Meredith Monk (born November 20, 1942, in Lima, Peru^[1]) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, film-maker, and choreographer. Since the 1960s, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which dwell in the spaces between music, theatre, and dance: "I work in between the cracks, where the voice starts dancing, where the body starts singing, where theater becomes cinema." November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Nickname: City of the Kings Location within Lima Region Coordinates: Country Peru Region Lima Region Province Lima Province Settled 1535 Government  - Mayor Luis Castañeda Lossio Area  - City 804. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ...

Life and work

She is primarily known for her vocal innovations, including a wide range of extended techniques, which she first developed in her solo performances before forming her own ensemble. In 1964, she graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and in 1968 she founded The House, a company dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to performance. Her performances influenced many artists, including Bruce Nauman, whom she met in San Francisco in 1968. In 1978 Monk formed Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble (modelled after similar ensembles of musical colleagues such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass) to explore new and wider vocal textures and forms which often were contrasted with minimal instrumental textures. Powerful and influential pieces from this time include Dolmen Music (1979), which also was recorded for her first album released at Manfred Eicher's record label ECM in 1981. In the 1980s she has written and directed two films, Ellis Island (1981), and Book of Days (1988), which developed from a single idea; "One day during summer of 1984, as I was sweeping the floor of my house in the country, the image of a young girl (in black and white) and a medieval street in the Jewish community (also in black and white) came to me", as Monk recounts in the liner notes of the ECM-recording. Apart from the film different versions exist of this piece; two for the concert hall, and an album, thought by Meredith Monk and Manfred Eicher as "a film for the ears." In the early 1990s Monk composed an opera - Atlas which premiered in Houston in 1991. More recently, while continuing her work for her ensemble, she began writing for instrumental ensembles and symphony orchestra - her first symphonic work Possible Sky (2003), and Stringsongs (2004), commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. In 2005, events all over the world were celebrating the 40th anniversary of her career, including a concert in Carnegie Hall, featuring Björk, whose singing style is indebted to Monk's, and others, including the composers Terry Riley, DJ Spooky (who has sampled her on his album Drums of Death), and John Zorn and the new music ensembles Alarm Will Sound and Bang on a Can All-Stars, along with the Pacific Mozart Ensemble. Extended technique is a term used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox or improper techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments. ... Sarah Lawrence College is a private, liberal arts college located in metropolitan New York City, about a thirty-minute train ride north of Manhattan. ... Bruce Nauman (born December 6, 1941, in Fort Wayne, Indiana) is a contemporary American artist. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3, 1936) is an American composer. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features and core self expression. ... ECM (Editions of Contemporary Music) is a record label founded in Munich, Germany in 1969 by Manfred Eicher, who has continued to take an active interest in the music released by the label, acting as producer on most of its recordings. ... ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is a record label founded in Munich, Germany in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... Jews in the Middle Ages : The history of Jews in the Middle Ages (approximately 500 CE to 1750 CE) can be divided into two categories. ... Nickname: Location in the state of Texas Coordinates: Country United States State Texas Counties Harris County Fort Bend County Montgomery County Incorporated June 5, 1837 Government  - Mayor Bill White Area  - City  601. ... Orchestra at City Hall (Edmonton). ... Kronos Quartet in 2006. ... Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street. ... Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( ) (born November 21, 1965 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is an Icelandic singer/songwriter and composer (formerly the lead singer of alternative rock band The Sugarcubes), as well as an occasional actress. ... Terry Riley – (Portrait by Betty Freeman) Terry Riley (born 24 June 1935) is an American composer associated with the minimalist school. ... DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid (born Paul D. Miller, 1970), is a Washington DC-born electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called illbient or trip hop. He is a turntablist and producer. ... John Zorn (born September 2, 1953 in Queens, USA) is a Jewish American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Bang on a Can is a musical organization based in New York City which was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. ...

She has won many awards including a MacArthur Fellowship, and she holds honorary Doctor of Arts degrees from Bard College, the University of the Arts (Philadelphia), The Juilliard School, the San Francisco Art Institute and the Boston Conservatory. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution. ... For other meanings of the word Bard, see Bard (disambiguation). ... The University of the Arts (UArts) is the nation’s first and only university dedicated to the visual, performing and communication arts. ... The Juilliard School is one of the worlds premiere performing arts conservatory located in New York City, it is informally identified as simply Juilliard, and trains in the fields of Dance, Drama, and Music. ... The San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) is an accredited undergraduate and graduate school of contemporary art located in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California, United States. ... The Boston Conservatory is an arts conservatory located in the Back Bay region of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. ...

Her music was used in films by Joel and Ethan Coen (The Big Lebowski, 1998) and Jean-Luc Godard (Nouvelle Vague, 1990 and Notre musique, 2004). Joel and Ethan Coen, commonly called The Coen Brothers in the film business, are United States directors best known for their quirky comedies like Fargo and Raising Arizona; the brothers write their own scripts and alternate top billing for the screenplay. ... The Big Lebowski, a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, chronicles a few days in the life of an unemployed California slacker and recreational bowler after he is mistaken for a millionaire with the same name. ... Jean-Luc Godard (photograph by David Horvitz) Jean-Luc Godard (born 3 December 1930 in Paris) is a French filmmaker and one of the most influential members of the Nouvelle Vague, or French New Wave. Born in Paris to Franco-Swiss parents, he was educated in Nyon, later studying at... Notre musique (Our Music) is a 2004 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. ...

In a recent interview she said that her favourite music includes Brazilian music, especially Caetano Veloso's recordings, the music by Mildred Bailey ("the great jazz singer from the ‘30s and ‘40s"), and Bartók's cycle for piano Mikrokosmos. Caetano Veloso (born 7 August 1942) is one of the most popular and influential Brazilian composers and singers. ... Mildred Bailey (February 27, 1907 – December 12, 1951) was a popular American singer during the 1930s. ... Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and collector of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music. ... Béla Bartóks composition for piano Mikrokosmos (Sz. ...

Quotes

"In most of my music, theater pieces and films, I try to express a sense of timelessness; of time as a recurring cycle." While in the popular mind, eternity often simply means existing for an infinite, i. ... Social cycle theory (also known as sociological theory of cycles) is one of the earliest social theories in sociology. ...

--from the liner notes of the album Book of Days, ECM New Series (1990)

"I work in between the cracks, where the voice starts dancing, where the body starts singing, where theater becomes cinema." For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle &#8212...

--from Deborah Jowitt (ed.), Meredith Monk (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997) There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

"Björk did one of my songs, Gotham Lullaby. I'd heard her sing that (...) on an MP3 file one of my [voice] students gave me, and I found it really interesting. Then we met six months ago, and liked each other very much. She's a lovely spirit." Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( ) (born November 21, 1965 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is an Icelandic singer/songwriter and composer (formerly the lead singer of alternative rock band The Sugarcubes), as well as an occasional actress. ...

--from an Interview by Tony Montague in The Globe and Mail, November 11, 2005

Works

Instrumental works

• Paris for solo piano (1973)
• Acts from under and above Ellis Island for two pianos (1986)
• Window in 7's for solo piano (1986)
• Parlour Games for two pianos (1988)
• Phantom Waltz for two pianos (1990)
• St. Petersburg Waltz for solo piano (1994)
• Steppe Music for solo piano (1997)
• Clarinet Study #4, for Solo Clarinet (1999)
• Cello Study #1 for Solo Cello and Voice (1999)
• Trumpet Study #1 for Solo Trumpet (1999)
• Possible Sky for orchestra and voices (commissioned by Michael Tilson Thomas for the New World Symphony, 2003)
• Stringsongs for string quartet (commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, 2004)

A short grand piano, with the top up. ... Ellis Island, at the leg of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, was at two time the main immigration port for immigrants entering the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ... A window is an opening in an otherwise solid and opaque surface through which light and, sometimes, air can pass. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and... A steppe in Western Kazakhstan in early spring In physical geography, a steppe (Russian: - , Ukrainian: - , Kazakh: - ), pronounced in English as , is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally considered as being dominated by tall grasses... Two soprano clarinets: a Bâ™­ clarinet (left) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ... The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a bowed stringed instrument, the lowest-sounding member of the violin family. ... The trumpet is the highest brass instrument in register, above the horn, trombone, baritone, euphonium and tuba. ... Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944), nicknamed MTT, is an American conductor, pianist and composer. ... The New World Symphony is the Americas only full-time orchestral academy dedicated to preparing gifted graduates from distinguished music conservatories for successful careers in symphony orchestras and ensembles. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... Kronos Quartet in 2006. ...

Vocal works

• 16 Millimeter Earrings for voice, guitar and tapes (1966)
• Juice: A Theater Cantata for 85 voices, Jew's harp and two violins (1969)
• Vessel: An Opera Epic for 75 voices, electronic organ, dulcimer and accordion (1971)
• Our Lady of Late for solo voice and wine glass (1972)
• Quarry: An Opera for 38 voices, 2 pump organs, 2 soprano recorders, tape (1976)
• Songs from the Hill for unaccompanied solo voice (1976)
• Tablet for four voices, piano four hands, two soprano recorders (1976)
• Dolmen Music for 6 voices, cello, percussion (1979)
• The Games for 16 voices, synthesizer, keyboards, Flemish Bagpipes, bagpipes, Chinese horn and rauschpfeife (1983)
• Astronaut Anthem for chorus a cappella (1983)
• Panda Chant II for chorus a cappella (1984)
• Book of Days for 25 voices, synthesizer, piano or 7 voices, synthesizer (Chamber Version) (1985)
• Scared Song, song for solo voice, synthesizer and piano (1986)
• I Don't Know, song for solo voice and piano (1986)
• Atlas: An Opera in Three Parts for 18 voices and chamber orchestra (1991)
• Three Heavens and Hells for 4 voices (1992)
• Volcano Songs (Solo) for solo voice, voice with taped voices and piano (1994)
• Star Trek: Envoy for composing/directing/performing in the Den-Kai/Krikiki Ensemble (1995)
• The Politics of Quiet for 10 voices, 2 keyboards, horn, violin, bowed psaltry (1996)
• Eclipse Variations for 4 voices, esraj, sampler, recorded in surround sound, commissioned by Starkland
• Mercy for 6 voices, 2 keyboards, percussion, multiple woodwinds, violin (2001)
• When There Were Work Songs for vocal ensemble (2002, commissioned by the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble)
• Last Song for solo voice and piano (2003)
• Impermanence for eight voices, piano, keyboard, marimba, vibraphone, percussion, violin, multiple woodwinds, bicycle wheel (2005)
• Night for chorus and orchestra (1996/2005)
• Songs of Ascension for vocal ensemble and string quartet (2006, commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, with Ann Hamilton)

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Orange juice Juice is a liquid naturally contained in vegetable or fruit tissue. ... The harp is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. ... The classic Hammond electronic organ, invented in the 1930s and popular for decades thereafter. ... Dulcimer is the name given to two types of stringed musical instrument: The Appalachian dulcimer, a three-course, fretted, plucked instrument which is also referred to as a mountain dulcimer or just a dulcimer, and The Hammered dulcimer, which is a hammer-struck, trapezoid-shaped zither The instruments are quite... This article is about the instrument as a whole. ... A glass of red wine This article is about the alcoholic beverage. ... A small cinder quarry A dimension stone quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. ... Pump organ, a version of the reed organ where the player maintains the air pressure needed for creating the sound in the free reeds by pumping with his feet. ... Various recorders The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle and ocarina. ... The panoramic view from Connors Hill, near Swifts Creek, Victoria A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, in a limited area. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Poulnabrone dolmen in County Clare, Ireland For the French TV miniseries, see Dolmen (TV miniseries). ... The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a bowed stringed instrument, the lowest-sounding member of the violin family. ... Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ... A piper playing the Great Highland Bagpipe. ... A bagpipe performer in Amsterdam. ... A sopranino rauschpfeife being played The rauschpfeife is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, originally popular in Europe in the mid-16th Century. ... For other uses, see Astronaut (disambiguation). ... A cappella music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. ... A synthesizer (or synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modelling synthesis, phase distortion, or Scanned synthesis. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... An orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. ... For other uses, see Volcano (disambiguation). ... The horn (popularly known also as the French horn) is a brass instrument decended from the natural horn that consists of tubing wrapped into a coiled form. ... The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. ... Starkland is an independent record label based in Boulder, Colorado that specializes in alternative classical music. ... The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. ... A typical Ludwig-Musser vibraphone. ... The front wheel from a racing bicycle made using a Mavic rim A bicycle wheel is a wheel designed for a bicycle. ... General understanding of the Christian doctrine of Ascension holds that Jesus bodily ascended to heaven in the presence of his apostles, following his resurrection. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... Kronos Quartet in 2006. ... Ann Hamilton (born June 22, 1956, Lima, Ohio) is a contemporary American artist best known for her installations, and use of textiles and sculptures. ...

Discography

• Key (Lovely Music, 1978/95)
• Songs from the Hill (wergo, 1979)
• Dolmen Music (ECM, 1981)
• Turtle Dreams (ECM, 1983)
• Our Lady of Late (wergo, 1986)
• Do You Be (ECM, 1987)
• Book of Days (ECM, 1990)
• Facing North (ECM, 1992)
• Atlas (an opera in three parts) (ECM, 1993)
• Volcano Songs (ECM, 1997)
• Eclipse Variations recorded on surround sound DVD (Starkland, 2000)
• Mercy (ECM, 2002)

Starkland is an independent record label based in Boulder, Colorado that specializes in alternative classical music. ...

Notes

From Encyclopaedia Britannica ...

References

• Jowitt, Deborah, ed. (1997). Meredith Monk. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-5539-X.

Films

• 1993 - The Sensual Nature of Sound: 4 Composers - Laurie Anderson, Tania León, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros. Directed by Michael Blackwood.
• 1996 - Speaking of Dance: Conversations With Contemporary Masters of American Modern Dance. No. 22: Meredith Monk. American Dance Festival. Directed by Douglas Rosenberg.

External links

• Meredith Monk's official site
• Meredith Monk at Boosey & Hawkes
• A photo of Meredith Monk by Cynthia MacAdams, 1977
• Meredith Monk on her first orchestral work Possible Sky at Boosey & Hawkes
• A review of Stringsons for the Kronos Quartet, by Tom Service, The Guardian, January 25, 2005
• GregSandow.com: The Struggle for Form Village Voice, October 30, 1984]
• NewMusicBox: Meredith Monk in conversation with Frank J. Oteri, 2000
• Meredith Monk: magician of the voice, interviewed by Bob Turner, Common Ground, November 2005
• Press release for Making Music, in Carnegie Hall, 2005
• A Performance Art Pioneer, With Friends, by Bernard Holland, The New York Times, November 8, 2005
• Our Lady of Late, by Molly Sheridan, New Music Box, November 15, 2005
• ECM, her record label

Listening

• Meredith Monk interview
• Meredith Monk performs Our Lady of Late, for solo voice, wine glass, and percussion, July 23rd, 1975, Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Naropa Institute, Boulder, Colorado