Andrea Clearfield (born 1960) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Regularly commissioned and performed by ensembles in the United States and internationally, her works include music for opera, orchestra, chorus, soloists, chamber ensembles, dance, film, and multimedia collaborations. She is represented by Black Tea Music.
Clearfield was born on August 29, 1960, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Bala-Cynwyd, a suburb of Philadelphia. [1] She was raised in an artistic family and studied music from a young age, playing piano, flute and timpani and developing an interest in a broad range of genres. She began exploring composition early on, arranging pop songs for voice, strings and percussion. [1]
Clearfield attended Muhlenberg College where she met her mentor, composer Margaret Garwood. [1] She later went on to earn a M.M. in Piano from the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (later renamed University of the Arts), and subsequently earned a D.M.A. in composition from Temple University, where her principal teacher was Maurice Wright. She holds the distinction of being the first composer in the history of Temple University to receive the prestigious University-wide Presidential Fellowship.
In addition to composing, Clearfield is active as a public speaker, curator, and visiting composer. She served on the composition and interdisciplinary arts faculty at the University of the Arts from 1986 to 2011. [2] A strong advocate for building community around the arts, she is founder, curator, and host of the renowned Salon, featuring contemporary, classical, jazz, electronic, dance, and world music since 1986. She has served on the Grammy Board, Philadelphia Chapter and currently serves on the Board of Wildflower Composers, highlighting voices of young female, nonbinary, genderqueer, and transgender composers.
Clearfield has held composer-in-residence positions at multiple universities and conservatories, including the Yale-National University of Singapore, the Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, Michigan State University, the University of Arkansas, The College of New Jersey, Hope College, Penn State University, Dartmouth College, University of Chicago, Indiana University, The College of William and Mary, the University of Texas at Austin, Luther College, The Hartt School of Music, and the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory St. Petersburg, Russia among others.
Clearfield has written more than 175 works for orchestra, opera, chorus, chamber ensemble, dance, and multimedia collaborations. Her style is lyrical and rhythmically compelling, with lush harmonies and contrasting fields of texture and sound color. Clearfield's music has its roots in a variety of cultural and artistic traditions. Among her works are seventeen cantatas including Kabo Omowale (Welcome Home, Child) commissioned and premiered by The Philadelphia Orchestra in collaboration with writer and storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston. Other works, including her choral cantata Tse Go La, are inspired by Tibetan music fieldwork that she conducted in the Nepalese Himalaya. [3] Her opera, MILA, Great Sorcerer( Jean-Claude van Itallie and Lois Walden, libretto), which explores the life of the great Tibetan sage, Milarepa, who transformed from mass murderer into Tibet’s most venerated teacher, was presented at the acclaimed NYC Prototype Festival in 2019. [4]
OPERA
MILA, Great Sorcerer, an Opera in Two Acts (2019). Libretto by Jean-Claude van Itallie and Lois Walden. Commissioned by Terry Eder and Gene Kaufman.
ORCHESTRA
DUO for Symphony & Stix for drumline and symphony orchestra (2025). Commissioned by Musicopia.
GLOW for electric guitar and orchestra (2019). Commissioned by The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Danse Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah (by Camille Saint-Saëns, arr. Clearfield) for chamber orchestra (2019). Commissioned by The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.
Romanza for Violin and Chamber Orchestra (2007). Commissioned by Orchestra 2001.
Concertino for Marimba and String Orchestra (2004). Commissioned by The Philadelphia Classical Symphony.
CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA
Long Live the Queen (a her-story of drag) for drag soloist, quartet of vocal soloists, chorus, and chamber orchestra (in process). Commissioned by ArtPhilly and created in collaboration with librettist Cookie DiOrio.
Singing into Presence for chorus and orchestra (2022). Text by Catherine O’Meara. Commissioned by University of New Mexico Chorus and Orchestra.
Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life) for double chorus and chamber orchestra (2012). Text by Dr. Sienna Craig with traditional texts from the region of Lo Monthang in Upper Mustang, Nepal. Initial translations by Karma Wangyal Gurung and Katey Blumenthal; poetic translations by Sienna Craig; transliterations by Katey Blumenthal and Andrea Clearfield. Commissioned by Mendelssohn Chorus and the Pennsylvania Girlchoir.
Les Fenêtres for soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists, chorus, and orchestra (2011). Text by Rainer Maria Rilke. Commissioned by Singing City with support by Sandra and John Stouffer.
Kabo Omowale (Welcome Home, Child) for chorus, narrator, and orchestra (2008). Text by Charlotte Blake Alston. Commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Fire and Ice for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus, and orchestra (2007). Text by Robert Frost. Commissioned by The Handel Society of Dartmouth College.
The Golem Psalms for baritone solo, chorus, and orchestra (2006). Text by Ellen Frankel. Commissioned by The Mendelssohn Chorus.
The Long Bright for soprano solo, treble chorus, and orchestra (2004). Commissioned by and set to poetry by David Wolman.
CHORAL
Beyond the Binary for soloists, chorus, digital sound and percussion quartet (2022). Text by Ellen Frankel. Commissioned by The Mendelssohn Chorus.
HERE I AM: I AM HERE for soprano and tenor soloists, 2 narrators, chorus, string quartet, and piano (2022). Text by Andrea Clearfield, based on open letters from a mother to her transgender son and a survivor of conversion therapy to their younger self. Commissioned by Coro Allegro Chorus.
Standing at the Beam for chorus and string quartet (2022). Text by Anthony Silvestri. Commissioned by the Edward D. Anderson Choral Scholars Fund in honor of The Michigan State University Chorale.
Where Everything is Music for treble chorus and piano (2022). Text by Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne. Commissioned by Sigma Alpha Iota National Conference.
Prayer to the Shechinah for chorus, cello, and piano (2020). Text by Mirabai Starr. Commissioned by Conspirare.
Home in Me for treble chorus, percussion, and piano (2019). Text by Sienna Craig. Commissioned by National Concerts (Matthew Workman, director), Sandra Snow, Meredith Bowen, and a consortium of treble choirs.
Alleluia for chorus a cappella (2016). Commissioned by The Mendelssohn Chorus.
That Summer: A Fantasia on Family for low voice chorus, percussion, and piano (2016). Text by Tom Gualtieri. Commissioned by the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus.
The Kiss for treble chorus, cello, and piano (2014). Text by Susan Windle. Commissioned by Grand Rapids Women’s Chorus.
When I am Woman for treble chorus and piano (2014). Text by Sonia Sanchez. Commissioned by The Pennsylvania Girlchoir.
Now Close the Windows for treble chorus and piano (2013). Text by Robert Frost, from “A Boy’s Will.” From the original song cycle “The Drift of Things,” commissioned by Lyric Fest, with support from Sandra and John Stouffer.
Poet of the Body and the Soul for chorus and piano (2012). Text by Walt Whitman. Commissioned by the College of New Jersey Chorale.
Into the Blue for chorus, flute, vibraphone and piano (2009). Text by Susan Windle. Commissioned by the Rainbow Chorale of Delaware.
Our Better Angels for tenor and baritone soloists, low voice chorus, brass, percussion, harp, and organ (2009). Text by Robert Espindola. Commissioned by the Turtle Creek Chorale.
Farlorn Alemen for chorus and piano and arranged for various instrumentations (2008). Text by Sima Yashonksy-Feitelson. Originally commissioned by Raya Gonen. Choral cycle commissioned by Nashirah and Harmonium Chorale. Also arranged for Duo Sequenza.
The Shape of my Soul for treble chorus and string quartet or piano (2005). Text by Susan Windle. Commissioned by the Anna Crusis Women’s Choir.
Jocheved for mezzo and soprano soloists, treble chorus, flute, percussion, piano, and narrator (2001). Text from Exodus 2:1-4 (narrated text) and Sandy Shanin (sung text). Commissioned by the Women’s Sacred Music Project. From the cantata Women of Valor, originally commissioned by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony.
VOCAL
A Brush with our Time for soprano, mezzo, tenor, and bass/baritone soloists, chorus, and chamber ensemble (2021). Text by Doreen Rao, after “Painting Peace: Art in a Time of Global Crisis” by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Original quartet song cycle commissioned by Fourth Coast Ensemble. Choral cantata supported by Women’s International Study Center and the Acequia Madre House, Santa Fe.
Let Us Remember Spring for soprano and piano (2020). Text by Charlotte Mew. Commissioned by Laura Strickling for her 40@40 Project.
This Arc Towards Justice for soprano, alto saxophone, and piano (2014). Text by Dr. Angelique V. Nixon. Commissioned by Susquehanna University.
The Drift of Things; Winter Songs for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and piano (2013). Texts by Frost, Kancewick, Wagoner, Keats, Shakespeare, Hoelderlin, and Rilke. Commissioned by Lyric Fest with support from Sandra and John Stouffer.
You Bring Out the Doctor in Me for tenor or baritone and piano (2013). Text by Rafael Campo. Commissioned by the AIDS Quilt Songbook.
A Reminiscence Sing for soprano or tenor/baritone, oboe, and chamber ensemble or piano (2009). Text by Walt Whitman.
The Rim of Love for soprano, harp, percussion, and chamber orchestra (2009). Text by Manfred Fischbeck. Commissioned by Astral Artists.
Women of Valor for soprano and 1 or 2 mezzo-sopranos, narrator, and symphony orchestra or chamber orchestra (2000). Texts by Alicia Ostriker, Marge Piercy, Rivka Miriam (translated from the Hebrew by Linda Zisquit), “Rachel” (translated from the Hebrew by Robert Friend), Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael, Sandy Shanin, Roza Yakubovitsh (translated from the Yiddish by Kathryn Hellerstein), Isidor Lillian, Ellen Frankel, and Andrea Clearfield. Commissioned by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony.
CHAMBER
if each day falls inside each night for string quartet (2024). Premiered on May 11, 2025 by the Erinys Quartet. Commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. String orchestra arrangement for North/South Consonance.
Rise for horn and piano (2023). Commissioned by Katie Johnson-Webb and Kirstin Ihde.
Reflections on the Dranyen for solo classical guitar (2022). Commissioned by William Kanengiser.
Ha-Galgal (The Wheel) for solo horn (2019). Commissioned by Julie Landsman.
Earth Door/Sky Door for flute, piano, percussion and string quintet (2018). Commissioned by Music from Angel Fire.
Widening Circles for solo piano (2018). Commissioned by Network for New Music.
a space between (2018) for marimba, string quartet, and spoken word (2018). Commissioned for Lee Hinkle by Global Premiere Commissioning Consortium.
Round for Three Muses for percussion solo, percussion ensemble, and electronics (2017). Commissioned by Yun Ju Pan and the MSU Percussion Ensemble.
A Dream of Trees for Violin and Bass (after poems by Mary Oliver, Rumi, Pablo Neruda and Melissa Harris) (2016). Commissioned by Martha Walvoord and Jack Unzicker.
HVATI for tuba or euphonium and piano (2016). Commissioned by Frøydis Ree Wekre for Øystein Baadsvik.
Compass Kaleidoscope for woodwind quintet (2015). Commissioned The Pennsylvania Quintet.
Daughter of the Sea for oboe and English horn (2014). Commissioned by the Women Composers Festival of Hartford for Duo Agosto.
River Melos for low horn and piano (2014). Commissioned by Denise Tryon.
Avalokiteshvara (Compassion) for flute, percussion, and string quartet (2012). Commissioned by Taos Chamber Music Group. From the larger work Lung-Ta commissioned by Network for New Music.
…and low to the lake falls home for flute, viola and harp (2009). Commissioned by Carol Wincenc for Trio Les Amies in memory of Margaret and Joseph Wincenc.
Lung-Ta for chamber ensemble and digital field recordings (2009). Commissioned by Network for New Music.
Convergence for viola and piano (2008). Commissioned by Barbara Westphal.
Rhapsodie for flute, harp, and string trio (2008). Commissioned by Wally Loeb for Mimi Stillman and the Dolce Suono Chamber Music Series.
Into the Falcon’s Eye for 2 horns and piano (2003). Commissioned by Frøydis Ree Wekre.
TRAX for chamber ensemble (2001). For the Relâche Ensemble.
Unremembered Wings for oboe and piano (2001). Commissioned by Andrea Gullickson.
Double Play for piano and percussion (1999). Commissioned by the Hoffmann/Goldstein Duo.
Three Songs for Violin and Double Bass after Poems by Neruda (1997, arr. 1998). For Edgar Meyer.
Three Songs for Oboe and Double Bass after Poems by Neruda (1997). For Robert Kesselman.
SAX TRAX for saxophone quartet (1997). Composed for Helikon (Holland) and Diastema (Paris).
Spirit Island for flute, cello (or bass), and piano (1996). For Temple University Faculty Trio.
Songs of the Wolf for horn and piano (1994). Commissioned by Frøydis Ree Wekre.
COLLABORATIONS
CALIFIA AND THE TRESPASSERS, an installation performance work created with filmmaker Quintan Ana Wikswo (2013). Commissioned by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
SCHWARZER TOD, an electro-acoustic work created with filmmaker Quintan Ana Wikswo and Group Motion Dance Company (2011). Commissioned by Group Motion Dance Company.
30 additional works composed for Group Motion Dance Company between 1988 and 2019.
Clearfield was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Musical Fund Society in May, 2025. [5] She received a 2021 Pew International Residency Award, [6] a 2016 Pew Fellowship in the Arts, two Independence Foundation Fellowships, two Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center Fellowships (2012 and 2024), and fellowships from the American Academy in Rome, Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, and Copland House, among others. Additional funders include the National Endowment for the Arts, ASCAP, the Leeway Foundation, the American Music Center (now New Music USA), the American Composers Forum, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the International Alliance for Women in Music
Clearfield has been praised by The New York Times for her “graceful tracery and lively, rhythmically vital writing," [7] the Philadelphia Inquirer for her “mastery with large choral and instrumental forces,” the Los Angeles Times for her “fluid, glistening" orchestration, and by Opera News for her “vivid and galvanizing” music of “timeless beauty.”
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