Andrea Olmstead (born September 5, 1948) is an American musicologist and historian. Reared in

Grand Forks Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in the state, after Fargo and Bismarck. Grand For ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

, Olmstead studied violin with Burton Kaplan in New York and with Lea Foli at the

Aspen Music Festival The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado. It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music students. Founded in 1949, th ...

; she was a member of the

New York Youth Symphony The New York Youth Symphony (NYYS), founded in 1963, is a music organization for the youth in New York City, widely reputed to be one of the best of its kind in the nation and world. Its programs include its flagship Orchestra, Chamber Music, J ...

and the

National Orchestral Association National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. She then embarked upon the study of musicology; her instructors included

Gustave Reese Gustave Reese ( ; November 29, 1899 – September 7, 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications ''Music in the Middle Ages'' (1940 ...

George Perle George Perle (6 May 1915 – 23 January 2009) was an American composer and music theory, music theorist. As a composer, his music was largely atonality, atonal, using methods similar to the twelve-tone technique of the Second Viennese School. Th ...

, H. Wiley Hitchcock, Barry S. Brook,

James Haar James Haar (July 4, 1929 – September 15, 2018) was an American musicologist and W.R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A specialist in Renaissance music, he was the Editor-in-chief of the ...

Brian Fennelly Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

, and Jan LaRue. Her teaching career took her to The

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

, from 1972 until 1980; the Aspen Music School, from 1973 to 1976; the

Boston Conservatory Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly The Boston Conservatory) is a private performing arts conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, music, and theater. Boston Conservatory was founded o ...

, from 1981 to 2004; the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

,from 2006 to 2018; and the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

, from 2009 until 2010. The author of numerous books, she has also produced articles in ''Journal of Musicology'', ''Perspectives of New Music'', ''The Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute'',''Tempo'', ''Musical America'', and ''The Musical Quarterly'', reviews,

program note Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

s, and

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

; she has also given pre-concert lectures and produced CDs. From 2005 until 2007 she was the Christopher Hogwood Research Fellow of the

Handel and Haydn Society The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Known colloquially as 'H+H', the organization has been in continual performance since its founding in 1815, the longest serving suc ...

Orchestra and Chorus. Olmstead is especially well-regarded for her work on the music of

Roger Sessions Roger Huntington Sessions (December 28, 1896March 16, 1985) was an American composer, teacher, and writer on music. He had started his career writing in a neoclassical style, but gradually moved towards complex harmonies and postromanticism, a ...

and for her history of The Juilliard School. ''Vincent Persichetti; Grazioso, Grit, and Gold'', was awarded the 2019 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for Outstanding Musical Biography. Other honors have included three awards from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, and she has spent time as a visiting scholar at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

and as a fellow of the

Virginia Center for the Creative Arts The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) is a residential artist community in Amherst, Virginia, USA. Since 1971, VCCA has offered residencies of varying lengths with flexible scheduling for international artists, writers, and composers at ...

. Olmstead is married to composer Larry Thomas Bell, for whom she adapted the play ''Holy Ghosts'' by Romulus Linney into an opera libretto; in 2009 she produced its premiere in Boston. Olmstead's papers are held by the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

, to which she donated them in 2013.

Publications

*Roger Sessions and His Music (UMI Research Press, 1985). *Conversations with Roger Sessions (Northeastern University Press, 1987). *The Correspondence of Roger Sessions (Northeastern, 1992). *Juilliard: A History (University of Illinois Press, 1999). *Roger Sessions: A Biography (Routledge, 2007). *Who Was F. Scott Fitzgerald's Daisy? (ebook, 2012). *Vincent Persichetti: Grazioso, Grit, and Gold (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).

References

{{Authority control 1948 births Living people American women musicologists 20th-century American musicologists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American musicologists 21st-century American women writers Juilliard School faculty Aspen Music Festival and School faculty Boston Conservatory at Berklee faculty New England Conservatory faculty University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty