Composers
Women Composers
The Lost Tradition Found
Six American Composers, page 4 of 4
Ruth Schonthal (1924-2006), composer
and pianist, was born in Hamburg, Germany of Viennese parents. She
was accepted as the youngest pupil ever at the Stern Conservatory
in Berlin at age five. When she was 13, she entered the Royal Academy
of Music in Stockholm, and after moving to Mexico City, studied composition
with Manuel Ponce. In 1946, her talents came to the attention of Paul
Hindemith, who invited her to study composition as a scholarship student
at Yale University. Schonthal's works have been performed by the Orchestra
Nacional de la Universidad de Mexico, the Israel Philharmonic, New
Orchestra of Westchester, Baltimore Women's Symphony, Manhattan Chamber
Orchestra, Ridgefield Symphony, and many other groups. A biography
with analysis of works has been prepared for publication in Berlin
by musicologist Martina Helmig. Schonthal was on the faculty of New
York University and the Westchester Conservatory of Music. Schonthal's
compositions display a unique blend of her deeply rooted European
tradition, depth of feeling, and mastery of contemporary techniques.
Marga Richter (b.1926) was born in Reedsburg,
Wisconsin and received her early musical training in Minneapolis.
She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at the Juilliard School,
studying composition with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti
and piano with Rosalyn Tureck. Among the sources of her many grants,
commissions and awards are the National Endowment for the Arts, Martha
Baird Rockefeller Fund, Harkness Foundation, Meet the Composer, National
Federation of Music Clubs and ASCAP. Richter's works, noted for their
expressiveness and economy of means, have been performed by 50 orchestras,
including the Buffalo Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Minnesota
Orchestra, and the Milwaukee, Atlanta, Oakland, Oklahoma, Oregon,
and Maracaibo Symphonies.
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.
Barbara Kolb bio is forthcoming
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b.1939) (USA) is
the first women to win the Pulitzer Prize in music. Bio is forthcoming.
Judith Lang Zaimont (b.1945) has been on
the Composition faculty at the University of Minnesota since 1992.
She has served on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory and Queens
College and was Chair of Music at Adelphi University prior to her
move to Minnesota. Raised in a musical family, she began her professional
career as a member of a touring duo-piano team which appeared frequently
in concert and on television. Although she continued to use her formidable
talents as a pianist, gradually she turned her energies toward music
composition, and in a few years, her accomplishments as a composer
superseded her reputation as a performer. Zaimont, who holds degrees
from Queens College and Columbia University, is a recipient of Guggenheim
and Woodrow Wilson fellowships and awards from the National Endowment
for the Arts, Maryland State Arts Council, Presser Foundation, and
Alliance Française. She was the First Prize winner in the international
McCollin Competition, which resulted in performances by the Philadelphia
Orchestra. Zaimont is editor-in-chief of The Musical Woman
book series, for which she received a grant from the National Endowment
for the Humanities. Recent commissions include works for the Connecticut
Opera, Greenville (S.C.) Symphony, (Johns) Hopkins Symphony, and Baltimore
Dance Theatre. Zaimont's music uses a chromatic, fully-evolved tonality,
and is characterized by its lyricism, expressive strength, and rhythmic
vitality.