Review of Life Story of Libby Larsen

I chose to write about Libby Larsen because she interested me in her music. Her real name is Elizabeth but likes to have her short name as Libby. Libby Larsen. was born December 24, 1950, and is now a current American classical composer. She is also with a composer named Stephen Paulus, she is a co-founder of the Minnesota Composers Forum, and now she is the American Composers Forum. Libby was Born in Wilmington, DE. Libby is a Musical performer, Artist, Pianist, and Actor. She mostly is a musical performer with all of her music that she has made. Libby has created a catalog of over 500 works working virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over 15 operas. Libby’s music has been praised for its dynamic, deeply inspired, and vigorous contemporary American spirit. Constantly sought after for commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles, and orchestras around the world, Elizabeth Larsen has established a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory as of today she is.

As a past holder of the 2003-2004 Harissios Papamarkou Chair in the Education at the Library of Congress and recipient of the McDermott Award in the Arts, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts, Libby is a victorious, articulate champion of the music and musicians of our time. In 1973, she co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composers Forum, which has been an invaluable advocate for composers in a difficult, transitional time for American arts. Consistently sought after as a leader in the generation of millennium thinkers, Libby’s music and ideas have refreshed the concert music tradition and the composer’s role in it. Her most famous piece was “Slang” which was made in 1994.

When asked about Libby Larsen’s influences, Libby said, "To tell the truth, my teachers have come to me from unexpected places in my musical life. They have been poets, architects, painters, and philosophers. In addition to being known as a composer and other jobs of hers, Libby is known as a musical philosopher and speaker for her life. Libby has given keynote addresses at places such as the League of American Orchestras, American Choral Directors Association, American Orff-Schulwerk Association National Convention, Concert Band Directors National Association, Dominique de Menil Presidential Lecture Series at Rice University in 2001, Music Educators National Convention, and National Association of Schools of Music. From 2003-2004, Libby had served as the first Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education and Technology at the Library of Congress. Libby has organized and became an artistic director of the Hot Notes Series in 1993, which focuses on the modern keyboard, and particularly on the interaction between performer and synthesized sound. This interaction has become a feature of her later works, including 1990 based on the book by Mary Shelley.

This work used electronic visual effects such as screens around the theater which showed different perspectives throughout the opera. Libby Larsen in a very famous composer in Minnesota. Because she went to the Universty of Minnesota and of her amazing pieces of music, songs, and many other pieces that she has made. I think it would be really cool to sing a song off of her music since we had to do these essays about famous Choral Composers. It was really good to find out about one of these famous composers.