Janika Vandervelde (born 1955) is an American composer, pianist, and music educator. Her work, notable for its

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and ecological themes, has won numerous awards. Known for her music for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

chamber ensembles Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

and the stage, she also teaches composition.

Biography

Janika Vandervelde was born in

Ripon, Wisconsin Ripon () is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,863 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is surrounded by the Ripon (town), Wisconsin, Town of Ripon. Ripon is home to the Little White S ...

, and grew up in nearby Green Lake, playing horn and piano starting at age five. She began composing in her teens. After undergraduate studies in

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as primary education, elementary or secondary education, secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a rese ...

at the

University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UW–Eau Claire, UWEC or simply Eau Claire) is a public university in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers Bachelor's degree, bachelor's and ...

, she relocated to the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, earning a doctorate in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

(1985), where her teachers included

Dominick Argento Dominick Argento (October 27, 1927 – February 20, 2019) was an American composer known for his lyric operatic and choral music. Among his best known pieces are the operas '' Postcard from Morocco'', '' Miss Havisham's Fire'', ''The Masque of An ...

and Eric Stokes. She has taught intermittently at the University of Minnesota School of Music, and teaches regularly at

Hamline University Hamline University ( ) is a private university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1854, Hamline is the oldest university in Minnesota, the first coeducational university in the state, and is one of five Associated Colleges of th ...

and at the

Perpich Center for Arts Education The Perpich Center for Arts Education is an agency of the state of Minnesota that seeks to advance K-12 education throughout the state by teaching in and through the arts. A campus in Golden Valley houses the center's three main components: the ...

, a residential high school for the arts in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Vandervelde is the author o
''Music by Kids for Kids''
a composition curriculum designed for computer labs equipped with

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

keyboards, published by the

American Composers Forum The American Composers Forum is an American organization that promotes and assists American composers and contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with activities ...

. She was associate conductor of the Mississippi Valley Chamber Orchestra, and also served as music director at Wesley United Methodist Church in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Compositions

Vandervelde is known especially for her choral music, which has been commissioned and performed by groups such as Chanticleer, the

Dale Warland Singers The Dale Warland Singers (DWS) was a 40-voice professional chorus based in St. Paul, Minnesota, founded in 1972 by Dale Warland and disbanded in 2004. They performed a wide variety of choral repertoire but specialized in 20th-century music and ...

, and the Oregon Repertory Singers, and by conductors including

Sir David Willcocks Sir David Valentine Willcocks, (30 December 1919 – 17 September 2015) was a British choral conductor, organist, composer and music administrator. He was particularly well known for his association with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, ...

. She has composed more than 100 works for orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles, and soloists, as well as two operas, ''Hildegard'' (1989) and ''Seven Sevens'' (1993), and has written extensively for young audiences. Among the fruits of her three-year tenure as composer-in-residence for th
Minnesota Chorale
and two other Twin Cities organizations was
Adventures of the Black Dot
', a "choral storybook" for children, with story by Judy McGuire and staging by Kari Margolis. Recent projects include choral music fo
''The Student''
a collaboration with choreographer-director Vanessa Voskuil, and a 65-minute electronic soundscape for ''Diana Takes a Swim'', a collaboration with dancer-choreographer Deborah Jinza Thayer. Vandervelde's work is published b
earthsongsAugsburg Fortress

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass instrument, brass, string instru ...

, an
Miela Harmonija

Reception

Vandervelde's music has been warmly received. She has been called "a passionate experimenter and ingenious explorer of new sonorities" and "a composer whose style reflects a freely inquisitive artistic personality." Most notably, the feminist musicologist

Susan McClary Susan Kaye McClary (born October 2, 1946) is an American musicologist associated with " new musicology". Noted for her work combining musicology with feminist music criticism, McClary is professor of musicology at Case Western Reserve Universit ...

argued that Vandervelde's piano trio "''Genesis II'' moves metaphorically through a series of natural, cultural, and historical worldviews, holding them in tension and contradiction." McClary also argued that "Vandervelde's use of a rhythmically insistent but harmonically ambiguous academic

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

xpressesfemale embodiment and pleasure." McClary's

readings of Vandervelde's work, along with her readings of other composers, ignited a debate in musical criticism and scholarship. ''Genesis II'' (premiered and recorded by the Mirecourt Trio) is discussed at length i
''Take Note''
an undergraduate music-appreciation textbook by musicologis
Robin Wallace
published in 2014 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

; the work is part of the book's "core repertory."

Awards

Vandervelde has won numerous awards for her work as a composer, including multiple Bush Artist Fellowships and

McKnight Foundation The McKnight Foundation is an American Minnesota-based family foundation. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation maintains a $2.5 billion endowment, which it distributes in grants. In 2022, the foundation issued $120 million, supporting Min ...

Composer Fellowships. She is also a recipient of the

Lili Boulanger Marie-Juliette Boulanger (; 21 August 189315 March 1918), professionally known as Lili Boulanger (), was a French composer and musician who was the first female winner of the Grand Prix de Rome composition prize. Her older sister was the noted ...

Award from

The Women's Philharmonic The Women's Philharmonic (TWP) was a San Francisco-based, professional orchestra founded by Miriam Abrams, Elizabeth Seja Min and Nan Washburn in 1981 and disbanded in 2004. History Originally known as the Bay Area Women's Philharmonic, in 1998, ...

of San Francisco.

References

External links

janikavandervelde.com
official website
Kelly, Jennifer, "Janika Vandervelde" (interview), ''In Her Own Words: Conversations with Composers in the United States'' (University of Illinois Press, 2013).

Pendle, Karin, "Janika Vandervelde," ''Grove Music Online'' (subscription required)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vandervelde, Janika 1955 births 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical composers American music educators American women music educators Living people Singers from Minnesota American opera composers University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire alumni People from Ripon, Wisconsin People from Green Lake, Wisconsin Singers from Wisconsin American women opera composers 20th-century American women singers Classical musicians from Minnesota Classical musicians from Wisconsin 20th-century American women composers 21st-century American women composers 20th-century American singers