User:Nancy Van de Vate~enwiki

Born in the US and now living in Vienna, Austria, composer Nancy Van de Vate is known worldwide for her music in the large forms. Her opera, All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Western nichts Neues), was premiered in Osnabrück, Germany in 2003 and performed there ten times. It was also included by the New York City Opera in its 2003: Showcasing American Composers series. In 2005 her new chamber opera, Where the Cross is Made. based on the play by Eugene O’Neill, was selected by the National Opera Association as winner of its international biennial competition and subsequently performed in several American cities. Her 26 orchestral works include the well-known Chernobyl, performed in Vienna, Hamburg, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and the USA. In 2006 the Yale Symphony Orchestra’s performance marked the 20th anniversary of the world’s most famous nuclear accident. Chernobyl has been widely broadcast since it first appeared on compact disc in 1987. Van de Vate has also composed extensively for solo performers and small ensemble. Her newest works include String Quartet No. 2, commissioned by the Vienna Mozart Year 2006, and Brass Quintet No. 2: Variations on the "Streets of Laredo," commissioned by Ole Miss for an October 2005 festival of her music. Her biography, Journeys Through the Life and Music of Nancy Van de Vate, written by Prof. Laurdella Foulkes-Levy and Dr. Burt Levy, was published in 2004 by Scarecrow Press. She participated in the 2005 World Music Council and has been a Nominator for the Kyoto Prize in Music since its inception 20 years ago. She is President of the international recording company, Vienna Modern Masters (VMM), founded in 1990 with her late husband, Clyde Smith. Founder of the International League of Women Composers in 1975, she continues her support of women composers with the Nancy Van de Vate International Composition Prize for Opera and by including many of their works VMM compact discs. Van de Vate studied piano at the Eastman School of Music, completed her BA at Wellesley College in 1952, her M.M. in composition at Ole Miss in 1958, the D.Mus. in composition at Florida State University in 1968, and did postgraduate study in electronic music. She was a faculty member at eleven universities in the USA and in 1985 at the Jakarta Conservatory in Indonesia. In Vienna she has taught at the Institute for European Studies, Webster University, and Indiana University. She is author of more than 200 articles and papers about music and musicians.