Elizabeth Brown (born 1953) is an American contemporary composer and performer, known for music described as otherworldly, which employs microtonal expression, unique instrumentation and a morphing, freewheeling language.Gann, Kyle. "American Composer: Elizabeth Brown," ''Chamber Music'', April 2002, p. 18–9.Kozinn, Allan
"Zany New Music, But Quirkily Compelling,"
''The New York Times'', May 14, 2003. Retrieved November 5, 2020.Clements, Dominy

''MusicWeb International'', August 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2020. Her work is frequently commissioned for specific ensembles (e.g.,

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. As a youth, Drummond performed with maverick composer Harry Partch in a unique ense ...

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (founded 1972) is a classical music chamber orchestra based in New York City. They have won several Grammy Awards. The orchestra is known for its collaborative leadership style in which the musicians, not a conducto ...

)Powers, Ann
"A Generous, Friendly Dose of Experimentalism,"
''The New York Times'', November 3, 2001, p. 16. Retrieved November 5, 2020.Keedle, Jayne. "A Musical Democracy: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra premieres the ''Lost Waltz''," ''The Hartford Advocate'', November 13, 1997. and has been performed internationally in solo, chamber and orchestral contexts at venues including

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

, Boston's Symphony Hall, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music.Holland, Bernard
"In a World of Civility, A Sudden Mozart Shift,"
''The New York Times'', November 26, 1997, p. E12. Retrieved November 3, 2020.Eisler, Edith. "Flute Force, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall," ''New York Concert Review'', Spring 2008, p. 24.Music From Japan
"Flutes from the East and the West / Song from the Spirit of Japan,"
Events. Retrieved November 9, 2020.Asian Cultural Council
Elizabeth Brown
Grantees. Retrieved November 9, 2020. She has written extensively for flute, unconventional instruments such as the Partch complement and theremin, and the traditional Asian ''

shakuhachi A is a Japanese and ancient Chinese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

'' and '' đàn bầu''; she combines them in original ways that mix Western and Eastern, ancient and modern, and experimental and conventionally melodic sensibilities.Sullivan, Jack. "Elizabeth Brown, ''Mirage''," ''American Record Guide'', January/February 2014, p. 83.Gardner, Alexandra
"Sounds Heard: Blowing In The Wind (Flute Edition),"
''NewMusic USA'', September 17, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2020.Hamilton, Andy. "Elizabeth Brown, ''Mirage''," ''Wire'', November 2013. Composer and critic

Robert Carl Robert Carl (born July 12, 1954 in Bethesda, Maryland) is an American composer who currently resides in Hartford, Connecticut, where he is chair of the composition program at the Hartt School, University of Hartford. Music Carl studied with Jona ...

calls Brown a "gentle maverick" whose avant-gardism bends and subverts traditional tropes with an unironic, unpretentious manner "that is fresh and imaginative, but never afraid of beauty, nor of humane warmth."Carl, Robert. "2004 Want List," ''Fanfare'', November/December 2004, p. 104–5. As a multi-instrumentalist, Brown is best known for flute, shakuhachi and theremin. She has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall in Boston, and the World Shakuhachi Festival (London), among other venues.Schweitzer, Vivien
"American Symphony Orchestra,"
''The New York Times'', January 28, 2008. Retrieved November 9, 2020.Boston Symphony Orchestra
"Musicians Performing During the 2017-2018 BSO Season."
Retrieved November 9, 2020.World Shakuhachi Festival
Concerts
2018. Retrieved November 9, 2020. Her music was recognized with a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 2007;John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Elizabeth Brown
Fellows. Retrieved November 3, 2020. she has also received awards from the

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

New Music USA New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media program ...

, and composition competitions in Tokyo for traditional Japanese instrumentation, a rarity for a Westerner.New York Foundation for the Arts
"Directory of Artists’ Fellows & Finalists,"
2018. Retrieved November 3, 2020.New Music Online Library
"Elizabeth Brown."
Retrieved November 3, 2020.Carl, Robert
''Elizabeth Brown – Mirage'', liner notes
Brooklyn, NY: New World Records, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2020. Brown lives in

Red Hook, New York Red Hook is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 9,953 at the time of the 2020 census, down from 11,319 in 2010. The name is supposedly derived from the red foliage on trees on a small strip of land on the Hu ...

in the Hudson Valley and is married to visual artist and frequent collaborator

Lothar Osterburg Lothar Osterburg (born 1961) is a German-born, New York-based artist and master printer in '' intaglio'', who works in sculpture, photography, printmaking and video.Pfaff, Judy. "Timeless Constructions," ''Art On Paper'', November/December 2004, ...

.Ross, Alex
"The Power of Four: String quartets multiply across New York,"
''The New Yorker'', January 28, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2020.Sheridan, Molly
"New York: Bright Lights, Small Farm-Elizabeth Brown’s Rural Electrification,"
''NewMusic USA'', May 26, 2006. Retrieved November 5, 2020.

Early life and career

Elizabeth Cecile Brown was born in 1953 in the small town of

Camden, Alabama Camden is a city in and the county seat of Wilcox County, Alabama, United States. The population was 2,020 at the 2010 census, down from 2,257 in 2000, at which time it was a town. History What is now Camden was established on property donate ...

and grew up on an agricultural research station and working farm there.Van Cleve, Libby
Elizabeth Brown
''Yale Oral History of American Music'', 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2020. Despite the area's cultural limitations, she studied piano, performed in church choirs and school bands, and took up the flute at age 16.Sheridan, Molly
"Slipping Through Memory: The Music of Elizabeth Brown,"
''NewMusic USA'', February 19, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2020.West, Paul R
"Brown, Elizabeth,"
''Oxford Music Online''. Retrieved November 3, 2020. After a year at University of Southern Mississippi, she transferred to College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati (BM, 1975), studying with Robert Cavally. She subsequently moved to New York, finding work as a union usher at Lincoln Center—a three-year experience she considers foundational to her education—and was accepted into The Juilliard School a year later. After studying under Samuel Baron and earning a degree in flute performance at Juilliard (MM, 1977), Brown established herself in New York's freelance performance community. She subbed at the Metropolitan Opera and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and toured with groups such as Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonia Virtuosi, gaining notice in the ''New York Times'' and other publications for her technique and musicianship.de Marcellus, Juliette. "Hits of the 1700s Still Charming," ''Palm Beach Daily News'', July 26, 1979.White, Marion. "Concert of concertos 'refreshes,'" ''Greenwich News'', December 22, 1983.Kraglund, John. "Chamber series start triumphant," ''The Globe and Mail'' (Canada), November 26, 1984.Kozinn, Allan
"Lessons in Concert,"
''The New York Times'', November 28, 1998, p. C22. Retrieved November 3, 2020.Oestreich, James R

''The New York Times'', February 18, 1991, p. 18. Retrieved November 3, 2020. In the 1980s, as a member of a dance company, Gathering Wood, she began her composing career while in her late 20s, despite the lack of formal training in composition.Dunning, Jennifer

''The New York Times'', June 23, 1986, p. C12. Retrieved November 5, 2020.Teck, Katherine
''Music for the Dance: Reflections on a Collaborative Art''
Los Angeles: Greenwood Press/University of California, 1989. Retrieved November 5, 2020.Dunning, Jennifer

''The New York Times'', April 17, 1986. Retrieved November 5, 2020. While on an orchestra tour of Japan during this period, Brown discovered the shakuhachi, an ancient Japanese bamboo flute whose varied, subtle tones she has likened to the private music in her head. The instrument evokes nature and was traditionally played by mendicant Zen monks as a mode of meditation.Hoover, Joanne Sheehy. "Composer-in-residence premieres two works," ''Taos Journal'', May 30, 2001.Williams, Ryan. "Evoking the sounds of nature through music," ''Williams-Grand Canyon News'', April 20, 2011, p. 2B. After studying in the

Kinko FedEx Office Print & Ship Services Inc. (doing business as FedEx Office; formerly FedEx Kinko's, and earlier simply Kinko's) is an American retail chain that provides an outlet for FedEx Express and FedEx Ground (including Home Delivery) shippin ...

School tradition with Ralph Samuelson, and Mizuno Komei and Yamato Shudo in Japan, the instrument became a major influence on her musical language. In subsequent years, Brown learned the theremin—after seeing a documentary on the life of Leon Theremin in the mid-1990s—and the đàn bầu (Vietnamese monochord), traveling to Vietnam to study in 2000.Ernest, Dagney C
"A singular voice, in honor of one,"
''Courier-Gazette'' (Camden, ME), May 20, 2015. Retrieved November 9, 2020. She has incorporated all three instruments into her composing.

Composing

Brown's experience as a performer has shaped the way she composes. She gravitates toward instruments with distinctive, weightless timbres and the capacity for subtle inflections and wavering pitches, which glide in and out to blur or dissolve seemingly "normal" melodies and harmonies.Fischer, Tobias
"15 Questions to Elizabeth Brown,"
''Tokafi'', October 21, 2008. Retrieved November 3, 2020. As a result, her sound is often characterized as otherworldly, dreamlike and hallucinatory, whimsical, and sometimes, melancholy. Some writers compare her musical language to memory, with glimmers of thought emerging through microtonal expression, subtle textures, and unexpected recognizable sounds and musical references. Composer and critic

Kyle Gann Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American professor of music, critic, analyst, and composer who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for ''The Village Voice'' (from 1986 to 2005) and ...

calls her approach a "smooth, introverted

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

," blending stream-of-conscious non-sequiturs, strange conceits and quotations (of Classical, standards and folk music) into elegant wholes that draw listeners into complicity rather than provoking them. The ''American Record Guide'' writes that Brown combines "avant-garde gestures with open-hearted songfulness."

Flute and chamber music

Brown's flute compositions often employ an extended microtonal technique influenced by shakuhachi music and birdsong. The ''Los Angeles Times'' described her early piece "Augury" (1987, for flute and guitar) as a "mystical, quirky" work using simple tonal language, inventive guitar effects and dissonance; it won the National Flute Association’s (NFA) Newly Published Music Award in 1988.Wager, Gregg
"Music Reviews : Flute, Koto and Guitar Concert in Pasadena,"
''Los Angeles Times'', October 2, 1989. Retrieved November 5, 2020. The NFA later commissioned Brown to write a solo flute piece for its 2000 high school contest: " Trillium" (1999), a delicate, three-part work.Ford, Ronda Benson. "High School Soloist Competition: Elizabeth Brown's ''Trillium''," ''The Flutist Quarterly'', Winter 2008, p. 28. Several of Brown's flute compositions use pre-recorded sound to explore themes involving memory, sensation and place. The cinematic "Travelogue" (1995, performed and recorded by the quartet Flute Force) blends fluctuating melodies, Asian microtonalism, and modernist bent pitch and

multiphonic A multiphonic is an extended technique on a monophonic musical instrument (one that generally produces only one note at a time) in which several notes are produced at once. This includes wind, reed, and brass instruments, as well as the human voic ...

technique to evoke family car trips; its sonic suggestions of arguments, passing cars and a surreal carnival calliope mix humor, nostalgia, delicacy and occasional raucous energy.Bendheim, Anne. "Flute Force charms a sold-out house," ''Mobile Press Register'', February 14, 1996, p. 3-D.Williams, David. "Flute Force plays with inspiration," ''The Charleston Gazette'', February 15, 1999, p. 4D.Smith, Ken. "Flute Force, ''Eyewitness''," ''Gramophone'', August 2002.Buckley, Daniel. "Flute Force, ''Eyewitness''," ''Stereophile'', August 2002. In 2006, Brown joined Flute Force and together they premiered her "The Baths of Caracalla" (2007) at Carnegie's Weill Hall; the piece surrounds four alto flutes with pre-recorded theremin, flute and

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...

whose dissonances, shrieks and slides represent the sights and sounds of the ancient Roman public baths. "Arcana" (2004, commissioned by Toby and

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that hav ...

) features an Eastern-flavored flute accompanied by recorded theremin and "homemade" drones, creaks, and scratches that evoke tender (a toy shop or dollhouse) and slightly spooky themes (secrets, mysteries, elixirs, intrigue). Brown's first orchestral piece, "Lost Waltz" (1997), was commissioned by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.Simon, Mark G. "Greater Goode," ''Ithaca Times'', November 24, 1997. Critics such as ''The New York Timess Bernard Holland compare its approach to

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...

and the repetitive phrases of Janacek, while noting Brown's characteristic "clouds of unreconciled fragments" (e.g., a stray, poignant passage of " Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" on clarinet). ''Newsday'' likened its sound to "a ballroom in Atlantis rquickly flowing water: attractive, allusive, even poetic."Davidson, Justin. "The Sound of Success," ''Newsday'', November 28, 1997. The recording ''Blue Minor: Chamber Music by Elizabeth Brown'' (2003) contains five of Brown's flute compositions in chamber music contexts, including "Acadia" (1999), "Blue Minor" (2001), "The Memory Palace" (1990) and "Liguria" (1999), the latter commissioned for the

New York New Music Ensemble The New York New Music Ensemble (NYNME) is an American contemporary music ensemble. Since 1976, the group has commissioned, performed and recorded works by both emerging and prominent living composers. Its performances have been featured at several ...

.Kozinn, Allan
"Works From Different Eras, but All Rife With Conflicts,"
''The New York Times'', May 10, 1993, p. C14. Retrieved November 3, 2020.Pasles, Chris. "N.Y. New Music Ensemble in Local Premieres of Works," ''Los Angeles Times'', May 13, 1993, p. F12. Retrieved November 3, 2020. The fifth piece, "Figures in a Landscape" (1995) opens with harmonies recalling Aaron Copland, before creating what Kyle Gann calls "an inescapably eerie scene" by juxtaposing a straight-pitched piano with a wavering violin line like "a warped 78 rpm record."

Compositions for traditional Japanese instruments

Brown has composed many pieces that build on Japanese traditions while diverging in arrangement, orchestration, melodic twists or harmonic progressions.Elizabeth Brown website
Pieces with Shakuhachi or Traditional Japanese Instruments
Retrieved November 9, 2020.Elizabeth Brown website
Concerto for Dan Bau and Chamber Orchestra
Retrieved November 9, 2020. Several works—some created during national park residencies—exploit the shakuhachi's ability to evoke specific natural settings; these include "Acadia" (shakuhachi and flute), "Shakuhachi Duos from Isle Royale" (2005, evoking sound moving across Lake Superior), and "Afterimage" (2011, inspired by the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

). The earlier "Hermit Thrush" (1991, shakuhachi) and "The Secret Life of Birds" (1992, flute and

koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * ...

) use birdsong as inspiration.Ulrich, Allan. "David Tanenbaum—unplugged," ''San Francisco Examiner'', 1992. Brown's first shakuhachi composition, "Migration" (1990), combines the instrument with a string trio in a dreamlike, spare sonic landscape that recalls traditional Japanese music and theater while retaining a sense of European melody and harmony; reviews suggest the work, a memorial to a friend, evokes both familiar and alien, tragedy and transcendence.Greenberg, Mike. "Concert Review: Camerata's 'Migration' deeply moving," ''San Antonio Express-News'', April 13, 2006.Kosman, Joshua. "Getting Down to New-Music Basics," ''San Francisco Chronicle'', June 14, 1992. Two pieces on Brown's recording ''Mirage'' (2013) won Japanese composition competition prizes. "Mirage" (2008; Senzoku Gakuen shakuhachi competition prize) integrates Brown's western training and eastern practice with an iconic shakuhachi riff answered by a string quartet and gentle waltz.Bayley, Lynn René. "Elizabeth Brown, ''Mirage''," ''Fanfare'', November/December 2013. "Shinshoufuukei (An Imagined Landscape)" (2010; Makino Yutaka Grand Prize for traditional Japanese instruments, 2011) is a four-movement work using a traditional Japanese orchestra in a nontraditional way; it is a somewhat austere and atypical work for Brown, exploring themes of contemplation, focused attention and longing with meditative, but insistent action driven by percussion rhythms.

Partch instrument works

Brown composed several works for the original microtonal instruments of American composer and inventor Harry Partch, performed internationally by

Dean Drummond Dean Drummond (January 22, 1949 – April 13, 2013) was an American composer, arranger, conductor and musician. His music featured microtonality, electronics, and a variety of percussion. He invented a 31-tone instrument called the zoomoozophone ...

and Newband.Kerner, Leighton. "New Band," ''Village Voice'', June 18, 1996, p. 7.Brown, Elizabeth
"Incredible Time (to live and die): Remembering Dean Drummond,"
'' NewMusic USA'', April 23, 2013. Retrieved November 9, 2020. "Archipelago" (1990) imposes a lyrical cello line over a hazy, multi-instrumental microtonal texture, balancing poetry, detail and the uncommon.Ross, Alex

''The New York Times'', April 3, 1993, p. 16. Retrieved November 5, 2020.Silverton, Mike. "Newband," ''Fanfare'', May/June 1997, p. 336. "Delirium" (1997) challenges listeners with quietly playful, segueing quotations from " Oh! Susanna" and Prokofiev's '' Peter and the Wolf''. The hallucinatory "Seahorse" (2008, also on ''Mirage'') contrasts the propulsive physicality of Partch instruments with Brown's ethereal, floating theremin, evoking the title creature's marine odysseys with throbbing and wheezing, underwater-like sounds.Van Waes, Gerald. "Elizabeth Brown, ''Mirage''," ''Psychefolk'', 2013.

Compositions for theremin

Brown purchased a Moog Etherwave theremin in 1999; like the shakuhachi and đàn bầu, the instrument's flexible pitch and bending tones create an unearthly vocal quality. Critics distinguish Brown's flute-influenced theremin playing for its subtlety, lyricism and serious artistic intent, in contrast to its frequent use as a novelty instrument. Individual theremin works include "Beatitudes" (2003), "Arcana," "Seahorse," and "Atlantis" (2007, also on ''Mirage''),Elizabeth Brown website
Pieces with Theremin
Retrieved November 9, 2020. whose expressively deformed, liquid-like sound (blended theremin and acoustic slide guitar) reviews have likened to "submerged" Segovia or Albéniz. In 2006, Brown premiered the staged chamber opera ''Rural Electrification'' (for voice, theremin and recorded sound) at Brooklyn's Old American Can Factory.Curtis, Lisa J
It's electric,"
''The Brooklyn Paper'', May 19, 2006. Retrieved August 10, 2020.Tudor, Silke
"Electric Dreams,"
''The Village Voice'', July 18, 2006. Retrieved November 5, 2020. A meditation on progress and labor exploring the effects of the advent of electricity on a young rural woman, it was inspired by Brown's Mississippi farming predecessors and historic pamphlets distributed by the Alabama Power Company. The opera featured a duet between soprano vocals (by performance artist Stephanie Skaff) and Brown's cello-like theremin (which mixes in riffs from " Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and " You Are My Sunshine," addressed to a light bulb); they are augmented by field recordings of birds, wind, crickets, creaking wood and clanking metal, and video projections of rustic, rural scenes created by artist Lothar Osterburg. Brown has created theremin works for several multimedia/performance collaborations with Osterburg, including "

Piranesi Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric ...

" (2007), "A Bookmobile for Dreamers" (2011), and "Babel" (2019).Hoge, John
"A Bookmobile for Dreamers – chamber theremin opera,"
''Theremin World'', April 11, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2020. "Piranesi" (theremin and string quartet) blends expressive, microtonal vibrato and the high octave and rare lowest register of the theremin to create airy, eerie patterns; Robert Carl compares its color and texture to Ravel. ''A Bookmobile for Dreamers'' (theremin and recorded sound) is a video/opera exploring reading, libraries, culture and imagination through a dialogue between Brown's dreamlike playing and the rambling title vehicle, rendered in Osterburg's whimsical style.NewMusic USA
"A Bookmobile for Dreamers,"
April 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2020. Other theremin works include "Arboretum" (2013) and "To Walk Humbly" (2014), a memorial to Vietnam War veteran and peace advocate Colonel

Robert Rheault Robert Bradley Rheault (October 31, 1925 – October 16, 2013) was an American colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces who served as commander of the First Special Forces Group in Okinawa, and the Fifth Special Forces Group in Vietnam from May ...

Performance and collaborations

Brown has performed on flute with the

American Composers Orchestra The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is an American orchestra administratively based in New York City, specialising in contemporary American music. The ACO gives concerts at various concert venues in New York City, including: * Zankel Hall at ...

, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuosi, and Momenta Quartet, among others. She has played theremin with Newband, the

American Symphony The ''American Symphony'' is a symphony for orchestra by the American composer Adam Schoenberg. The work was commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony and was completed in early 2011. It was first performed by the Kansas City Symphony under the d ...

at Lincoln Center, the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

at Symphony Hall, and at Carnegie Hall. She has also played shakuhachi with the New York City Opera, Kohei Nishikawa, Ralph Samuelson, Issui Minegishi, and Momenta Quartet.Schweitzer, Vivien
"Music in Review,"
''The New York Times'', February 16, 2011, p. C3. Retrieved November 5, 2020.The International Shakuhachi Society
Ralph Samuelson
People. Retrieved November 9, 2020. In addition to her work with Lothar Osterburg, Brown has collaborated with artist Lorie Novak on the multimedia installations ''Collected Visions'' (1992, 2000), which explore female identity, memory and intergenerationality through projected photographs and music.Bowles, K. Johnson. "An Engaging, Evocative Ethereal Journey," ''Spot'', Fall 1993, p. 12.Chadwick, Susan. "Exhibit makes strong statement on womanhood," ''The Houston Post'', May 12, 1993, p. D-3.Willis, Deborah and Jane Lusaka. ''Imagining Families: images and voices'', Washington, DC: National African American Museum, Smithsonian Institution Project, 1994.Novak, Lorie
Collected Visions
Retrieved November 9, 2020. For the ''AIDS Quilt Songbook'', she set Marie Howe's poem ''A Certain Light'' to music (for baritone and piano) in 1992.Gelbert, Bruce-Michael. "Songs for an Epidemic," ''New York Native'', 1992.Holland, Bernard
"The Whole Surpassing Its Parts,"
''The New York Times'', June 6, 1992, p. 13. Retrieved November 3, 2020.

Recognition and awards

Brown has received a Guggenheim Fellowship (2007), New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships (1992, 2000), and Composers Assistance Program Grants from

(1994, 2008, 2011). In addition to composition prizes in Japan, she won an Ether Music prize for an original work for theremin in 2005.''Mix''
"Moog’s Ether Music Festival Contest Winner Announced,"
September 7. 2005. Retrieved November 9, 2020. In 2004, she was awarded recording grants by the

Mary Flagler Cary Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founder ...

Charitable Trust and Aaron Copland Fund. Brown has received composer residencies from Montclair State University,

Bravo! Vail Bravo! Vail is an annual classical music festival held in Vail, Colorado. Its current artistic director is Anne-Marie McDermott. Overview The six-week-long festival begins in late June and ends in early August. Programming consists of chamber mus ...

Valley Music Festival, and Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival, among others,Montclair State University
"Composer-performer Elizabeth Brown joins faculty as composer-in-residence."
Retrieved November 9, 2020.Freud, Chris. "Premiere night at Bravo!," ''Vail Daily'', July 17, 2001, p. B1. and artist residencies at the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music, Bellagio Center (

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

), Bogliasco Foundation, MacDowell Colony, and several national parks.Bogliasco Foundation
Fellows
Retrieved November 9, 2020.Lublin, Joann S
"Nurturing Innovation,"
''The Wall Street Journal'', March 20, 2006, p. B1, B5. Retrieved November 5, 2020. She has received commissions from New Music USA,

Electronic Music Foundation Electronic Music Foundation (EMF) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that produces events, publishes and disseminates media and information, and provides access to materials relevant to the history and creative potential of electronic music ...

, Music from Japan,

Fromm Music Foundation Paul Fromm (September 28, 1906 – July 4, 1987) was a Jewish Chicago wine merchant and performing arts patron through the Fromm Music Foundation. The ''Organum for Paul Fromm'' was composed by John Harbison in his honor. Early life Born in Kit ...

, Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, and many musical ensembles, among others.NewMusic USA
"Sound & Appliqué Commissions,"
Projects, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.Fromm Music Foundation
Elizabeth C. Brown
People. Retrieved November 9, 2020.New Music Online Library
Harmonia
Composition. Retrieved November 9, 2020.

Discography

*''Elizabeth Brown: Mirage'', New World Records (2013)Brown, Elizabeth
''Mirage''
New York: DRAM, 2013. Retrieved November 9, 2020. *''Blue Minor: Chamber Music by Elizabeth Brown'', Albany Records (2003)Brown, Elizabeth
''Blue Minor: Chamber Music by Elizabeth Brown''
Albany, NY: Albany Records, 2003. Retrieved November 9, 2020. *''The Universal Flute'', Ralph Samuelson, Innova (2016) – "Afterimage"Samuelson, Ralph
''The Universal Flute''
St. Paul: Innova, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2020. *''Emergency Music'' (Bang on a Can Live Vol. II ), Various artists,

Composers Recordings, Inc. Composers Recordings, Inc. (CRI) was an American record label dedicated to the recording of contemporary classical music by American composers. It was founded in 1954 by Otto Luening, Douglas Moore, and Oliver Daniel, and based in New York City. ...

(1993) – "Migration"Bang on a Can
''Emergency Music'' (Bang on a Can Live Vol. II )
New York: Composers Recordings, Inc., 1993. Retrieved November 9, 2020. *''The Aids Quilt Songbook'', Harmonia Mundi (1994) – "A Certain Light"Harmonia Mundi
''The AIDS quilt songbook''
France: Harmonia Mundi, 1994. Retrieved November 9, 2020. *''Dance of the Seven Veils'', Newband (1996) – "Archipelago"Newband
''Dance of the Seven Veils''
Hong Kong: Music and Arts, 1996. Retrieved November 9, 2020. *''eyewitness'', Flute Force, Innova (2002) – "Travelogue"Flute Force
''eyewitness''
St. Paul: Innova, 2002. Retrieved November 9, 2020.