Composer Bios
For the Flute
Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was a prolific
composer whose music was performed and acclaimed during her lifetime.
She combined many roles: composer, virtuosic pianist, eminent teacher,
wife and mother, and researcher and editor of outstanding achievement.
In addition to producing a substantial catalog of works for piano, chamber
groups, and orchestra, Louise Farrenc was Professor of Piano at the
Paris Conservatoire for over thirty years. Her compositions were praised
by Berlioz and Schumann, among others. As a pianist, she was often heard
in the elite salons of the French capital. Most of Farrenc's chamber
music was written in the 1840's and 50's, and includes four trios, two
piano quintets, a cello sonata, two violin sonatas, a sextet, and a
nonet.
Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983): Germaine
Tailleferre's parents considered music an improper career, but were
finally persuade to let Germaine enter the Paris Conservatoire when
she was 12. She studied with Koechlin and Ravel and won first prize
in solfege, harmony, and counterpoint. She joined with fellow students
to form "Les Six," followers of the French composer Erik Satie,
who represented a new, more radical style. Tailleferre's music is immediately
appealing, reflecting the philosophy of "Les Six," who valued
simplicity and unpretentiousness. The music is light and elegant, avoiding
the heavy harmonies and repetitive forms of the German music which had
dominated the nineteenth century. Tailleferre wrote music for film,
radio and television; stage works (one with Poteau); chamber music and
vocal music.
Lili Boulanger's (1893-1918) mother was a
talented singer and her father, who was 79 when Lili was born, taught
composition and voice at the Paris Conservatoire. Lili began to go to
music classes with her sister Nadia at the age of three and at age six
she sight-read Fauré's songs with the composer at the piano.
When she was 16 she could play piano, violin, cello and harp and she
composed long before she studied composition formally. At 19 she became
the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, the greatest recognition a
young French composer could attain. The prize provided a year's study
in Rome, but Lili's stay was cut short by illness, and she died of tuberculosis
at the age of 25. She was able to complete more than 50 works during
her short life.
Katherine Hoover (b.1937) lives in New York.
She was born in West Virginia and grew up in a Philadelphia suburb.
Hoover has received commissions and awards from the National Endowment
for the Arts, American Academy of Arts & Letters, Ditson Fund of
Columbia University, ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and many other organizations.
Her works have been presented throughout the United States and abroad
by such soloists and groups as John Cheek; Eddie Daniels; the Harrisburg
and Santa Fe Symphonies; Women's Philharmonic; the Dorian, Sylvan, Hudson
Valley and Richards Wind Quintets; Atlanta Chamber Players; New Jersey
Chamber Music Society; Alard Quartet; and the Huntingdon and Verdehr
Trios. As a flutist, Hoover has given concerto performances at Lincoln
Center, performed in all of New York's major halls, and made numerous
recordings. She holds degrees from the Eastman and Manhattan Schools
of Music and has taught at Juilliard; the Manhattan School of Music;
and Teachers College, Columbia University.
Ludmila Ulehla (1923-2010) was born in Flushing
(Queens), New York. She studied piano and violin and wrote short pieces
at the age of five. Her composition studies were with Vittorio Giannini
at the Manhattan School of Music. Ulehla was appointed to the faculty
of that school in 1947, and later served as Chairperson of the Composition
Department. Ulehla's compositions, performed worldwide, include all
forms of solo and chamber ensembles.