Elizabeth Vercoe (born April 23, 1941) is an American musician, music educator and composer.

Biography

Born in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth Vercoe grew up in a musical family and studied the classical piano and the violin while attending the

National Cathedral School National Cathedral School (NCS) is an independent Episcopal private day school for girls in grades 4–12 located on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by philanthropist and suffragist Phoe ...

. From 1958 to 1962, she studied music theory at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

where she was awarded the Hubert Weldon Lamb Prize in Composition. Following college, Vercoe began graduate school at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

where she pursued a Masters of Music degree in composition, studying under George Wilson,

Ross Lee Finney Ross Lee Finney Junior (December 23, 1906–February 4, 1997) was an American composer who taught for many years at the University of Michigan. Life and career Born in Wells, Minnesota, Finney received his early training at Carleton College a ...

and

Leslie Bassett Leslie Raymond Bassett (22 January 1923 – 4 February 2016) was an American composer of classical music. Bassett received the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Bassett had a lifelong relationship with the University of Michigan School of Music. ...

. In 1974, Vercoe entered the doctoral program in music composition at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

where she was mentored by the composer,

Gardner Read Gardner Read (January 2, 1913 in Evanston, Illinois – November 10, 2005 in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts) was an American composer and musical scholar. His first musical studies were in piano and organ, and she also took lessons in coun ...

and was awarded First Prize in Music Theory and Composition and was elected to

Pi Kappa Lambda Pi Kappa Lambda () is an American honor society for undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors of music. There are over 270 chapters nationally; a complete roster of current chapters is listed in the organization's official web si ...

, the national music honor society. Her teaching posts have included a position in music theory on the faculty at

Westminster Choir College Westminster Choir College (WCC) is a historic conservatory of music currently operating on the campus of Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Rider's Westminster College of the Arts, the college under which the historic institution has b ...

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, a year at

Framingham State College Framingham State University (Framingham State or FSU) is a public university in Framingham, Massachusetts. It offers undergraduate programs as well as graduate programs, including MBA, MEd, and MS. History As the first secretary of the newly ...

in Massachusetts, and her current job since 1997 as an adjunct professor at Regis College. Vercoe has won a number of national and international composition competitions and received grants from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Meet the Composer 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 progra ...

, and the Massachusetts Arts Council. She has also received fellowships from the

Cité internationale des arts The Cité internationale des arts is an artist-in-residence building complex which accommodates artists of all specialities and nationalities in Paris. It comprises two sites, one located in the Marais and the other in Montmartre. Approximately ...

in Paris, from 1983 to 1985 for three separate residencies in France, and she has also been a Fellow at the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowell ...

, the Charles Ives Center for American Music, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy. In 2003 Elizabeth Vercoe was awarded the Acuff Chair of Excellence at

Austin Peay State University Austin Peay State University () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 and named for then-sitt ...

for a semester residency in which she gave public lectures, coached performances of her music, and was commissioned to write new work. Notable performances include those by the Memphis Chamber Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra, the Women's Philharmonic, the Aeolian Chamber Players, the New York Virtuoso Singers, Alea III, and the Great Noise Ensemble, and at such venues as the Amalfi Coast Festival, the Goethe Institute in Bangkok, the Marblehead Festival, the Svenska Mandolinfestivalen, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Salle Cortot, IRCAM, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Abraham Goodman House and Merkin Hall. In 2014 her Elegy for viola and piano was performed in Bruno Walter Hall at Lincoln Center on the 75th Anniversary Concert of the American Music Center. Her recorded music is issued on the Owl, Capstone, Leonarda, Centaur and Navona labels, and she is published by Arsis Press, Noteworthy Sheet Music, and Certosa Verlag.

Works

Selected works include: *''A Dangerous Man'' (staged monodrama for baritone and piano), 1990 *''A la fin-tout seul'' (for mandolin and optional piano), 1985, Plucked String Editions *''American Fancy'' (for two pianos), 2000 *''Balance'' (for violin and cello), 1974, Arsis Press ''Instrumental Music'', Arsis Press
retrieved June 6, 2019. *''Butterfly Effects'' (for flute and harp), 2008-9, Noteworthy Sheet Music *''Butterfly Effects'' (arranged for oboe and harp) 2010, Certosa Verlag *''Changes: A Little Music for Mozart'' (for chamber orchestra), 1991 *''Despite our differences #1'' (for violin, cello and piano), 1984 *''Despite our differences #2'' (for piano and chamber orchestra), 1988 *''Eight Riddles from Symphosius'' (for contralto & piano), 1964 *''Elegy'' (for viola and piano), 1989 *''Fantasy'' (for piano), 1975, Arsis Press
retrieved June 6, 2019. *''Fantavia'' (for flute and percussion), 1982, Noteworthy Sheet Music *''Four Humors'' (for clarinet and piano), 1992 *''Five Inventions'' (for horn and piano), 2005 *''Five True Remarkable Occurrences'' (for mezzo & guitar), 2008 *''God Be in My Head'' (for women’s or mixed chorus & keyboard), 1995, Arsis Press
retrieved June 6, 2019. *''Herstory I'' (for soprano, piano & vibraphone), 1975 *''Herstory II: 13 Japanese Lyrics'' (for soprano, piano & percussion), 1979, Arsis Press *''Herstory III: Jehanne de Lorraine'' (for mezzo or soprano & piano), 1986, Arsis Press
retrieved June 6, 2019. *''Herstory IV'' (for mezzo or soprano & mandolin or marimba), 1997 *''In the Storm'' (for mezzo-soprano, clarinet & piano), 1989 *''Irreveries from Sappho'' (for mezzo or soprano & piano), 1981, Arsis Press *''Irreveries from Sappho'' (for SSA chorus & piano), 1985, Arsis Press *''Irreveries from Sappho'' (duet for soprano, mezzo-soprano & piano), 1985 *''Kleemation'' (for flute and piano), 2003, Noteworthy Sheet Music ''Vercoe'' (various pages by title), Noteworthy Sheet Music
retrieved June 6, 2019. *''Nine Epigrams from Poor Richard'' (for voice & tape), 1986 *''Rhapsody'' (for violin and orchestra), 1977 *''Sonaria'' (for solo cello), 1980, Arsis Press *''Supplication'' (for piano), 1994, League ISCM Boston, Piano Book *''To Music'' (for solo flute), 2003, Noteworthy Sheet Music *''This is my letter to the World'' (for voice, flute & piano), 2001 *''Umbrian Suite'' (for 4 hands or 2 pianos), 1999, Certosa Verlag *''Varieties of Amorous Experience'' (for soprano & piano), 1994

Selected discography

''Butterfly Effects'', Navona Records, November 9, 2018. Includes "Butterfly Effects", "This is My Letter to the World", "Elegy", and "Herstory I". ''Kleemation'', Navona Records, October 30, 2012. Includes "Fantasy", "Irreveries from Sappho", "Herstory II: Thirteen Japanese Lyrics", "To Music", and "Despite our differences #1".''Kleemation'', Navona Records
retrieved June 6, 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vercoe, Elizabeth 1941 births 20th-century classical composers American music educators American women music educators Women classical composers Living people University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni 20th-century American women pianists 20th-century American pianists National Cathedral School alumni Wellesley College alumni 20th-century American composers 21st-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century women composers Centaur Records artists