|
|
Kaminsky, Laura (b. September 28, 1956, New York City). American composer of mostly chamber and vocal works that have been performed throughout the world; she is also active as a promoter.
Ms. Kaminsky studied composition with Joseph Wood at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music from 1974-78, where she earned her BA magna cum laude in psychology. She also studied composition with Mario Davidovsky at the City College of New York from 1978-80, where she earned her MA, on a Tuch Foundation Fellowship.
Among her numerous awards are two fellowships from the Millay Colony for the Arts (1984, 1986), six fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (1985, 1989-92, 1999) and the Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship in Port Townsend, Washington (2004). She has received grants from the Artist Trust, King County, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Seattle Arts Commission, the Serage Foundation, USIA, and other organizations, as well as annual grants from Meet the Composer since 1983.
The Ahlert-Schwab Duo, the Colorado Quartet, the Degas Quartet, the Esoterics, the Fidelio Trio, the Icicle Creek Piano Quartet, the Jubal Trio, the New York Treble Singers, the Odeon Quartet, the Quintet of the Americas, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Taneko Trio, among other ensembles, have commissioned her music.
Ms. Kaminsky is also active in other positions. She founded the new music ensemble Musicians Accord in 1984 and has since served as its artistic director. The ensemble is in residence at the City College of New York and works with David Del Tredici and his students. In addition, she served as Director of the Humanities and Film Programs of the 92nd Street Y from 1984-88, artistic director of the Town Hall from 1988-92 and Director of Music and Theater Programs at the New School for Social Research from 1993-96. She has also served as a board member, consultant or panelist to state arts councils, the American Music Center, CEC ArtsLink, Chamber Music America, the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS, the Ford Foundation, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Meet the Composer, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
She lived and worked in Ghana in 1992-93 and served as director of the European Mozart Academy in Poland in 1996-97. She then served as chairwoman of the music department at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle from 1999-2004 and has served as dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College/State University of New York since 2004.
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail address: Lkaccord@aol.com
Street address: Ms. Laura Kaminsky, c/o Musicians Accord, 171 W. 79th St., #101, New York, NY 10024, USA
SELECT LIST OF WORKS
CHAMBER MUSIC: Five for Three, flute, cello, piano, 1981-82; Remembering August, violin, viola, cello, 1983; Still Life for the End of the Day, flute (+ alto flute), oboe, clarinet (+ bass clarinet), harp/guitar, cello, 1983-84; Triptych, oboe, cello, piano, 1984; A Dream Revisited, flute, percussion, 1985; Mirror to the Sky, flute, harp, 1986; Juderia, violin, 1987; Just Here, Sitting Now, clarinet, piano, 1987; Whence it Comes, cello, percussion, 1989; It Comes and it Goes, flute, guitar, 1990; Infidels, viola, cello, piano, 1991; Spirit Lost and Found, guitar, 1995; Elegy for the Silenced Voice, trumpet, 1995; Interpolations on Utopia Parkway, oboe, piano, 1993-97; Night Flight to Warsaw, oboe, double bass, piano, 1997; Vukovar Trio, violin, cello, piano, 1998-99; Transformations, string quartet, 1998-2000; River Music, flute, piano, percussion, 2000; The Full Range of Blue, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, 2001; Transformations II: Music for a Changing World, string quartet, 2002; Duo for Cello and Piano, 2003; Runaway Anemone, guitar, mandolin, 2003; Until a Name, flute, 2003; Piano Quartet, violin, viola, cello, piano, 2003-04; Cadenza Variations, flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, bassoon, 2004; Transformations III, string quartet, 2004; Monotypes, string quartet, 2004-05; Music for Thelma, violin, piano, 2005; L'archipelago delle delizie, cello, 2005; Duo, flute, piano, 2005-06
CHORAL: There is a Season (text from the Book of Ecclesiastes), mixed chorus, clarinet, cello, piano, percussion, 1986; Libra (text by Manilius), mixed chorus, 2002; The Seasons (texts by nieces of the composer), female chorus, 2003; For Lee Krasner (text by Rebecca Allan), female chorus, 2005
VOCAL: Sonnet Lines No. 1 (text by William Shakespeare), soprano/mezzo-soprano, flute, piano, vibraphone, 1982; Sonnet Lines No. 2 (text by William Shakespeare), soprano, piano, 1982; Para mi corazón (text by Pablo Neruda), high voice, flute, clarinet/soprano saxophone, cello, piano, vibraphone, 1982; Twilight Settings (texts from anonymous Indonesian sources), soprano, string quartet, percussion, 1985, revised 1988; Nightpiece (text by James Joyce), tenor, flute, clarinet, cello, piano, 1985; Proverbs of Hell (text by William Blake), soprano, piano, marimba, 1989; Whitman Songs, baritone, piano, 1992; And Trouble Came: An African AIDS Diary (texts by the composer, the Bible, Georgia Johnson, Claude McKay, Pablo Neruda), speaker, viola, cello, piano, 1993; Aluta Continua (text from the words "aluta continua"), soprano, flute, harp, 1996-97; Rise, My Love (text from the Song of Solomon), voice, piano, 2003
PIANO: Fred's Piece, 1989; Triftmusik, 1991; Future Conditional, piano, interactive live electronics ad libitum, 1995; musica piccola, 2002
DISCOGRAPHY (as composer)
Twilight Settings. Christine Schadeberg, soprano; Musicians Accord (Mode: 23, 1990)
And Trouble Came: An African AIDS Diary. Mark Lamos, speaker; Fidelio Trio (CRI: 729, 1996)
Triftmusik. Sara Laimon, piano (CRI: 864, 2000)
DISCOGRAPHY (as producer)
Chamber Music with Voice (and a little Jazz...) (Mode: 23, 1990)
Berio
: The Great Works for Voice. (Mode: 48, 1995)Transience: Music by Joel Feigin. (North/South: 1011, 1996)
And Trouble Came: Musical Responses to AIDS. (CRI: 729, 1996)
An Eye-Sky Symphony: The Music of Robert Savage. (CRI: 790, 1998)
Mosaic: Chamber Music of Henry Cowell. (Mode: 72-73, 1999)
Hallelujah Games: Music by Amy Rubin. (Mode: 79, 1999)
Sara Laimon Performs Piano Music of Copland and Ives. (Mode: 93, 2000)
(Last updated on December 30, 2005)
