Laura Kaminsky

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Laura Kaminsky (born September 28, 1956) is an American composer, producer of musical and multi-disciplinary cultural events, and educator. She was born in New York City, graduated from the High School of Music and Art, and studied with Joseph Wood at Oberlin College and Mario Davidovsky at City College of New York. She graduated from City College/CUNY with a Master of Arts degree in composition in 1980.

Career[]

Kaminsky has maintained an active composing studio and has had her music performed internationally. She is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and fellowships (see below). In addition, her music has been extensively recorded. She has received national recognition for her innovative cultural programming and has held posts at a number of important institutions including New York City's 92nd Street Y, Town Hall, and Symphony Space, where she is currently artistic director. In 1984 she co-founded and remains the artistic director of the new music collective, Musicians Accord, which is in residence at City College of New York, where the ensemble members work with Professor David Del Tredici and his graduate composition students.

From 1992-93 Kaminsky lived and worked in Ghana, where she taught at the National Academy of Music and produced a series of concerts, including a conference on African Music: Tradition and Innovation. From 1996-97 she served as director of the European Mozart Academy, an international post-graduate music fellowship program based in Poland that brought together talented young musicians from Western and Eastern Europe to study and perform in concerts across Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. From 1999-2004 she served as chair of the music department at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, and from 2004-08 was dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College State University of New York when she left to assume the post of artistic director of New York City's multi-disciplinary performing arts center, Symphony Space, succeeding its founding director, Isaiah Sheffer. In addition, she continues to teach composition and arts management at Purchase College.[1][2]

Personal life[]

Kaminsky is the daughter of Dr. Leonard Kaminsky, a dentist, and Eva D. Kaminsky, who managed her husband's dental practice. Her mother is from London and her father is from The Bronx.[3] In 2011, Kaminsky married painter Rebecca Allan.[4]

Honors and awards[]

For Composing:

  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, 2012
  • Hermitage Artist Retreat Center Residency Fellowship, 2012
  • Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress Commissioning Award, 2011
  • Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2011
  • Meet the Composer Met Life Creative Connections Residency Grant, 2011
  • Faculty Support Award, Purchase College, 2011
  • Seal Bay Chamber Music Festival Composer-in-Residence Fellowship, 2011
  • Meet the Composer Met Life Creative Connections Residency Grant, 2010
  • Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble Residency, Staten Island, NY, 2010-2011
  • Lucy Moses School of Music Chamber Music Commission, 2010–11
  • Dorland Mountain Artists Colony Residency Fellowship, 2010
  • New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artists Commission, 2010
  • Hermitage Artist Retreat Center Residency Fellowship, 2009-2011
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 2009-2010
  • Copying Assistance Program Grant/American Music Center, 2009
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 2009
  • Meet the Composer Met Life Creative Connections Residency Grant, 2009
  • Kenan Institute for the Arts Commission, 2009
  • Lucy Moses School of Music, Kaufmann Cultural Center and Women’s Work Music Co-Commission, 2008
  • Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize (“Terra Terribilis: Concerto for Three Percussionists and Orchestra”), 2008
  • Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2008
  • Lucy Moses School of Music Chamber Music Commission, 2007-2008
  • Purchase College Professional Development Award, 2007
  • Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2007
  • Lucy Moses School of Music Chamber Music Commission, 2006-2007
  • Purchase College Professional Development Award, 2007
  • Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2007
  • Lucy Moses School of Music Chamber Music Commission, 2006-2007
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 2006
  • CEC ArtsLink Projects Award, 2006
  • National Endowment for the Arts commission, 2005
  • North Carolina Arts Council Grant, 2004
  • Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2004
  • Jordan Foundation Commissioning Grant, 2003
  • Icicle Creek Music Center Visiting Composer Residency, Leavenworth, WA, 2003
  • Cornish College of the Arts Professional Development Award, 1999-2004
  • Artist Trust GAP Grant, 2002
  • Jory Copying Assistance Program Grant/American Music Center, 2001
  • American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters: nominated for composer award (Joan Tower), 2001
  • Seattle Arts Commission Performing Artists Award, 2001
  • King County Arts Council Special Projects Grant [through Odeon String Quartet], 2001
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1999
  • Serage Foundation Artist Grant, 1998
  • National Endowment for the Arts Recording Grant [through Musicians Accord], 1995
  • Meet the Composer Grants, 1983-1997; 1999, 2000; 2002
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1992
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1991
  • National Flute Association, Finalist, Newly Published Works Competition, 1991
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1990
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1989
  • New York State Council on the Arts Recording Grant, 1987
  • Millay Colony for the Arts Residency Fellowship, 1986
  • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1985
  • Millay Colony for the Arts Residency Fellowship, 1984
  • American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters: nominated for composer award (Miriam Gideon), 1986
  • Panopticon/New York Women Composers Competition, 1986
  • Composers' Forum: New Music/New Composers Competition, 1985
  • American Society for Jewish Music Competition, 1985
  • American Women Composers National Competition, 1984
  • Tuch Foundation Fellowship, 1978–80

For Presenting/Producing:

  • Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage 2010 Chopin Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Legacy of the Great Composer
  • CEC ArtsLink/Likhachev Foundation Grant to support Wall to Wall Behind the Wall, Russia, 2010
  • Trust for Mutual Understanding Grant to support Wall to Wall Behind the Wall, 2010
  • Likhachev Foundation & Russkiy Mir Foundation Cultural Fellowship to St. Petersburg, Russia, 2009
  • NEA American Masterpieces for “The 1939 Project: American Arts at a Turning Point” at Symphony Space, 2008–09
  • Wachovia Foundation for “Africa and the African Diaspora: Traditions, Revolutions and Innovations,” 2007-08
  • Mellon Foundation for “Africa and the African Diaspora: Traditions, Revolutions and Innovations” New York Festival and Symposum, 2007-2008
  • New York State Music Fund for “New Latin Music for New Audiences,” a part of “Africa and the African Diaspora: Traditions, Revolutions and Innovations,” 2006-2008
  • Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming as Artistic Director of the Cornish Music Series, 2003
  • Aaron Copland Fund for Music Supplemental Program Grants for “The Cornish Music Series” in 2003/04, 2002/03 and “Copland & Weill: A Centenary Celebration” in 2000
  • Aaron Copland Fund for Music Performing Ensembles Grants for Musicians Accord, 1990-2002
  • Jack Straw Productions Artist Support Grant as Director of Musicians Accord to record “The Brazil Project,” 2000
  • Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming as Artistic Director of The Town Hall, NYC, First Prize, 1991
  • Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming as Artistic Director of The Town Hall, NYC, First Prize, 1990
  • Citation from the Office of the Manhattan Borough President for Service to New York as Artistic Director of The Town Hall, 1989
  • Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming as Artistic Director of The Town Hall, Second Prize, 1989

Works[]

Kaminsky has a large catalog of works, and composes mostly chamber and vocal music. Selected works include:

Operas:

  • Some Light Emerges
  • As One

Orchestral:

  • Terra Terribilis: Concerto for Three Percussionists and Orchestra
  • Piano Concerto

String Quartets:

  • Transformations
  • Transformations II: Music for a Changing World
  • Monotypes
  • American Nocturne
  • Cadmium Yellow

Chamber Music:

  • Vukovar Trio
  • Duo for Flute and Piano
  • Duo for Cello and Piano
  • Wave Hill for Violin and Piano
  • And Trouble Came: An African AIDS Diary
  • Twilight Settings
  • Proverbs of Hell
  • Whence it Comes
  • Inerpolations on Utopia Parkway

Solo Piano:

  • Fantasy
  • Music for Artur
  • Calendar Music
  • Triftmusik
  • Danza Piccola

Other solo works:

  • The Great Unconformity (cello)
  • Isole (cello)
  • Until a Name (flute)

Songs:

  • Rise, My Love
  • Whitman Songs

References[]

  1. ^ "Kaminsky, Laura". Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  2. ^ Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers (Digitized online by GoogleBooks). ISBN 9780393034875. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
  3. ^ "For a Bronx composer, opera rises out of identity struggles". The Riverdale Press. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  4. ^ "Rebecca Allan and Laura Kaminsky (Published 2011)". The New York Times. September 9, 2011. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 17, 2021.

External links[]

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