©2007 N. Schutzenhofer
About Nicholas
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Amy Beth Kirsten (b. 8/21/1972 in East St. Louis, Illinois) came to composing a bit late in life having had her first composition lesson at the age of 30. Prior to this she studied piano performance and vocal jazz as an undergraduate and secretly composed when she was supposed to be practicing. Since then she has gone on to participate in some of the most coveted opportunities for young composers. In 2010, she participated in the New Music Initiative with Alarm Will Sound in Columbia, MO which culminated in the premiere of Drink Me conducted by Alan Pierson. A participant in the Music10 Festival with eighth blackbird, her piece, L'ange pâle was one of two works chosen for an encore performance. In previous years, Ms. Kirsten has also worked with the American Composers Orchestra, held a residency with the acclaimed vocal ensemble Volti, and had performances by the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa, ON), the gamUT ensemble (University of Toronto), Missouri Verses and Voices, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (in a reading session with Marin Alsop), the CAGE Ensemble, Harbor Opera Company, San Francisco Cabaret Opera, and at New York’s International Fringe Festival.
Ms. Kirsten’s most recent honor includes receiving a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center to develop a new opera (2009). In addition, she was named a finalist for the Rome Prize in Music Composition (2008), received Honorable Mention in the Minnesota Orchestra Reading Competition (2008), and a Composer Assistance Grant from the American Music Center (2007). 2009 Summer composition fellowships included the Norfolk New Music Workshop and Bang on a Can summer music festival.
Raised in the suburbs of Kansas City and Chicago, Ms. Kirsten received a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Jazz Studies from Illinois’ Benedictine University, a Master’s Degree in Composition from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University (2004), and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore (2010).
Before moving to Baltimore to attend Peabody, Ms. Kirsten was a regular fixture in the Chicago singer-songwriter scene performing at such venues as Fitzgeralds Nightclub, Quenchers Saloon, The Subterranean, Katerina's, and Uncommon Ground. She got her start as a singer by studying the great improvisors of jazz. To this day, she uses the skills she developed in her jazz training as a tool in her work as a composer of contemporary concert music. Ms. Kirsten is also a fan of working with words. Her poem, November Prayer, is a featured text in the choral work by Christopher Theofanidis entitled Messages to Myself (2007) and five of her poems have been selected for publication (Sol Magazine: Spring 2010; The Avatar Review: Summer 2009; and Red Wheelbarrow: National 2008). She currently lives and works in New Haven, CT.
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(KCMETROPOLIS.org, August 25, 2010) |
formed the most singularly original event of the evening." (San Francisco Classical Voice, March 2, 2007) |
© 2007-2010 Amy Beth Kirsten - All Rights Reserved.
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