Nancy Gunn (1956- )
Nancy
Gunn has written for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and chorus.
Her work has been performed by the New York Festival of Song, the
Colorado Symphony, the Arapahoe Philharmonic, the Rocky Mountain
Children’s Choir, the Ariel Trio, and the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble,
among others, and has been featured on WNYC in New York and KVOD in
Denver. Gunn’s compositions have received numerous awards,
including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the ASCAP
Foundation, the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission,
Meet the Composer, and the Aspen Music Festival. She was born in
New York City and earned a Masters in Composition from the University
of Michigan, where she studied with Leslie Bassett and William
Albright, and a Ph.D in Composition from the City University of New
York Graduate Center, where she studied with David Olan and Charles
Dodge. While in New York, she was one of the founding
members of Friends and Enemies of New Music, which produced concerts of
new music in New York City for over twenty years. Gunn has held
teaching positions at Hunter College and the Third Street Music
Settlement in New York and at Metropolitan State College in
Denver. She is currently on the faculty of the University of
Southern Maine and Southern Maine Community College, where she teaches
music theory, music history, and world music. At SMCC, Gunn
is also the director of the Spring Point Gamelan, a student ensemble of
homemade instruments, inspired be the music of Indonesia. Gunn’s
recent works have celebrated her adopted home state of Maine in various
ways. Driving in Maine, a setting for soprano and
orchestra of four poems by nationally known Maine poet Wesley McNair,
describes driving through small towns like Rumford and Mercer, and
evokes the beauty, quirkiness and joy in small things that characterize
much of rural Maine. Driving in Maine was premiered by the
University of Maine at Farmington Community Orchestra in April 2008,
then revised and performed by the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra in
May 2009. Harbor, for alto saxophone, piano, and recorded sound, was
inspired by Portland Harbor. The recording was created by mixing
and layering over 200 separate recordings of sounds of the harbor
(foghorns, boats, birds, water, creaks), many of them made standing on
the Spring Point pier on the SMCC campus. Gunn then wrote music
for saxophone and piano to be played live with the recorded
sound. Harbor was premiered in April 2009 at the USM Faculty
Composers Concert.COMPOSITIONS Gunn Links ~ ~ ~ Works by Genre
Dark Songs, baritone voice, tuba and percussion (1988)
Outsides, 6 clarinets (1989)
String Quartet (1990)
Trap Nest, opera (1993) [libretto: Thalia Field]
Trio No. 1, violin, cello and piano (1994)
Spiresongs, mezzo-soprano, cello and piano (1995)
Shimmer, orchestra (1996)
Clarinet Concerto, clarinet and wind ensemble (1997)
Petal to the Sky, mezzo-soprano, violin, cello and piano (1998)
Winter, chorus (1999)
You Are My One, soprano, chorus and orchestra (2000)
Trumpet Concertino, trumpet, string orchestra and percussion (2002)
Arapahoe Fanfare, orchestra (2003)
Three Chromatic Studies, piano (2005)
Intersection, band (2007)
Driving in Maine, soprano and orchestra (2008)
Harbor, alto saxophone, piano and recorded sound (2009)
Farewell to Middle School, band and recorded sound (2010)
Three Bagatelles, violin and piano (2011)
WORKS BY GENRE Gunn Links ~ top of page ~
Dramatic/Theater
Trap Nest, opera (1993) [libretto: Thalia Field]
Orchestra
Shimmer, orchestra (1996)
Arapahoe Fanfare, orchestra (2003)
Four Thoughts for Orchestra (????)
Band
Clarinet Concerto, clarinet and wind ensemble (1997)
Intersection, band (2007)
Farewell to Middle School, band and recorded sound (2010)
Soloist(s) w/Orchestra or Band
Clarinet Concerto, clarinet and wind ensemble (1997)
Trumpet Concertino, trumpet, string orchestra and percussion (2002)
Chorus w/Orchestra
You Are My One, soprano, chorus and orchestra (2000)
Choral
Winter, chorus (1999)
Chamber
Outsides, 6 clarinets (1989)
String Quartet (1990)
Trio No. 1, violin, cello and piano (1994)
Harbor, alto saxophone, piano and recorded sound (2009)
Three Bagatelles, violin and piano (2011)
Piano
Three Chromatic Studies, piano (2005)
Vocal
Dark Songs, baritone voice, tuba and percussion (1988)
Spiresongs, mezzo-soprano, cello and piano (1995)
Petal to the Sky, mezzo-soprano, violin, cello and piano (1998)
Driving in Maine, soprano and orchestra (2008) [text: Wesley McNair]
Electronic
Harbor, piano, alto saxophone and recorded sound (2009)
Farewell to Middle School, band and recorded sound (2010)
NANCY GUNN LINKS Works by Genre ~ top of page ~
[under construction]
Composer's website [none at the moment] . . . contact Nancy Gunn:
Nancy Gunn @ LinkedIn
Nancy Gunn @ New York Festival of Song
Nancy Gunn @ USM School of Music
Publisher
Nancy Gunn @ [contact composer]
Streaming Audio
[none at the moment]
Recordings
[none at the moment]
Video
[none at the moment]
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