Eleanor Hovda (March 27, 1940 – November 12, 2009) was a composer and dancer from the United States of America. She was born in Duluth, Minnesota and died in Springdale, Arkansas. She received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in music at American University in Washington D.C. and her MFA in dance at Sarah Lawrence College. Her music has been performed extensively in the U.S. and abroad by ensembles including the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, KlangForum (Vienna), the Cassatt and

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

Zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. ...

, Bang on a Can All-Stars, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the

Boston Musica Viva Boston Musica Viva is a Boston, Massachusetts-based music ensemble founded by its Music Director, Richard Pittman, in 1969 and dedicated to contemporary music. Composers and compositions In its 44-year history, Boston Musica Viva has performed m ...

, The California Ear Unit, the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet and the

St. Louis Symphony The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is the second-oldest professional symphony or ...

. Performance venues have included Ozawa Hall (Tanglewood), Alice Tully, Carnegie Hall Weill, Miller, Walter Reade and Merkin Concert Halls; The Kitchen, Bang on a Can Festival and

The Alternative Museum The Alternative Museum was founded in 1975 by artists for artists and the broader New York City community in the United States.Purcell Room The Purcell Room is a concert and performance venue which forms part of the Southbank Centre, one of central London's leading cultural complexes. It is named after the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell and has 370 seats. The Purcell Roo ...

(London), The American Academy (Rome), the American Center (Paris), the WDR (Cologne), Cervantino Festival (Mexico), New Music Forum (Mexico City),

Holland Festival The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and archit ...

(Amsterdam), Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona, Tokyo and Asahikawa (Japan); colleges and universities including Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Swarthmore; The

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, to ...

(Minneapolis), and New Music America. ''Remote'', a collaboration with Baryshnikov's

White Oak Dance Project White Oak Dance Project was a dance company founded in 1990 by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris. The company took the name of the animal preservation and land plantation owned by philanthropist and Baryshnikov friend Howard Gilman. Gilman buil ...

, toured nationally and made its NYC premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1997. Hovda held appointments as full professor/composer-in-residence on the music faculties of Princeton and Yale universities, and Bard College. Music and dance appointments include residencies at Sarah Lawrence College,

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

, the College of St. Scholastica and the

American Dance Festival The American Dance Festival (ADF) under the direction of Executive Director Jodee Nimerichter hosts its main summer dance courses including Summer Dance Intensive, Pre-Professional Dance Intensive, and the Dance Professional Workshops. It also ho ...

. Her music has been recorded by the ensemble Relâche. Two CDs devoted exclusively to her compositions have been released on OO Discs: ''Coastal Traces'' and ''Ariadne Music''. In early 2012, Innova released the four-CD set, "The Eleanor Hovda Collection," comprising "Ariadne Music," "Coastal Traces," "Sound Around The Sound," and "Excavations."

External links

"Eleanor Hovda"
''Art of the States''
"Remembering Eleanor Hovda"
''New Music Box'' by Jack Vees, Published: March 24, 2010
"Sounds Heard: Elodie Lauten—Piano Works Revisited"
''New Music Box'' by Frank J. Oteri, Published: March 8, 2010 1940 births 2009 deaths 20th-century classical composers 21st-century American composers 21st-century classical composers American women classical composers American classical composers Pupils of Karlheinz Stockhausen Wesleyan University people 20th-century American women musicians 20th-century American composers 21st-century American women musicians 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers {{US-composer-20thC-stub