Catalog: Biographies: Page 23 of 25

Please keep this site alive by contributing song listings and other information to the catalog. See the bottom of every catalog page for how.

von Droste-Hülshoff, Annette

German poet (see songs) 1797 - 1848, working primarily in German

This entry contributed by G&K around 11/22/98

Other Web Site: http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=2081

This entry contributed by G&K around 1/25/99

[click for top of page]

Vores, Andy

Welsh composer (see songs) 1956 - , working primarily in English

This entry contributed by G&K around 11/21/98

ANDY VORES, 202 Fuller Street #6, Brookline, MA 02446. Tel: 617 / 232-8805

ANDY VORES was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1956 and has lived in the U.S. since 1987. He studied composition at Lancaster University, England. After graduating he was awarded an Arts Council of Great Britain Bursary for Composition and moved to London, where he worked as a music copyist and as Lecturer in Composition at the City University. Many of his works received their premieres during this time from such performers as Sarah Walker, Irvine Arditti, Gemini, the London Sinfonietta, Lontano, the Nash Ensemble, Capricorn, and the BBC Singers, including HUMMING HARVEST GONE SNOW MOTOR which subsequently won first prize in the Kucyna International Composition Competition at Boston University in 1985.

In 1986 he was a Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood, where he studied with Oliver Knussen. HAMMER AND DARKNESS, MIRROR AND KNIFE, written that summer, was awarded the Tanglewood Prize for Composition. In 1987 HEAD DOWN LEGS UP won the Ian Whyte Award, the prize being a commission for a new work, TWISTIFICATION, for the Scottish National Orchestra, which was toured by them throughout Scotland in 1988. He has received awards from ASCAP, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Richmond International Festival of New Music, The American Music Center, and Museum in the Community

In 1990 SINFONIETTA was premiered by the Omaha Symphony Chamber Orchestra as the prize-winning work in their New Music Contest. The following year TWISTIFICATION was chosen for a National Orchestral Association reading under Jorge Mester in New York. Commissions include RETURN TO A PLACE, written for Sanford Sylvan and David Breitman and premiered by them at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; WETHERBY NOCTURNE, a Barlow Foundation commission for Kathleen Supové premiered at Weill Recital Hall, New York; SH'MA commissioned by the Brookline Chorus in memory of the victims of the Holocaust; FIVE LITTLE FLY STORIES for Alea III; CLEOPATRA, written for Dominique Labelle; and WEEGEE, written for Collage's 25th anniversary season.

In 1992 he was Composer-in-Residence at Bemidji State University, the first holder of an Interdisciplinary Fellowship established by the American Composers Forum and the Minnesota State University System as part of a scheme to examine new ways of utilizing creative artists in college education. During that time, with over 100 students, faculty and townspeople he created EARTH JOURNEY a multi-media staged production based upon the many cultural variants of the Orpheus story.

His two-act comic opera, FRESHWATER, was commissioned by the Boston University Opera Institute, and premiered in December 1994 to great critical success.

Recent performances include ACTAEON, for Metamorphosen; THIS THAT for the New England Percussion Ensemble; and IN A PARLOR CONTAINING A TABLE performed by Dawn Upshaw and Gil Kalish. Upcoming performances include THE RECKLESS HEART for soprano Kendra Colton; QUARTET No.3, commissioned by Chamber Music America for the Borromeo Quartet; and a large work for soloists, chorus and orchestra celebrating the millennium, commissioned by The Cantata Singers.

This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/21/98

[click for top of page]

Whitman, Walt

American poet (see songs) working primarily in English

This entry contributed by G&K around 7/9/98

Walt Whitman's biography can surely be found easily on other sites on the web; I will endeavor to provide a link to an appropriate one. Meanwhile, Whitman was one of the Transcendentalists in American history and literature. He, along with Thoreau, believed in an all-encompasing Over-soul which was the spark of life for all things. This belief led to a feeling of connection with all things, and especially an interest in the "natural" world. Leaves of Grass is a collection of poems that deals particularly with this theme. He lived during the American Civil War, and became a war correspondant for a newspaper. The grisly and tragic scenes of brother fighting brother affected him greatly, and he communicated his compassion and horror through both his newspaper reports and his diary, later published as Specimen Case, I believe. His powerful compassion for the soldiers he encountered led some to believe he was a homosexual, although Whitman denied it.

Other Web Site: http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=20730

See also Walt Whitman: The Complete Poems (Poetry) in the Singers' Bibliography

This entry contributed by G&K around 7/16/98

[click for top of page]