Julia Wolfe

born on 18/12/1958 in Philadelphia, PA, United States

Julia Wolfe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Julia Wolfe (born December 18, 1958) is an American composer, and a graduate of the University of Michigan. Her music is distinguished by an intense physicality and a relentless power that pushes performers to extremes and demands attention from the audience. In the words of the Wall Street Journal, Wolfe has "long inhabited a terrain of [her] own, a place where classical forms are recharged by the repetitive patterns of minimalism and the driving energy of rock."

Wolfe has written a major body of work for strings, from quartets to full orchestra. Her quartets, as described by the New Yorker magazine "combine the violent forward drive of rock music with an aura of minimalist serenity [using] the four instruments as a big guitar, whipping psychedelic states of mind into frenzied and ecstatic climaxes." Wolfe's Cruel Sister for string orchestra, inspired by a traditional English ballad of a love rivalry between sisters, was commissioned by the Munich Chamber Orchestra and received its US premiere at the Spoleto Festival, and was recently released (along with her other string orchestra piece, Fuel) on Cantaloupe Records. Written shortly after September 11, 2001, her string quartet concerto My Beautiful Scream, written for Kronos Quartet and the Orchestre National de France (premiered in the US at the Cabrillo Festival under the direction of Marin Alsop), was inspired by the idea of a slow motion scream. The Vermeer Room, Girlfriend, and Window of Vulnerability exemplify Wolfe's ability to create vivid sonic images. Girlfriend, for mixed chamber ensemble and recorded sound, uses a haunting audio landscape that consists of skidding cars and breaking glass. The Vermeer Room, inspired by the Vermeer painting "A Girl Asleep" -- which when x-rayed reveals a hidden figure -- received its orchestral premiere with the San Francisco Symphony. Window of Vulnerability, written for the American Composers Orchestra and conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, Wolfe creates a massive sonic universe of dense textures and fragile windows.

The influence of pop culture can be heard in many of Wolfe's works, including Lick and Believing for the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Lick, based on fragments of funk, has become a manifesto for the new generation of pop-influenced composers. The raucous My Lips From Speaking for six pianos was inspired by the opening riff of the Aretha Franklin tune Think. Wolfe's Dark Full Ride is an obsessive and relentless exploration of the drum set, beginning with an extended hi-hat spotlight. In Lad, Wolfe creates a kaleidoscopic landscape for nine bagpipes.

Wolfe has also extended her talents to theatre by composing for Anna Deveare Smith's House Arrest, and won an Obie award for her score to Ridge Theater's Jennie Richie. She has compiled a series of collaborative multimedia works with composers Michael Gordon and David Lang, including Lost Objects (Concerto Koln, directed by Francois Girard), Shelter (Musikfabrik and Ridge Theater), and The Carbon Copy Building (with comic-book artist Ben Katchor). Wolfe recently created the city-wide spectacle Traveling Music with architects Diller Scofidio+Renfro in Bordeaux, France, filling the streets of the old city with 100 musicians walking and riding in pedi-cabs. Her work with film includes Fuel for the Hamburg-based Ensemble Resonanz and filmmaker Bill Morrison, and Impatience and Combat de Boxe for the Asko-Schoenberg Ensemble and 1920s film experimentalist Charles De Keukeleire.

Wolfe's Cruel Sister for string orchestra (commissioned by the Munich Chamber Orchestra) was recently released with Ensemble Resonanz (along with her other string orchestra work, Fuel) on Cantaloupe Music. Other CDs on Cantaloupe include Dark Full Ride (music for multiples) and Julia Wolfe The String Quartets. Recent projects include riSE and fLY, a percussion concerto for Colin Currie and the BBC orchestra and an evening length work for the Mendelssohn Club Choir of Philadelphia with the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

Wolfe has collaborated with theater artist Anna Deveare Smith, architects DillerScofidio+Renfro, filmmaker Bill Morrison, Ridge Theater, director Francois Girard, Jim Findlay, and choreographer Susan Marshall among others. Her music has been heard at BAM, the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival, Settembre Musica (Italy), Theatre de la Ville (Paris), Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and has been recorded on Cantaloupe, Teldec, Point/Universal, Sony Classical, and Argo/Decca.

She is co-founder of New York's music collective Bang on a Can. Her music is published by Red Poppy Music (ASCAP) and is distributed worldwide by G. Schirmer, Inc. Currently she is Director of Music Composition at New York University in the Steinhardt School.

Works

Orchestra

Amber Waves of Grain (1988) - 8 minute(s) Orchestration 2(pic).222/432+btbn.1/4perc/hp/str

Cruel Sister (2004) - 35 minute(s) Orchestration str (min 65431)

Tell me everything (1994) - 8 minute(s) Orchestration 111.asx.1/1110/2perc/hp.pf/str (111.asx.1/1110/2perc/hp.pf/amp 2vn, amp va, amp vc, amp db)

The Vermeer Room (1989) - 15 minute(s) Orchestration 1(afl).11(bcl).1/11.btbn.0/2perc/pf/str (fl(afl), ob, cl(bcl), bn, hn, tpt, btbn, 2perc, pf, hp, 2vn, va, vc, db)

Window of Vulnerability (1991) - 9 minute(s) Orchestration 3(2pic).3.3(bcl).2+cbn/4.3.3(btbn).1/timp.4perc/hp.syn.pf/str

Soloist(s) and Orchestra

My Beautiful Scream (2003) - 25 minute(s) Soloist(s) amplified string quartet Orchestration 3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/4perc/amp pf.hp.ebgtr/str

riSE and fLY (2012) - 25 minutes - Street percussion/body percussion & orchestra

Steel Hammer (2009) - 75 minutes 3 Singers Appalachian & traditional instruments Orchestration Cello, Contrabass, 1 perc, 1 pno, el guit-bjo-dulc, ca/bcl

Large Ensemble (7 or more players)

Arsenal of Democracy (1993) - 9 minute(s) Orchestration 1(pic).00.ssx+asx+barsx.0/132+btbn.0/bgtr/pf

Girlfriend (1988) - 18 minute(s) Orchestration all instruments amplified: fl(afl,pic), cl(bcl), full-size MIDI kbd with Electric Organ sound, perc, twelve cheap wine glasses (to be stomped on, 2 per player), vn, vc, audio tape with click track

LAD (2007) - 14 minutes - nine bagpipes

Steam (1995) - 7 minute(s) Orchestration fl, vc, eorg, Harry Partch instruments

Soloist(s) and Large Ensemble (7 or more players)

Accordion Concerto ("True Love") (2005) - 20 minute(s) Soloist(s) Accordion Orchestration 1.1.1(bcl).1/1.1.1.1/perc/hp.pf/str (1.1.1.1.1)

Works for 2-6 Players

Believing (1997) - 9 minute(s) Orchestration amplified sextet

Believing (expanded version) (1997) - 20 minute(s) Orchestration amplified sextet

Close Together (2000) - 18 minute(s) Orchestration cello, percussion, electronic tape

Dark Full Ride (2002) - 18 minute(s) Orchestration four drum sets

Dig Deep Orchestration string quartet

Early That Summer (1993) - 12 minute(s) Orchestration str4t

Four Marys (1991) - 12 minute(s) Orchestration str4t

Lick (1994) - 8 minute(s) Orchestration all instruments amplified: ssx, perc, pf, egtr, vc, db

Mink Stole (1997) - 10 minute(s) Orchestration vn, pf

on seven-star-shoes (1985) - 6 minute(s) Orchestration fl(pic), ob, cl(bcl), bn, hn

Strong Hold (2008) - 25 minute(s) Orchestration 8 Double Basses

Solo Keyboard(s)

6 Pianos Orchestration 6 pf

Compassion (2001) - 7 minute(s) Orchestration piano

Earring (2001) - 2 minute(s) Orchestration piano

East Broadway (1996) Orchestration toy piano, toy boombox

my lips from speaking (1993) - 13 minute(s) Orchestration 6 pianos

Film

  • New York Composers: Searching for a New Music (1997). Directed by Michael Blackwood. Produced by Michael Blackwood Productions, in association with Westdeutscher Rundfunk. New York, New York: Michael Blackwood Productions.

Other

Democracy (1999) - 15 minute(s) Orchestration electronic tape

Recordings

  • Julia Wolfe: The String Quartets including artists Ethel, Cassatt String Quartet, and Lark Quartet (2003)
  • Arsenal of Democracy by Julia Wolfe (1996)
  • Lost Objects with artists Michael Gordon, David Lang, Roger Epple, Andrew Watts, Daniel Taylor, and Concerto Köln (2001)
  • Bang on a Can Live, Vol. 1 with artists David Mott, Robert Black, Anna Cholakian, Karl Parens, and Andrew Sterman (1994)

External links

  • Julia Wolfe: Home, the composer's personal website
  • Bomb Magazine: Julia Wolfe interview by David Krasnow
  • Schirmer.com: Julia Wolfe
  • NYU Faculty Bio webpage
This page was last modified 13.07.2013 17:46:31

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