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Barbara White (1965-    )

Barbara White, composerIn addition to being a prolific composer of chamber music, composer Barbara White has a long-standing interest in collaborative and interdisciplinary work, specifically in working with dance. In addition, she is an idiosyncratic clarinetist and is increasingly active as a video artist.  A recent performance, Desire Lines, places music for solo gong, clarinet, and Japanese bamboo flute alongside video, movement and onstage ceremony.  Other recent performances have been presented by the Aspen Music Festival, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Earplay, Lontano, Eighth Blackbird, janus, and the Chameleon Arts Ensemble.  Honors and awards include a Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, three awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship. Her third CD, My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon, was released by Albany Records in 2011. A fourth, of the opera Weakness, is forthcoming from Albany. White’s scholarly writings address such matters as the coordination between sound and image and the relationship between creative activity and everyday life, as well as the impact on music of gender, listening, and spirituality. In 1998, she joined the faculty of the Princeton University Music Department, where she is now Professor.

COMPOSITIONS                                                            Barbara White Links     ~ ~ ~     Works by Genre
[under construction]
Life In The Castle, mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (1997)
When the Smoke Clears, clarinet, violin and marimba (1995/98)
The mind's fear, the heart's delight, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (1998)
No-Man’s Land, clarinet (1999)
Chansons D'Amour, 2 violins (1999)
The Sojer and the Throut, 2 violin (1999)
And Hannah Prayed, dance piece (2000) [choreography by Joan Wagman]
The Rollstone Marches, band (2000)
Raging River, Rolling Stone, orchestra (2000)
Third Rule of Thumb, percussion quartet (2000)
Learning to See, chamber ensemble (2000-01)
Al Filo Del Alma (At the Soul'sEdge), dance piece (2001) [choreography by Marcela Correa]
Reliquary, piano (2001)
The Course of Empire: Five Views of Thomas Cole, chamber ensemble (2002)
Small World, clarinet and marimba (2002)
Vessel, saxophone and percussion (2003)
sombrìa visita de una mujer a sus sombras, dance piece (2003) [collab. w/choregrapher Marcela Correa & rock band Taluego]
Waking, marimba 4-hands (2003)
Five Elements, string quartet and piano (2003)
Waking , marimba 4-hands (2004)
Registering My Oppositions, marimba 4-hands (2004)
Repetition Compulsion, dance piece (2005) [choreography by Terry Araujo]
Lift, multimedia work (2005) [collaboration with visual artist Alison Crocetta]
Cultural Instructions, improvisation (2006) [improvisation/collaboration with Cor Fuhler and Scott Smallwood]
Black Air, choreography for camera (2006) [on Dante’s telling of story of Paolo and Francesca] [w/choreographer Terry Araujo]
Enough Rope, soprano and flute (2006)
Platos Tipicos, clarinet (2006)
To Make a Long Story Short, clarinet (2006)
The Wound and the Eye, piano (2007)
Your Eyes, dance piece (2008) [choreography by Elisa King] [using music by Barbara White and Laurie Anderson]
Gather / Shed / Lift, "film trilogy", flute, viola, harp and percussion (2008) [in collaboration with filmmaker Alison Crocetta]
My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (2008)
Ryokan's Bowl, gong (2009)
Vigil, shakuhachi (2009)
Buddha Smiles, shakuhachi (2009)
Buddha Breathes in Bamboo, shakuhachi (2010)
Desire Lines, solo gong, Japanese bamboo flute, clarinet, video, movement and onstage ceremony (2010)
Before I was released I was in many things, violin and piano (2011)
Buddha Gets Around, shakuhachi (2012?)
Weakness, one act opera (2012???) [collaboration with choreographer Kate Weare and director Mark DeChiazza]
Chisoku Reibo, shakuhachi and clarinet (2012)

Nothing Doing, solo tamtam (????)
Minim, 2 pianos (????)


WORKS BY GENRE                                                            Barbara White Links     ~ top of page ~
[under construction]
Dramatic/Theater
Lift, multimedia work (2005) [collaboration with visual artist Alison Crocetta]
Gather / Shed / Lift, "film trilogy", flute, viola, harp and percussion (2008) [in collaboration with filmmaker Alison Crocetta]
Desire Lines, solo gong, Japanese bamboo flute, clarinet, video, movement and onstage ceremony (2010)
Weakness, one act opera (2012???) [collaboration with choreographer Kate Weare and director Mark DeChiazza]

Dance
And Hannah Prayed, dance piece (2000) [choreography by Joan Wagman]
Al Filo Del Alma (At the Soul'sEdge), dance piece (2001) [choreography by Marcela Correa]
sombrìa visita de una mujer a sus sombras, dance piece (2003) [collab. w/choregrapher Marcela Correa & rock band Taluego]
Repetition Compulsion, dance piece (2005) [choreography by Terry Araujo]
Black Air, choreography for camera (2006) [on Dante’s telling of story of Paolo and Francesca] [w/choreographer Terry Araujo]
Your Eyes, dance piece (2008) [choreography by Elisa King] [using music by Barbara White and Laurie Anderson]
Desire Lines, solo gong, Japanese bamboo flute, clarinet, video, movement and onstage ceremony (2010)

Orchestra
Raging River, Rolling Stone, orchestra (2000)

Band
The Rollstone Marches, band (2000)

Chamber
When the Smoke Clears, clarinet, violin and marimba (1995/98)
The mind's fear, the heart's delight, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (1998)
Chansons D'Amour, 2 violins (1999)
    - He laughs in the morning who weeps in the evening
    - Hiccup
    - His end her beginning, his beginning her end
    - Ouroboros
    - From now on I'll write songs
The Sojer and the Throut, 2 violin (1999)
Third Rule of Thumb, percussion quartet (2000)
Learning to See, chamber ensemble (2000-01)
    - From the Meta-matic Junk Heap
    - Bird
    - Irregular Metronomy
    - Bird
    - "...things the mind already knows"
    - Bird
The Course of Empire: Five Views of Thomas Cole, chamber ensemble (2002)
Small World, clarinet and marimba (2002)
     - Time is Fleecing ...
    - Musical impromptus are no such thing; no one ever improvises...
    - ¡Viva la maquina escribir!
Vessel, saxophone and percussion (2003)
Waking, marimba 4-hands (2003)
Five Elements, string quartet and piano (2003)
Registering My Oppositions, marimba 4-hands (2004)
Cultural Instructions, improvisation (2006) [improvisation/collaboration with Cor Fuhler and Scott Smallwood]
My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (2008)
Desire Lines, solo gong, Japanese bamboo flute, clarinet, video, movement and onstage ceremony (2010)
Before I was released I was in many things, violin and piano (2011)
Chisoku Reibo, shakuhachi and clarinet (2012)

Solo Instrument
No-Man’s Land, clarinet (1999)
    - Pibroch
    - Foolish Fire
    - Don’t Look Down
Platos Tipicos, clarinet (2006)
To Make a Long Story Short, clarinet (2006)
Ryokan's Bowl, gong (2009)
Vigil, shakuhachi (2009)
Buddha Smiles, shakuhachi (2009)
Buddha Breathes in Bamboo, shakuhachi (2010)
Buddha Gets Around, shakuhachi (2012?)

Piano
Reliquary, piano (2001)
    - Sous la Pluie [in memoriam Ivan Tcherepnin]
    - Sin [a  misreading of the 1929 song "'Taint No Sin (To Take Off Your Skin and Dance Around in Your Bones)"]
    - Mirage [a paraphrase of  Maurice Ravel's "Oiseaux Tristes", from Miroirs, 1905]
    - Thumbprint [in memoriam Luise Vasgerchian]
    - A Complex [an homage to pianist/composer/improviser Lennie Tristano]
The Wound and the Eye, piano (2007)

Vocal
Life In The Castle, mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (1997)
    - In the Castle
    - Mirror
    - Meeting
    - Apparition
    - There is More to a Mirror
Enough Rope, soprano and flute (2006)
    - The Flaw In Paganism
    - Promise
    - Reuben’s Children
    - A Well-Worn Story
    - Two-Volume Novel
    - The Willow
    - Prophetic Soul
    - Afternoon
    - Thought For A Sunshiny Morning

Film
Gather / Shed / Lift, "film trilogy", flute, viola, harp and percussion (2008) [in collaboration with filmmaker Alison Crocetta]

Multimedia
Lift, multimedia work (2005) [collaboration with visual artist Alison Crocetta]
Gather / Shed / Lift, "film trilogy", flute, viola, harp and percussion (2008) [in collaboration with filmmaker Alison Crocetta]
Desire Lines, solo gong, Japanese bamboo flute, clarinet, video, movement and onstage ceremony (2010)

FOR PERCUSSION
Chamber
Life In The Castle, mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (1997)
When the Smoke Clears, clarinet, violin and marimba (1995/98)
The mind's fear, the heart's delight, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion (1998)
Third Rule of Thumb, percussion quartet (2000)
Small World, clarinet and marimba (2002)
     - Time is Fleecing ...
    - Musical impromptus are no such thing; no one ever improvises...
    - ¡Viva la maquina escribir!
Vessel, saxophone and percussion (2003)

Solo Instrument
Ryokan's Bowl, gong (2009)

Marimba
Small World, clarinet and marimba (2002)
Waking, marimba 4-hands (2003)
Registering My Oppositions, marimba 4-hands (2004)


BARBARA WHITE  LINKS                                                            Works by Genre      ~ top of page ~
Can Music for Dance Stand Alone? (Barbara White, NewMusicBox)
Noteworthy Career (Christopher Weber, PITT)

Composer's website   . . .   contact Barbara White:  here

Barbara White @ American Composers Forum
Barbara White @ Collage New Music
Barbara White @ composition:today
Barbara White @ Alison Crocetta
Barbara White @ InstantEncore
Barbara White @ Lewis Center/Princeton Atelier
Barbara White @ MATA
Barbara White @ MusicWeb International
Barbara White @ New Music USA
Barbara White @ New World Records
Barbara White @ The New York Times
Barbara White @ Princeton University
Barbara White @ Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study/Harvard University

Publisher
Barbara White @ Composer's website

Streaming Audio
Barbara White @ Composer's website

Recordings
Barbara White @ Composer's website
Barbara White @ Amazon.com    also    here    and     here
Barbara White @ ArkivMusic
Barbara White @ CD Universe
Barbara White @ ClassicsOnline
Barbara White @ DRAM Online
Barbara White @ itunes
Barbara White @ New World Records

Video
Barbara White @ YouTube
Barbara White @ Google Video
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