Description:

Part of the Northwestern University New Music Conference (NUNC! 4)

Composers Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Katherine Young, and Jennifer Walshe open the fourth Northwestern University New Music Conference with presentations via Zoom. Registration is free and open to the public.

Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir is the recipient of a Nordic Council Music Prize, the New York Philharmonic’s Kravis Emerging Composer Award, and Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award and Martin E. Segal Award. Her work has been performed by such ensembles as the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She is currently Composer-in-Residence with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

Irish composer and Bienen School graduate Jennifer Walshe ('98 MMus, '02DMus) received the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis in 2000, the Praetorius Music Prize in 2008, and the BASCA British Composer Award for Innovation in 2016. Her music has been performed by ensembles including the Arditti Quartet, ensemble récherche, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and Crash Ensemble. In addition to her activities as a composer, she frequently performs as a vocalist, specializing in extended techniques.

Bassoonist, improviser, and Bienen School graduate Katherine Young ('17 DMA) has been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW, Third Coast Percussion, Ensemble Dal Niente and the Spektral Quartet, among others. Her eight-channel outdoor sound installation, “Resonance and the Inhibition of,” was exhibited during the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art’s Chicago Sound Show in Fall 2019. Her solo work has garnered praise from The Wire and Downbeat.