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Artist
Joan Tower
12+ albums
composercontemporary classicalamericanClassicalFemale Composer
about
Joan Tower (born September 6, 1938 in New Rochelle, New York) is a contemporary American composer who spent much of her early life in South America. She became known for her first orchestral composition, Sequoia, a tone poem which structurally depicts a giant redwood from trunk to needles. Among her other prominent pieces are the Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, which is something of a response to Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, her two string quartets, and an assortment of other tone poems. Tower was pianist and founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players, which commissioned and premiered many of her early works, including her widely-performed Petroushskates. Tower's style is of the 20th century, and the 21st. The rhythm and melodic flow of her music are very flexible, not limited by tonality or time signature, and her orchestration encompasses a wide range of tone colors. She teaches that the best pieces are the ones that are not "safe" in terms of sitting within a key or meter or standard group of instruments. She was the first woman to win the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. In addition, she is the first composer chosen for Made in America, an ambitious and groundbreaking commissioning program that is a collaboration of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer. The commissioned work Made in America is to be performed by orchestras in every state in the union during the 2005-2006 season. This is the only pr
top songs
albums
Tower: Violin Concerto, Stroke & Chamber Dance
TOWER: Chamber and Solo Music
Tower: Made in America / Tambor / Concerto for Orchestra
Joan Tower: Strike Zones, Small, Still/Rapids & Ivory and Ebony
TOWER: Made in America
Tower: Silver Ladders, Island Prelude, Island Rhythms, Music for Cello and Orchestra, Sequoia
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Notable Women
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Drive American
Music of Joan Tower
Eighth Blackbird: Thirteen Ways
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RCA Red Seal Century - Soloists And Conductors
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Power to the Women: The Best of Female Classical Composers