Amy Beth Kirsten - Composer

Hailed by the American Composers Orchestra as having "original, unusual textures" and "very colorful, detailed orchestration," Amy Beth Kirsten's Strange Angel, featured in the 2007 16th Annual Underwood New Music Readings, has earned her attention as a promising young composer. Additionally, the press described her recent San Francisco premier by Volti as "the most singularly original event of the evening.” Her distinct and individual style is a synthesis of lyricism and experimentation and often features some element of theater. Her works have also premiered in Ontario by l’Orchestre de la francophonie canadienne; in New York at the International Fringe Festival; in Baltimore by the CAGE Ensemble and by the Harbor Opera Company. Her Ophelia Forever received its San Francisco premier November 7-9, 2008 by San Francisco Cabaret Opera.
Ms. Kirsten’s most recent honors include receiving a 2009 Creative Arts Residency at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Bellagio, Italy to compose her opera Red (libretto by the composer). In addition, she received a composition fellowship to attend the 2009 Yale Summer Music Festival at Norfolk, and was accepted to this summer’s Bang on a Can Festival at Mass MOCA. She was named a finalist for the 2008-09 Rome Prize in Musical Composition, received Honorable Mention in the 2008 Minnesota Orchestra Reading Competition, and a 2007 Composer Assistance Grant from the American Music Center. She is currently finishing a work for large orchestra and a choir piece commissioned by the Missouri Verses and Voices Festival, premiering February 2010.
Born in East Saint Louis and raised in the Chicago area, Ms. Kirsten received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Jazz Studies from Illinois’ Benedictine University, and her Master’s Degree in Music Composition from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. She currently is completing her dissertation and hopes to receive her doctorate from Peabody Conservatory sometime in the near future. She currently teaches "History of Rock and Society” at the University of Connecticut,has recently taught music theory at Wesleyan University (in Middletown, CT), Peabody Conservatory, and Towson University (in Baltimore, MD).
Before moving to the east coast, Ms. Kirsten was a regular fixture in the Chicago singer-songwriter scene performing at such venues as Fitzgerald’s Nightclub, Quenchers Saloon, The Subterranean, Katerina's, and Uncommon Ground. She got her start as a singer by studying the great improvisers of jazz. To this day, she uses the skills she developed in her jazz training as a tool in her work as a composer of contemporary concert music.
Ms. Kirsten is also a fan of working with words. Some of her recent poetry has been featured in the 2008 National Edition of The Red Wheelbarrow and the forthcoming 2009 Summer Edition of The Avatar Review.

SELECTED WORKS:

Ophelia Forever (2005) - Chamber opera for 3 Sopranos, 1 Non-Speaking Actor, Two-Hands Piano, Off-stage Oboe, Glass Harmonica, and Percussion; Text by Shakespeare, Rosetti, Siddal, Rimbaud, and Baudelaire; Premiered by Peabody Opera Department, at the Baltimore Theatre Project, May 2005. Duration 35 minutes.
Volgaline (2003-4) - Chamber opera for 18 masked musicians (For Mezzo-Sop., Coloratura Sop., Tenor, SSATBB, Flute/Picc., Oboe, B flat Cl., Alto Sax, Bassoon, Horn in F, Trombone, 2 Vlns, Vla, Vcl, D.B.) ; Text by composer. Duration 15 minutes.

In the Black (2006) – SSAATTBB; Premier: Volti, San Francisco, CA, March 2007. Duration: 10 minutes
Now Touch the Air Softly (2004, revised 2006) – SSAATTBB; Premiered by the College of DuPage Chamber Singers, Glen Ellyn, IL, 2004. Duration: 4 minutes.
Oh That I Had Wings (1992) – SATB; Premiered by the College of DuPage Chamber Singers, Glen Ellyn, IL, 1993. Duration 3.5 minutes.

Strange Angel (2006) – 3,3,3,3;4,3,3,1; harp, piano, timpani, 4 perc; strings (10,8,6,6,4). Duration: 8 minutes
lightgirl (and the interference of her human shadow) (2008) – for chamber orchestra (1, 1, 1, 1; 1; piano; percussion; strings 1, 1, 1, 1, 1). Duration 10 minutes. Premiered by members of l’Orchestre de la francophonie canadienne, conducted by Jean Philippe Tremblay, June 27, 2008, Ottawa, ON for the Composers Programme at the National Arts Centre.

For a Dream's Sake (2007) - for Vcl, Vla, Vln, Ob, Mezzo-Soprano. Yet to be premiered. Text by Rossetti. Duration 11 minutes.
To See What I See (2004) - for Soprano and Piano. Premiered by Catherine Marie Green and Chungwon Chung (piano) at Peabody in October 2005. Text by Shakespeare. Duration 6.5 minutes.
Gone Like Dreams (2003) - for 2 Sopranos and Piano. Premiered by Carrie Taghon-Molloy and Brigette Becker in Chicago, May 2003. Text by composer. Duration 5 minutes.
Song of Miriam (2002, revised 2007) - for Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Percussion, and String Quartet. Premiered by Roosevelt University New Music Ensemble in Chicago, May 2003. Text by composer. Duration: 7 minutes.

Empty Shell Girl (2007) - for solo marimba. Yet to be premiered. Duration: 9 minutes.

Incidental score (2002) - Me, the Devil, and Other Friends, Backstage Theatre Company; New York City Premier at 2003 Fringe Festival. Premiered in Chicago, 2002.

Music from the Ice Forest (2006) – for Voice, Marimba, Bass Drum, Tam-tam, crystal glasses. Duration: 6 minutes. On display at Walters Art Museum as part of “Courbet and the Modern Landscape,”: October 2006 – January 2007.