Barbara Monk Feldman is a Canadian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. She was born in 1953, in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada.

Education

She studied composition with Bengt Hambraeus at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

from 1980 to 1983 where she achieved her MMus and then at the

Hochschule für Musik Freiburg The Hochschule für Musik Freiburg ("University of Music Freiburg or Freiburg Conservatory of Music") is a public music academy subsidized by the State of Baden-Württemberg for academic research and artistic and pedagogical training in music. ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Following this, she earned her PhD at the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

, The State University of New York from 1984 to 1987 supported by the

Edgard Varèse Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French and American composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; h ...

Fellowship. In Buffalo, she studied with the composer

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimental New York School o ...

, whom she married in 1987 just prior to his death from pancreatic cancer.

Works

Monk Feldman is fascinated by the relationship between sound and silence. She has written that she sees this relationship as

Stage

* ''Pyramus and Thisbe'' (2010) * ''Io and Prometheus'' (2019)

Orchestra

* ''Design for String Orchestra'' (1980) * ''The Northern Shore for Percussion, Piano and Chamber Orchestra'' (2018)

Chamber

* ''Movement for Solo Viola'' (1979) * ''Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano'' (1984) * ''Variations for Six String Instruments'' (1986) * ''Two Flutes and Vibraphone'' (1987) * ''Duo for Piano and Percussion'' (1988) * ''The Immutable Silence'' (1990) * ''Pure Difference'' (1990) * ''Shadow'' (1991) * ''Three Clarinets and Percussion'' (1994) * ''Verses for Metal, Wood and Drums'' (1994) * ''Verses for Five'' (1996) * ''The Northern Shore'' (1997) * ''Verses for Vibraphone'' (1997) * ''Pour un nuage violet'' (1998) * ''Proche et lointaine...la femme'' (2001) * ''Glockenspiel'' (2004) * ''The Loons of Black Sturgeon Lake'' (2004) * ''String Quartet, 'Desert-Scape (2004) * ''The Chaco Wilderness'' (2005) * ''The Pale Blue Northern Sky'' (2007) * ''Landscape Near La Pocatière, Québec'' (2007) * ''A Veil for Time'' (2020)

Choral

* ''Variations for String Quartet and Chorus'' (1987) * ''Infinite Other'' (1992) * ''Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins, I, II'' (2014)

Vocal

* ''The Gentlest Chord'' (1991) * ''Three Poems by Wallace Stevens'' (1997) * ''The Love Shards of Sappho'' (2001)

Selected discography

Strings, Keyboard, Percussion, Voices, Horn
(2008)
Barbara Monk Feldman: The Northern Shore
Aki Takahashi, Sabat/Clarke, Dirk Rothbrust (2012)
Barbara Monk Feldman: Soft Horizons
Aki Takahashi, FLUX Quartet, The DownTown Ensemble (2015)
'Verses'
GBSR Duo (Siwan Rhys & George Barton) with Mira Benjamin (2021)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feldman, Barbara Monk McGill University School of Music alumni Living people 1953 births Musicians from Montreal Hochschule für Musik Freiburg alumni University at Buffalo alumni 20th-century Canadian composers 21st-century Canadian composers Canadian women composers 20th-century Canadian women composers