In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Libby Larsen.
© Ann Marsden
Libby Larsen
b. 1950
Minneapolis composer Libby Larsen is one of the most frequently performed living composers, with over five hundred works in nearly every genre. Larsen was born in Delaware and studied composition at the University of Minnesota with Dominick Argento. Larsen is an advocate for new music and composers throughout the United States as she co-founded what is now the American Composer’s Forum, an organization that supports the work of over two-thousand composers. She has held residencies with the Library of Congress, the Minnesota Orchestra, the California Institute of the Arts, and the Colorado Symphony, among others. Her work has led to several prestigious awards, including the Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Peabody award. She writes choral music appropriate for many different types of ensembles that is praised for its beautiful melodies and natural singability.
Suggested choral pieces:
- The Love of God
- Missa Gaia: Mass for the Earth (E. C. Schirmer Music Company ECS4807)
- Beneath These Alien Stars from The Settling Years (E. C. Schirmer Music Company ECS8159)
For more on Libby Larsen, visit her website: https://libbylarsen.com/