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Composers BureauTina DavidsonBiography Tina Davidson was born in Stockholm, Sweden and grew up in Oneonta, NY and Pittsburgh, PA. She received her B.A. in piano and composition from Bennington College in 1976 where she studied with Henry Brant, Louis Calabro, Vivian Fine and Lionel Nowak. She has written for orchestra, mixed instrumental and vocal ensembles, soloists, as well as works with pre-recorded tape playback. Commissions include the Kronos Quartet, Sylmar Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Greater Twin Cities Youth Orchestra, Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, Network for New Music, Mendelssohn String Quartet, and public television (WHYY-TV), as well as a Meet the Composer/Reader's Digest Commission to write for the Women's Philharmonic, Roanoke Symphony, New Orchestra of West Chester and Westmoreland Symphony. Her music has been performed throughout the United States and parts of Europe by many orchestras and ensembles, including the Florida Symphony, St. Paul Civic Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, Fidelio, Zeitgeist, and Double Edge. Ms Davidson was composer-in-residence at the Fleisher Art Memorial (1998-2001) where she was commissioned to write for the Cassatt Quartet and Voces Novae et Antiquae, as well as developed new programs to reach out into the community. Recent performances include the premiere of her opera, Billy and Zelda by OperaDelaware in December 1998 and six performances of The Selkie Boy for narrator and orchestra by The Philadelphia Orchestra in their 1999-2000 season. Her work, Antiphon for a Virgin, for a cappella chorus was performed by the Plymouth Music Series, Ensemble Singers, on tour in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Slovak Republic and France, June 30 - July 12, 2001. She was composer-in-residence with OperaDelaware, the Newark Symphony and the YWCA in Delaware as part of the innovative Meet the Composer "New Residencies" (1994-97). In addition to writing major works for each host, Ms Davidson found new ways to break down the barriers between audiences and new music, and make everyone a composer. She worked with homeless women at a YWCA residential facility, supporting them in writing small operas of their lives for two years, with students at a local elementary school and other non-musicians, bringing them into the world of composition. Ms Davidson was awarded a $50,000 Pew Fellowship (1992). The Fellowship is the largest such grant in the country for which an artist can apply. Additionally, she has been awarded four Artist's Fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (1983-96), CAP grants from the American Music Center and numerous Meet the Composer grants. In 1988 her work, Transparent Victims was selected by the American Public Radio to be part of the International Rostrum of Composers, held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. She has been recorded on CRI, Mikrokosmik, Callisto, Coronet and Opus One recording labels. Her first solo compact disc, "I Hear the Mermaids Singing" was released in October 1996. It is on CRI's Emergency Music label and includes six of her chamber works. Her string quartet, Cassandra Sings was recorded by the Cassatt Quartet for CRI and released in May 1994. Ms Davidson served as the composer-in-residence for the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia and ran the "New Orchestral Project, Philadelphia," (1991-93). She was President of the New Music Alliance, a national organization, which has been responsible for the New Music America Festivals. She organized a nation-wide festival entitled "New Music Across America" which ran in 18 cities in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In 1992 she wrote a widely circulated article on women in music for Ms Magazine. She lives in Philadelphia with her seventeen-year old daughter. Tina Davidson's website Contact Information 216 E. Market Street |
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Last updated
12/1/04 |
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