Lois V Vierk

Lois V Vierk (born August 4, 1951, Hammond, Indiana) is a "post-minimalist" or "totalist" composer who lives in New York City.

She received a B.A. degree in piano and ethnomusicology from UCLA in 1974. She then attended Cal Arts, studying composition with Mel Powell, Leonard Stein, and Morton Subotnick, receiving her M.F.A. in 1978. She has conducted extensive study of gagaku music, studying for ten years with Suenobu Togi in Los Angeles, and for two years in Tokyo with Sukeyasu Shiba (the lead ryūteki player in Japan's Imperial Court Orchestra).

She has written many chamber works for different ensembles which are multiples of the same instrument. Her work uses glissando prominently and builds exponentially in level of activity. More recently she has written for mixed instrument ensembles, such as in her piece Timberline (music) commissioned by the Relâche Ensemble, and Red Shift which appeared on the CD Bang on a Can Live Vol. 2.

She has also composed for gagaku ensemble.

In 1993, she was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.

Films

• New York Composers: Searching for a New Music (1997). Directed by Michael Blackwood. Produced by Michael Blackwood Productions, in association with Westdeutscher Rundfunk.

Discography

• Simoom(1990, Experimental Intermedia XI 102)
• River Beneath the River(2000, Tzadik TZ 7056)

Further reading

• Zorn, John, ed. (2000). Arcana: Musicians on Music. New York: Granary Books/Hips Road. ISBN 188712327X.

External links

• [1] loisvvierk.com
• Living Composers Project: Lois Vierk
• recording of Blue Jets Red Sprites
• Lois V Vierk: Slideways Published: January 1, 2008. In conversation with Frank J. Oteri
• [2] Experimental Intermedia page for Simoom
• [3] Tzadik Records page for River Beneath the River

Listening

• Lois V Vierk interviewed by Charles Amirkhanian at the Exploratorium's Speaking of Music series in San Francisco, 23 April 1987)