Faculty

Joan Tower

composition

Joan Tower received a B.A. from Bennington College and M.A. and D.M.A. degrees from Columbia University. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Guggenheim Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Koussevitsky Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and "Meet the Composer"/Reader's Digest. She won the Grawemeyer Award and the Alfred I. Dupont Award for Distinguished Composers and Conductors and received commissions from the New York Philharmonic; St. Louis, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Houston Symphonies; and from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center Chamber Society, among many others. Performances of her compositions include "Sequoia" and "Silver Ladders" by symphonies internationally; "Music for Cello and Orchestra"; "Island Prelude" for oboe and strings by Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Seattle Symphony Orchestras; and "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman" by more than 200 ensembles. Her CDs have been released on Koch International, Delos, and d'Note Records. Tower was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1998. She was composer in residence at St. Luke's Orchestra from 1999 to 2002. She is the Asher B. Edelman Professor of Music at Bard College.
Phone: 845-758-7196
E-mail: tower@bard.edu