Libby Van Cleve (born August 22, 1958) is an American

oboist An oboist (formerly hautboist) is a musician who plays the oboe or any oboe family instrument, including the oboe d'amore, cor anglais or English horn, bass oboe and piccolo oboe or oboe musette. The following is a list of notable past a ...

and Director of Yale University's

Oral History of American Music Oral History of American Music (OHAM), founded in 1969, is an oral history project and archive of audio and video recordings consisting mainly of interviews with American classical and jazz musicians. It is a special collection of the Irving S. G ...

Education and personal life

Van Cleve has received the following degrees: *Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Religious Studies from

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint e ...

*Master of Fine Arts Degree in Oboe Performance from the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bo ...

*Master of Music, Master of Musical Arts, and Doctor of Musical Arts in Oboe Performance from the

Yale School of Music The Yale School of Music (often abbreviated to YSM) is one of the 12 professional schools at Yale University. It offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), as well as a jo ...

She currently resides in

Guilford, Connecticut Guilford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, that borders Madison, Branford, North Branford and Durham, and is situated on I-95 and the Connecticut seacoast. The population was 22,073 at the 2020 census. History Guil ...

with husband Jack Vees, a composer and bassist, and their daughter Nola.

Oboist

Libby Van Cleve has recorded works of composers such as

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of ...

Ingram Marshall Ingram Douglass Marshall (May 10, 1942May 31, 2022) was an American composer and a onetime student of Vladimir Ussachevsky and Morton Subotnick. Early life and education Marshall was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He was the son of Bernice Dou ...

, Jack Vees, and

Eleanor Hovda Eleanor Hovda (March 27, 1940 – November 12, 2009) was a composer and dancer from the United States of America. She was born in Duluth, Minnesota and died in Springdale, Arkansas. She received her Bachelor of Arts in music at American Univ ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

, and

oboe d'amore The oboe d'amore (; Italian for "oboe of love"), less commonly , is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and a more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the ...

. Through the 1990s, she also collaborated with the avant-garde and now inactive Nancy Meehan Dance Company many times. Van Cleve currently teaches oboe at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settlers as a town under it ...

and at

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college ...

New London, CT New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

. In 2004, Van Cleve published her first book, ''Oboe Unbound: Contemporary Techniques.'' Composer Anthony Braxton said of the book: "The release of this book will extend the evolution and exploratory dimensions of creative oboe music. It is a must-have for any serious student of oboe music." In 2014, a revised edition was released. Prominent oboist

Allan Vogel Allan Vogel is an American oboist and educator. He was the former Principal Oboe of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Education Vogel studied piano and voice at the New York High School for Music and Art, but eventually changed his focus to obo ...

commented, "''Oboe Unbound'' is inspiring comprehensive, and easy to learn from...I recommend it highly." As a more recent project, Van Cleve has released the first three

Bach Cello Suites The six Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012, are suites for unaccompanied cello by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). They are some of the most frequently performed solo compositions ever written for cello. Bach most likely composed them during the p ...

, edited for

, through The Music Source, T.D. Ellis Music Publishing.

OHAM

Van Cleve began her work at the

as assistant to the director in 1993 and in 2000, became associate director. In 2004, Van Cleve spearheaded efforts which resulted in a $148,000 grant toward preserving OHAM's recordings from the

Save America's Treasures Save America's Treasures is a United States federal government initiative to preserve and protect historic buildings, arts, and published works. It is a public–private partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and the National Trust fo ...

initiative. Her second book was published in 2005, ''Composers' Voices From Ives to Ellington'', co-written with

Vivian Perlis Vivian Perlis (April 26, 1928 – July 4, 2019) was an American musicologist and the founder and former director of Yale University's Oral History of American Music. Personal life Vivian Perlis was born in Brooklyn, New York. After growing up ...

. In 2006, the two co-authors received ASCAP's Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for their work. In 2010, Libby Van Cleve succeeded Vivian Perlis as Director of the Oral History of American Music project.

Selected discography

;With

*''

Ensemble (New York) 1995 ''Ensemble (New York) 1995'' is a live album by composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton with an ensemble, recorded at the Knitting Factory in 1995 and released on his own Braxton House label.

'' (Braxton House, 1995

997 Year 997 ( CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first child of the e ...

*''Trillium R'' (Braxton House, 2000) *''Trillium J'' (Braxton House, 2015) ;With Others *2012: ''Life Field'', music by

David Rosenboom David Rosenboom (born 1947 in Fairfield, Iowa) is a composer-performer, interdisciplinary artist, author, and educator known for his work in American experimental music. Rosenboom has explored various forms of music, languages for improvisation, ...

Tzadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...

*2012: ''The Eleanor Hovda Collection'', music by Hovda,

Innova Records Innova Recordings is the independent record label of the non-profit American Composers Forum based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1982 to document the winners of the McKnight Fellowship offered by its parent organization, the Minnesot ...

*2007: ''Thousand Year Dreaming'', by

Annea Lockwood Annea Lockwood (born July 29, 1939, in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born American composer and academic musician. She taught electronic music at Vassar College. Her work often involves recordings of natural found sounds. She has ...

, Pogus Records *2001: ''Dark Waters'', music by

, New Albion *1996: ''Surf Music Again'', music by Jack Vees,

CRI CRI or CRi may refer to: Organizations * Canadian Rivers Institute, for river sciences, University of New Brunswick * Cancer Research Institute, New York, US * Centro de Relaciones Internacionales (International Relations Center), Universidad Naci ...

References

External links

Personal WebsiteOHAM Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Cleve, Libby 1958 births Living people American oboists Women oboists