Wendy Mae Chambers

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Wendy Mae Chambers (born January 24, 1953) is an American composer, currently living in Harvey Cedars, New Jersey. [1] Chambers studied at Barnard College from 1971 to 1975, where she received her B.A. in music, and where she studied with Kenneth Cooper, Nicholas Roussakis, Jack Beeson and Charles Wuorinen. She earned her M.A. in composition at Stony Brook University in New York, where she studied between 1975 and 1977.

Contents

Her large-scale music events were inspired by the work of Christo and Andy Warhol, and the desire to reach an audience beyond traditional new music audiences. In addition, she knew John Cage well and her work 12 squared for twelve percussionists (1994) is a voodoo tone poem written in his memory. By staging works outside the concert halls and into the public sphere, she has succeeded in bringing her music outside the domain of specialists and academics.

Chambers is also well known for her work writing for and performing with the toy piano. In 1994, The New York Times commented, "Ms. Chambers is not only a composer, but also possibly the world's foremost virtuoso on the toy piano." [2]

Works

Large-scale works and events

(instrumentation, place, and year of premier)

Chamber works, small ensemble pieces, and solo instrument works

Commissions

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References

  1. Lassonde, Victoria. "Wendy Mae Chambers Stages Performance for 64 Toy Pianos", TheSandPaper.net, June 20, 2012. Accessed April 29, 2015. "Wendy Mae Chambers of Harvey Cedars is a composer with a particular interest in multiples – large-scale performances by many musicians playing the same instrument."
  2. Ross, Alex (23 July 1994). "In Performance; CLASSICAL MUSIC". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 February 2015.