One of the most important and celebrated composers working today, Libby Larsen has created an immense catalogue of works that spans virtually every genre and has established a permanent place in concert repertory. Consistently sought-after as a leader in the generation of millennium thinkers, Larsen's music and ideas have refreshed the concert music tradition and the composer's role in it.
She's been called "A mistress of orchestration (The Times Union)" as well as "the only English-speaking composer since Benjamin Britten who matches great verse with fine music so intelligently and expressively (USA Today)." Gramophone has called her Symphony: Water Music "the finest water music since Respighi's Fountains." "... her use of synthesized sound points to options that could help opera survive into the 21st century (USA Today)."
Larsen is a vigorous, articulate advocate for the music and musicians of our time. In 1973 she co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composer's Forum, which has been an invaluable aid for composers in a difficult, transitional time for American arts. The first woman to serve as a resident composer with a major orchestra, Larsen has held residencies with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony and the Colorado Symphony.
Larsen's awards and accolades are numerous; she was given a 1994 Grammy as producer for the CD The Art of Arleen Auger, an acclaimed recording that features Larsen's Sonnets from the Portuguese. Her opera, Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus was selected as one of the eight best classical musical events of 1990 by USA Today. Her music has been commissioned and performed widely by the world's greatest artists.
Larsen's works are widely recorded on multiple labels including Angel/EMI, Koch International, Nonesuch and Decca. Her symphonic works have been recorded by the London Symphony and were released by Koch International in 1997. Two new Koch recordings are due out in 2000: orchestral/vocal works, performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Joel Revzen and featuring soprano Benita Valente, and her fifth symphony, Solo Symphony, was recorded by the Colorado Symphony in September of 1999.
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