Julia Wolfe is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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...

. She was born in Philadelphia, holds degrees from the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, Princeton and Yale, and currently works in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Wolfe's music is rhythmically vigorous and often clangorously dissonant. As a composer associated with the downtown

Downtown music

Downtown music is a subdivision of American music, closely related to experimental music. The scene the term describes began in 1960, when Yoko Ono—one of the Fluxus artists, at that time still seven years away from meeting John Lennon—opened her loft at 112 Chambers Street to be used...

 style of new music she is not averse to drawing on rock and minimalism

Minimalist music

Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....

 as primary influences. Her music, however, shows a good deal more rhythmic complexity than is generally found in these genres, hence her music can properly be considered and described as postminimalist.

In 1987, Wolfe co-founded 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...

 together with composers David Lang

David Lang (composer)

David Lang is an American composer living in New York City. He was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music for The Little Match Girl Passion.-Biography:...

 and Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon (composer)

Michael Gordon is an American composer and co-founder of the Bang on a Can festival and ensemble. His music is associated with the genres of totalism and post-minimalism.-Early life:...

, her husband. She was awarded a grant in 2000 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...

 Grants to Artists Award. In 2010, Wolfe was nominated as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music

Pulitzer Prize for Music

The Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...

.http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2010-Music

In 2003, she joined the composition faculty of the Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan School of Music

The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...

. Currently she is Assistant Professor of Music Composition at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 in the Steinhardt School.

Orchestra

Amber Waves of Grain (1988) - 8 minute(s)
Orchestration 2(pic).222/432+btbn.1/4perc/hp/str

Cruel Sister (2004) - 35 minute(s)
Orchestration str (min 65431)

Tell me everything (1994) - 8 minute(s)
Orchestration 111.asx.1/1110/2perc/hp.pf/str
(111.asx.1/1110/2perc/hp.pf/amp 2vn, amp va, amp vc, amp db)

The Vermeer Room (1989) - 15 minute(s)
Orchestration 1(afl).11(bcl).1/11.btbn.0/2perc/pf/str
(fl(afl), ob, cl(bcl), bn, hn, tpt, btbn, 2perc, pf, hp, 2vn, va, vc, db)

Window of Vulnerability (1991) - 9 minute(s)
Orchestration 3(2pic).3.3(bcl).2+cbn/4.3.3(btbn).1/timp.4perc/hp.syn.pf/str

Soloist(s) and Orchestra

My Beautiful Scream (2003) - 25 minute(s)
Soloist(s) amplified string quartet
Orchestration 3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/4perc/amp pf.hp.ebgtr/str

Steel Hammer (2009) - 75 minutes
3 Singers Appalachian & traditional instruments
Orchestration Cello, Contrabass, 1 perc, 1 pno, el guit-bjo-dulc, ca/bcl

Large Ensemble (7 or more players)

Arsenal of Democracy (1993) - 9 minute(s)
Orchestration 1(pic).00.ssx+asx+barsx.0/132+btbn.0/bgtr/pf

Girlfriend (1988) - 18 minute(s)
Orchestration all instruments amplified: fl(afl,pic), cl(bcl), full-size MIDI kbd with Electric Organ sound, perc, twelve cheap wine glasses (to be stomped on, 2 per player), vn, vc, audio tape with click track

Steam (1995) - 7 minute(s)
Orchestration fl, vc, eorg, Harry Partch instruments

Soloist(s) and Large Ensemble (7 or more players)

Accordion Concerto ("True Love") (2005) - 20 minute(s)
Soloist(s) Accordion
Orchestration 1.1.1(bcl).1/1.1.1.1/perc/hp.pf/str (1.1.1.1.1)

Works for 2-6 Players

Believing (1997) - 9 minute(s)
Orchestration amplified sextet

Believing (expanded version) (1997) - 20 minute(s)
Orchestration amplified sextet

Close Together (2000) - 18 minute(s)
Orchestration cello, percussion, electronic tape

Dark Full Ride (2002) - 18 minute(s)
Orchestration four drum sets

Dig Deep
Orchestration string quartet

Early That Summer (1993) - 12 minute(s)
Orchestration str4t

Four Marys (1991) - 12 minute(s)
Orchestration str4t

Lick (1994) - 8 minute(s)
Orchestration all instruments amplified: ssx, perc, pf, egtr, vc, db

Mink Stole (1997) - 10 minute(s)
Orchestration vn, pf

on seven-star-shoes (1985) - 6 minute(s)
Orchestration fl(pic), ob, cl(bcl), bn, hn

Strong Hold (2008) - 25 minute(s)
Orchestration 8 Double Basses

Solo Keyboard(s)

6 Pianos
Orchestration 6 pf

Compassion (2001) - 7 minute(s)
Orchestration piano

Earring (2001) - 2 minute(s)
Orchestration piano

East Broadway (1996)
Orchestration toy piano, toy boombox

my lips from speaking (1993) - 13 minute(s)
Orchestration 6 pianos

Film

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

Recordings

• Julia Wolfe: The String Quartets including artists Ethel
  Ethel (string quartet)
  ETHEL is a New York based string quartet that was co-founded in 1998 by Ralph Farris, viola; Dorothy Lawson, cello; Todd Reynolds, violin; and Mary Rowell, violin. Unlike most string quartets, ETHEL plays with amplification and integrates improvisation into its performances...
  
  , Cassatt String Quartet, and Lark Quartet (2003)
• Arsenal of Democracy by Julia Wolfe (1996)
• Lost Objects with artists Michael Gordon, David Lang, Roger Epple, Andrew Watts, Daniel Taylor, and Concerto Köln (2001)
• Bang on a Can Live, Vol. 1 with artists David Mott, Robert Black, Anna Cholakian, Karl Parens, and Andrew Sterman (1994)

External links

• Julia Wolfe: Home, the composer's personal website
• Bomb Magazine: Julia Wolfe interview by David Krasnow
• Schirmer.com: Julia Wolfe
• NYU Faculty Bio webpage