Susan Hurley (born 1946) is an American composer living and working in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

. Hurley's compositional style is an "unusual, unique voice ndhighly individualistic."Buffalo News, Buffalo, New York, September 1988 Her work "defines hetwo opposing characteristics of the post-minimalist style – lyricism and rhythmic drive . . .” The 1992 piece "Gallery Music for Harp" examples this by engaging the listener with "a strong introductory flourish" developing into "gentle, otherworldly sounds.” This alternation between opposites is observed again in a review of "Vermont Poems" and its harmonic reliance on "shifts between unisons and dissonants" The range of the instruments used by Hurley is broad, including ancient and subtle instruments such as the

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composit ...

and older compositional vehicles such as the chamber opera. Hurley wrote one such opera based on the lives of

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (February 11, 1903 – January 14, 1977; , ) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the ...

and

Rupert Pole Rupert Pole (February 18, 1919 – July 15, 2006) was an American actor and the husband of author Anaïs Nin, as well as her literary executor. Early life and education Pole was born in Los Angeles. His father, Reginald, was a highly regarded ...

. This was commissioned by Joan Palevsky of Los Angeles. Palevsky had been "instrumental" in securing a transfer of the papers of Anaïs Nin to UCLA.The UCLA Senate obituary for Page Ackerman University Librarian, Emerita, makes reference to Palevsky's effort in paragraph seven of that document
University of California Senate reference
/ref> The commission was part of this effort. Hurley was born in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and raised in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

Notes

Biographical references

International Encyclopedia of Women Composers The ''International Encyclopedia of Women Composers'' is a 1981 reference book by Aaron I. Cohen which contains biographies of over 5,000 women composers from nearly 70 countries. It was put together when Cohen was retired in order to help fill a g ...

," Publisher: Books & Music USA; 2nd edition (June 1987)
Composers Forum BiographyArtist Biography Omstream Publishing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurley, Susan 1946 births 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical composers Living people American women classical composers 20th-century American women composers 21st-century American women composers American Conservatory alumni