Beverly Grigsby (née Pinsky, January 11, 1928 – August 22, 2022) was an American composer, musicologist and electronic/computer music pioneer.

Early life

Beverly Pinsky was born in Chicago, Illinois, and studied music as a child. She moved to California with her family at the age of 13 and graduated from Fairfax High School.

Education

Grigsby entered the University of Southern California to study pre-med, and also studied composition with Ernst Krenek at the Southern California School of Music and the Arts. She graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in composition from

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition from the University of Southern California. She later studied computer music generation at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

’s Center for Artificial Intelligence and at

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

in 1975-1976.

Career

After completing her studies, Grigsby took a position teaching music at

, and also established and directed the Computer Music Studio there. In 1984 Grigsby composed the first computerized score for an opera. Along with Jeannie G. Pool, she founded the International Institute for the Study of Women in Music in 1985. She retired from her teaching position in 1993, but continued to teach privately and work as a composer. Her music has been performed internationally.

Death

Grigsby died on August 22, 2022, at the age of 94.

Honors and awards

*The National Endowment for the Arts award *The Arts International (Rockefeller) Grant *CSUN Distinguished Professor Award *CSU Chancellor’s Maxi Grant *IAWM Outstanding Music Contribution Award *Annual ASCAP awards *Carnegie Mellon Fellow in Technology (1987) *Getty Museum Research Scholar (1997–98)

Works

Grigsby has composed choral and chamber music, and also for film soundtracks and stage. She is noted for electroacoustic compositions. Selected works include: *''The Mask of Eleanor'' (1984) chamber opera with computer score *''Vision of St. Joan'' for soprano and computer (1987) *''Shakti II'' (1985) for soprano *''Trio for Violin, B-flat Clarinet and Piano'' (1994) *''Movements'' for Guitar (1982) *''Five Studies for Two Untransposed Hexachords'' for piano (1971) *''Spheres'' (1998) for Fairlight III Computer Music Instrument

References

External links

Interview with Beverly Grigsby - NAMM Oral History Library (2010)
1928 births 2022 deaths 20th-century classical composers American music educators American women music educators American women classical composers American classical composers Musicians from Chicago University of Southern California alumni California State University, Northridge alumni Stanford University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni California State University, Northridge faculty American women in electronic music 20th-century American composers Classical musicians from Illinois 20th-century American women composers 21st-century American women {{US-composer-20thC-stub