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Margaret Meachem
Composer, flute
Margaret Meachem Margaret Ramsey Meachem was born in Brooklyn NY and grew up in rural Vermont. Although her mother was a trained singer and actress, Margaret had no musical training except a few months piano lessons until she went to Bennington College at the age of l6. Unfortuneatly Bennington other than Otto Luening and Simon Moselsio, did not concur on her choice of profession, so having no scholarship, she went to NYC to work for $l4 a six day week in an engineering company and to study with pianist-composer Henry Holden Huss who had been her mother's piano teacher. After her marriage and two of her children were in school she returned to Bennington to complete her BA in music, studying with Paul Boepple, Lionel Nowak and Henry Brant. After all three children were grown as she was then a single parent, she finished her Masters in composition at Univ. of Mass at Amherst studying with Charles Fussell and then her DMA in composition at the Univ. of Maryland where her teacher was Lawrence Moss. In l976 she studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger who particularly liked her Three French Songs for Soprano, piano flute & piccolo which Phyllis Bryn Julson uses in her contemporary classic master classes at the Benjamin Britten-Peter Peers Inst. Joel Chadabe said of her IN WILDNESS IS THE PRESERVATION OF THE EARTH-for soprano Phyllis Bryn Julson and the Atlantic Sinfonietta- "Beautiful". Flute study had begun after graduating from Bennington with Louis Moyse and Julius Baker. She then worked in the electronic studio at Bennington learning electronic music with Joel Chadabe.

   At a performance of Margeret Meachem's
   Trio for Winds
Margaret Meachem performance Her music includes musical theatre, contemporary classic style chamber music, vocal, instrumental and orchestra compositions as well as electronic music. She has just finished DOUBLE HELIX for flute and orchestra dedicated to Julius Baker and an article on its conception for the Flute Journal of the National Flute Assoc. Her music has been performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Atellier Ensemble of the Jacksonville Symphony, The Atlantic Sinfonietta, Univ. of Maryland Contemporary Ensemble, and Metropolitan opera singers with Ron Levy pianist. She enjoys performing her own flute chamber music and has performed in Washington and New England areas as well as the Vt. Symphony. She has taught flute ensemble and composition for 30 years, including Univ. Maryland, The Pittsfield Comm Music School, privately- Williams students, Mt. Greylock Reg. High School and in elementary private and public schools.

Compositions

IN THE BEGINNING (l975) 25-30min. Singing & speaking chorus, Sop & ten.solo-SATB Dbl Strg qt. dble wind & Brass qts- Percussion (3)
 
FANFARE (l965)
3 min. Brass quartet & Percussion
 
CHRIST IN A STRANGER'S GUISE (l957)
5 min. SATB A capella
 
VARIATIONS FOR 2 FLUTES (l970)
4 min. Flute duet
 
TRIO FOR WINDS (l972) (rev. 2002)
l0 min. Flute(pic)ClarBb&A Bassoon
 
THREE FRENCH SONGS (l975)
Le Papillon, Le Cigale et la Fourmi, L'Hippopatame
l2 min. Sop fl(picc) & Piano
 
CHANSON D'AUTOMNE (l975)
4 min SATB,Oboe,Whirl. tubes,perc.
 
KILOGRAM METERS per SECOND SQUARED (l977)
4 mi Electronic Tape
 
CADENZAS for Mozart (l979)
8 min Fl.cadenzas for G.Maj.Conc.
 
FUSIONS (l975)
6 min. Electronic Tape
 
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (l982)
Prologue,Trans Sc.I &II
40 min. Multi-media,Dancers Sop, Mzsop, Bar. Chamber orch Tape
 
IN ICY MOONLIGHT (l982)
l0 min. Sop. Fl(pic) piano, perc. Tape
 
SIX GAPING BEAKS (l983)
5 min. Sop. fl, clar, ob, hrn, bas, perc.
 
DRAGON FLY (l983)
3 min. Sop.fl,vn,cello clar. & perc.
 
TWO PIANO PIECES (l985)
l0 min Pno solo Relections & Cap.
 
MOONSHADOWS (l984)
6 min. Flute octet (pic, 5cfl, 2Altos)
 
THREE LATIN DANCES (l984)
l0 min, Symph. Band Comm Mt.Greyl
 
DIVERGENCIES I,II, III (l987)
l0 min. String Quartet
 
JOURNEY TO A DISTANT GALAXY (l987)
7 min. Electronic tape
 
THREE HUMOROUS SONGS (l986)
8 min. Em. Dickenson Sop & Piano
 
ROUEN; HOMAGE TO MONET (l990)
8 min, Live MIDI & Recorded MIDI -slides
 
IN WILDNESS IS THE PRESERVATION OF THE EARTH (l99l)
l5 min Tape Sopr. Str, Chamber Orchestra Piano, Perc. (2)
 
DOUBLE HELIX for Flute and orchestra (2002)
6 min. - for-Julius Baker
 
LIFT THINE EYES UNTO THE HILLS- SATB - (l999)
2.5 min. In preparation- Multi-media dance- PINNOCHIO-chamber orchestra, singers and dancers
 
TICONDEROGA-Manchester Music Fest. -Eth Allen Taking of Ticonderoga in 1775
14 min. -4Met.Opera singers SATB, Piano & Sn Dr. prem. Aug. 2000

Contact details and further information

E-mail Margaret Meachem