Joyce Solomon Moorman (born May 11, 1946) is an American
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
and educator.
Biography
Moorman was born in
Tuskegee, Alabama
Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. ...
on May 11, 1946, and grew up in
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
. She attended segregated public schools through high school. Moorman earned a bachelor's degree from
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
in 1968 and in 1971, a masters of arts from
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
. She earned a masters of fine arts from
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...
in 1975. In 1982, she earned her doctorate from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.
She taught at the
Brooklyn Music School
The Brooklyn Music School is a community school for the performing arts in the Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, New York offering in person and online programming. Founded in 1909 as the Brooklyn Music S ...
starting in 1982 and leaving in 1993. She has also taught at the
Borough of Manhattan Community College
The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) is a public community college in New York City. Founded in 1963 as part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, BMCC grants associate degrees in a wide variety of vocational, busines ...
,
St. John's University St John's University may refer to:
*St. John's University (New York City)
**St. John's University School of Law
**St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus
*College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...
LaGuardia Community College
LaGuardia Community College is a public community college in New York City. It is in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in and part of the City University of New York. LaGuardia is named after former congressman and New York City mayor ...
, NYC College and at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
.
In 1976, she received a jazz study grant 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 ...
(NEA). In 1998, she was the winner of the Vienna Modern Masters Millennium Commission Competition.
Works
Moorman's work, "The Soul of Nature" premiered with the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music d ...
in 1990. and She composed ''Race Riot'', a work based on Andy Warhol's piece of the same name. It premiered in 2000 at the
Pennsylvania Academy
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2016, the world premiere of ''Cape Coast Castle'' was played the Richmond County Orchestra. ''Cape Coast Castle'' describes
The Door of No Return
The House of Slaves (''Maison des Esclaves'') and its Door of No Return is a museum and memorial to the victims of the Atlantic slave trade on Gorée Island, 3 km off the coast of the city of Dakar, Dakar, Senegal. Its museum, which was opene ...
in
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
.
Her
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
, ''Elegies for the Fallen'', is based on the poetry of