Annie Gosfield is a New York composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 who specializes in using detuned

Musical tuning

In music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...

 or out of tune samples and industrial noises. Her work often contains improvisation

Improvisation

Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...

 and frequently uses extended techniques and/or altered musical instruments. She won a 2012 Berlin Prize

Berlin Prize

The Berlin Prize is a residential fellowship at the Hans Arnhold Center, awarded by the American Academy in Berlin.- Fellows of the American Academy in Berlin :-References:*http://www.americanacademy.de/home/about-us/hans-arnhold-center/...

.

Work

Her work includes large-scale compositions, chamber music, electronic music, video projects, and music for dance. She uses traditional notation, improvisation, and extended techniques to explore a sound world that eliminates the boundaries between music and noise. Her music is often inspired by the inherent beauty of non-musical sounds, such as machines, destroyed pianos, warped 78 rpm records, and detuned radios. She often works in close collaboration with musicians, in order to emphasize the unique qualities of each performer.

Gosfield's compositions have been performed internationally by The Bang on a Can

Bang on a Can

Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon...

 Allstars, Agon Orchestra, Joan Jeanrenaud, Fred Frith

Fred Frith

Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...

, Felix Fan, Roger Kleier

Roger Kleier

Roger Kleier is an American composer, guitarist, improviser, and producer.He studied composition at the University of North Texas College of Music and the USC Thornton School of Music. Kleier's compositional work typically develops an expanded vocabulary for the electric guitar through the use of...

, Blair McMillen, William Winant

William Winant

William Winant is an American percussionist.In addition to his work in contemporary classical music -- notably performing Lou Harrison's compositions—Winant has worked in a variety of genres, including noise rock, free improvisation and jazz. Notable collaborators include Glenn Spearman, Thurston...

, the FLUX Quartet

FLUX Quartet

The FLUX Quartet is an American string quartet dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1996 and is based in New York City. The group is renowned for its performances of Morton Feldman's String Quartet no...

, the Miami String Quartet

Miami String Quartet

The Miami String Quartet is an American string quartet. The group was founded in 1988 at The New World School of the Arts by John de Lancie in Miami, Florida, and is now Quartet in Residence at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where all four members serve as faculty members in the School of...

, The Silesian String Quartet

Silesian String Quartet

The Silesian String Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1978 by the graduates of the Karol Szymanowski University of Music in Katowice, Katowice, Silesia, Poland...

, So Percussion

So Percussion

So Percussion is an American percussion quartet based in New York City.Composed of Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Eric Beach, the group is well known for recording and touring internationally and for its work with composers such as Steve Reich, David Lang, Paul Lansky, Martin...

, Talujon Percussion, Newband

Newband

Newband is a contemporary music ensemble devoted to the performance of microtonal music. The group was founded in 1977 by musicians Stefani Starin and Dean Drummond...

 (on the Harry Partch

Harry Partch

Harry Partch was an American composer and instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation.-Early...

 instruments) and many others, at festivals including Warsaw Autumn

Warsaw Autumn

Warsaw Autumn is the largest international Polish festival of contemporary music. Indeed, for many years, it was the only festival of its type in Central and Eastern Europe. It was founded in 1956 by two composers, Tadeusz Baird and Kazimierz Serocki, and officially established by the Head Board...

, ISCM World Music Days, Bang on a Can Marathon, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is held in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has a repertoire of cutting-edge jazz, orchestral, choral and electroacoustic performances, along with film, dance and music theatre...

, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival is a six week long summer Festival of chamber music held annually in July and August and located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was founded in 1972 and presented its first series of concerts in 1973. Well-known musicians and young performers appear each season in...

, Festival Musique Actuelle, Wien Modern, OtherMinds, Spoleto Festival USA

Spoleto Festival USA

Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...

, Company Week, Taktlos, and three "Radical New Jewish Culture" festivals curated by John Zorn

John Zorn

John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

.

Gosfield has composed a site-specific work for a factory in Germany, collaborated on installations with artist Manuel Ocampo, and created a video for an imaginary orchestra of destroyed instruments. She has worked with many choreographers, including Karole Armitage

Karole Armitage

Karole Armitage is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is Artistic Director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary ballet company that performs several times annually in New York City as well as touring internationally...

 and Susan Marshall

Susan Marshall

Susan Marshall is an American choreographer and dancer. She is the Artistic Director and Choreographer of Susan Marshall & Company which she formed sometime between 1982 and 1983, working initially with dancers Arthur Armijo, David Dorfman, Jackie Goodrich, and David Landis...

. Her music for dance has been featured at the Venice Biennale

Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...

, the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....

 (BAM), Teatro Olimpico (Rome), The Joyce Theater, Jacob's Pillow

Jacob's Pillow

Jacob’s Pillow Dance is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for the oldest internationally acclaimed summer dance festival in the United States. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive...

, and the Duke Theater on 42nd Street.

Her work has been profiled on National Public Radio, and in articles in The Wire (magazine)

The Wire (magazine)

The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...

, Contemporary Music Review, Avant Magazine, Strings Magazine, as well as the book “Music and the Creative Spirit”. She has received recent fellowships from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Foundation for Contemporary Arts , originally known as Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City founded by artists Jasper Johns , John Cage, Elaine de Kooning and others in 1963. FCA offers financial support and recognition to contemporary...

, McKnight Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Siemens Foundation.

Her music is featured on three solo CD’s on Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...

. Her third release, Lost Signals and Drifting Satellites, features work scored for solo violin accompanied by satellite transmissions, as well as solo and chamber works performed by Joan Jeanrenaud and the Flux Quartet. Her previous Tzadik CD, "Flying Sparks and Heavy Machinery" features two pieces inspired by her 1999 residency in the factories of Nuremberg, Germany. "Burnt Ivory and Loose Wires", her first solo release for Tzadik, focuses on her work for detuned piano.

Gosfield was the Milhaud Professor of composition at Mills College

Mills College

Mills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...

 in 2003 and 2005, visiting lecturer at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 2007,and was a visiting artist at Cal Arts in 1999.

Gosfield's writing on music has been featured in four essays published by the New York Times "TimeSelect", and her essay "Fiddling With Sputnik" was published in Arcana II, edited by John Zorn.
She is a periodic contributor to "The Score", the New York Times blog where composers discuss their work and the issues involved in creating music in the 21st century.

She is the recipient of the Berlin Prize in Music Composition and Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin for Spring 2012.

Discography

• Lost Signals and Drifting Satellites Chamber and solo works performed by Joan Jeanrenaud, The Flux Quartet, and George Kentros
• Flying Sparks and Heavy Machinery Two pieces inspired by a residency in the factories of Nuremberg: EWA7, performed by Gosfield's ensemble, and Flying Sparks and Heavy Machinery, performed by the Flux Quartet and Talujon Percussion
• Burnt Ivory and Loose Wires Music for detuned piano, saxophone quartet, and cello, performed by Gosfield's ensemble, Rova Saxophone Quartet
  Rova Saxophone Quartet
  The Rova Saxophone Quartet is a San Francisco-based saxophone quartet formed in October 1977 at the same time as their "less adventurous" but better known colleagues the World Saxophone Quartet. The name "Rova" is an acronym formed from the last initials of the founding members: Jon Raskin, Larry...
  
  , and Ted Mook

• The Art of Virtual Rhythmicon with Phillip Blackburn and Janek Schaefer
  Janek Schaefer
  Janek Schaefer is a London-based sound artist, musician, and composer born in England to Polish and Canadian parents in 1970. He is known for his innovative work with sound and installation art...
  
  , on Innova

External links

• Official Website of Annie Gosfield
• The Score
• The Wire: Unedited transcript of interview with Annie Gosfield By Julian Cowley, The Wire 255, May 2005
• American Mavericks: An interview with Annie Gosfield By Preston Wright, with Philip Blackburn of The American Composers Forum, Minnesota Public Radio, July 2002
• Other Minds: Annie Gosfield
• NewMusicBox cover: Annie Gosfield in conversation with Frank J. Oteri, January 9, 2007 (includes video)