Linda Robbins Coleman*****

Linda Robbins Coleman continues to remain active with the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra’s Artistic Committee as they begin their search for a new conductor. As owner of Coleman Creative Services since 1976, she also serves as consultant to other orchestras and organizations on an ongoing basis, drawing upon her experiences as Co-Founder of the Iowa Composers Forum, Friends of Drake Arts, and past Board member of the Conductors Guild, Inc. Coleman is currently completing commissions that include a symphonic suite, a choral and orchestra work, and a string orchestra suite. Coleman’s music is licensed through BMI, Inc. The book she and her husband, William S. E. Coleman, spent thirty years researching, titled Voices of Wounded Knee, is in its third printing and available through the University of Nebraska Press and local bookstores. In November 2003, the Colemans made a presentation at the Judge Advocate General’s Law School in Virginia using materials from their book.

Performances

Journeys, A Symphonic Poem was performed during October 2003 by the Plymouth (MA) Philharmonic Orchestra, in celebration of Steven Karidoyanes’ tenth anniversary season as conductor and music director. In November, soprano Nancy Hagen and pianist Dan Knight performed a program called Beautiful Dreamer, 150 years of American Music as part of the Cornell College (IA) Sesquicentennial Celebration; this program included If We Could Laugh Once More. The Greenville (PA) Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Michael Gelfand, celebrated their 75th anniversary in February 2004, with an “All American” concert featuring, The Celebration!, A Symphonic Jubilee. In March, Coleman was interviewed by Jacqueline Halbloom, and her piano quartet The Late Night Café, along with her symphonic overture In Good King Charles’s Golden Days, were featured on an hour-long KUNI-FM radio program as part of Women’s History Month. The DeKalb Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Thomas Anderson, gave three performances of In Good King Charles’s Golden Days throughout May and June, Atlanta, Georgia.

Publications

The Celebration, A Symphonic Jubilee, full orchestra, now available for rental; Rag-O-Nata, a Trilogy of Piano Rags and The Late Night Café, piano quartet (second edition) now available for purchase; all by Coleman Creative Services.

*****Sigma Alpha Iota Member Laureate

Further Information

• 2002-2003 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online