Libby Larsen has received numerous awards and accolades, including a 1994 Grammy as
producer of the CD: The Art of Arlene Augér, an acclaimed recording that features
Larsen’s Sonnets from the Portuguese. Her opera Frankenstein, The Modem 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, she
has held residencies with the California Institute of the Arts, the Arnold Schoenberg
Institute, the Philadelphia School of the Arts, the Cincinnati Conservatory, the Minnesota
Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, and the Colorado Symphony. Larsen’s many
ɪ Libby Larsen website “Long Press Biography”

http://libbylarsen.com/index.php?contentID=403 (accessed 2 February 2010).

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