Vanessa Lann | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 6, 1968 [1] |
| Education | Tanglewood Institute Royal Conservatory of The Hague |
| Alma mater | Harvard University summa cum laude 1990 [3] |
| Occupations | Composer, pianist |
| Years active | 40+ years |
| Employer | ArtEZ University of the Arts and Webster University [3] |
| Style | Contemporary classical |
| Awards | John Knowles Paine Award [1] [4] Bohemians Prize, [3] Hugh F. MacColl Prize [3] |
| Website | vanessalann.com |
Vanessa Lann (born April 6, 1968, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American-Dutch composer living in the Netherlands. [5] [2]
Lann is known for contemporary compositions for underutilized instruments such as the bass clarinet, [6] bassoon [7] [8] and toy piano. [9] Her compositions have been broadcast on radio, [10] recorded on compact discs, [6] and performed in music festivals in Europe and North America. She has written numerous types of compositions, including concertos and operas. [11] In 1990, she was musical director at the American Repertory Theater. [12] Reviewer David Toub described her music as "expertly performed". [13] The New York Times music reviewer Allan Kozinn described her composition Is a Bell ... a Bell? as a "propulsively rhythmic score" which was charming with its use of two toy pianos to bring out "different timbral qualities." [9] Music reviewer Jed Distler described her compositions as "gracious keyboard writing and humor." [14] Dutch music critic for the daily newspaper de Volkskrant , Frits van der Waa, has reviewed her music on numerous occasions. He described her hour-long opera The Silence of Saar in 2013 as an "endless series of mind-numbing variations." [15] He described her music in 2005 as "intense but sweet juicy tension," [16] and her composition for the Delft Chamber Music Festival in 2007 as "beautiful." [17]