Luna Pearl Woolf 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 ...

. Her works include

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 ...

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, and choral compositions. Many of her pieces incorporate spoken-word recitals and choreography as well as musical performances. As a composer of many different works including operas, dramatic chamber music, silent film scores, and musical story-telling, she’s been commissioned by organizations such as Carnegie Hall, Washington National Opera, Minnesota Sinfonia, Salle Bourgie, ECM+, and others. She has collaborated with many artists including Joyce DiDonato, Frederica von Stade, Daniel Taylor, Lisa Delan, Christopher O’Riley, the Brentano String Quartet, the Russian National Orchestra, and Jeremy Irons amongst many others. Woolf has created commissioned pieces for

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 ...

and the

Washington National Opera The Washington National Opera (WNO) is an American opera company in Washington, D.C. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performa ...

. In 2014 she was an inaugural recipient of

Opera America __NOTOC__ Opera America, styled OPERA America, is a New York-based service organization promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera in the United States. Almost all professional opera companies and some semi-professional companies i ...

's first grant for female composers. She is married to cellist

Matt Haimovitz Matt Haimovitz (born December 3, 1970) is a cellist based in the United States and Canada. Born in Israel, he grew up in the US from the age of five. He plays mainly a cello made by Matteo Goffriller in 1710. Family, musical education and ear ...

Biography

Luna Pearl Woolf was born in 1973 in Western Massachusetts. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, graduating Summa Cum Laude in music composition in 1996, and a Master of Arts from Smith College in music composition. Woolf's principal composition teachers have been Mario Davidovsky, Augusta Read Thomas, Lewis Spratlan and Don Wheelock. Woolf was awarded the Ellen Taafe Zwilich Prize from the IAWM, the John Greene Scholarship and John Knowles Paine Fellowship from Harvard University, and the Settie Lehman Fatman Prize from Smith College. She is married to virtuoso cellist, Uccello member and frequent musical collaborator Matt Haimovitz, and currently resides with him in Montreal, Canada.

Oxingale Records

Luna Pearl Woolf along with her husband, Matt Haimowitz, created the labe
Oxingale Records
a sub-label of PENTATONE in 2000. The label was firstly to publish their own original music, but in 2015 expanded their catalogue to release the music of other classical artists. The project also includes Oxingale Music, which is the publishing side of the label. Oxingale Music publishes the work of Luna Pearl Woolf plus a range of works by composers such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Lewis Spratlan and Rome Prize-winner David Sanford.

Critical Acclaim

Famous for her lyricism and musical storytelling, Luna Pearl Woolf has been critically well-received throughout North America.

The Pillar, Angel Heart

This opera was first performed in September 2014 with narration by Academy Award winning actor, Jeremy Irons, setting stage for the words of Cornelia, Funke, a bestselling children’s author. The New York Times writes: “Ms. Woolf’s atmospheric music serves a different purpose… her compositions add psychological nuances and emotional depth through ever-changing textures. The … ensemble produces a dazzling variety of sounds, from the rich and earthy to the ethereal.”

Entanglement

Entanglement is a composition for a cello and percussion duo that was inspired by Melange a Trois, an “instrumental theatre work that featured percussionist Krystina Marcoux who used the body of a cello for her instrument”. The piece was written for one player that bowed the cello, and another that struck and caressed the cello. * The Calgary Herald says, “the cello is bowed by one player and struck and caressed by the other, it appears that Sandvoss suddenly is using four arms to play, giving the instrument a sensual quality, perhaps best summarized as an opera aria for cello, entangling a dramatic theatricality and an erotic intimacy between instrument and performer(s)” * “carefully considered the relationship of physicality to the performers’ bodies, for example their height, physical performance characteristics and their physical relationship with the instrument. Set in shards of imitative Bach cello suite fragments, and buttressed with non-tonal impressionistic properties, both percussive or spectral, the discontinuous narrative was something to be experienced, and far less so to be analyzed”

Notable works

*''Entanglement'' is a piece for cello and percussion which also requires the musicians to follow a series of choreographed movements. *''The Pillar'' is an opera dealing with the life of

Bernard Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American fraudster and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the NASDAQ ...

. *''Angel Heart: A Musical Storybook'' is a spoken-word piece written in collaboration with

Cornelia Funke Cornelia Maria Funke () (born 10 December 1958) is a German author of children's fiction. Born in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, she began her career as a social worker before becoming a book illustrator. She began writing novels in the late 19 ...

and narrated by

Jeremy Irons Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...

. *''Better Gods'' is an opera dealing with the abdication of

Liliʻuokalani Liliʻuokalani (; Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha; September 2, 1838 – November 11, 1917) was the only queen regnant and the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, ruling from January 29, 1891, until the overthrow of the Haw ...

Discography

* 2008 - ''And if the song be worth a smile''. Performed by Kristin Pankonin (piano),

(cello), Susanne Mentzer (mezzo-soprano), Lisa Delan (soprano). PENTATONE. Compact Disc. * 2013 - ''The Hours Begin to Sing''. Performed by Lisa Delan (soprano). PENTATONE. Compact Disc. * 2015 - ''DECEMBER CELEBRATION New Carols by Seven American Composers''. Performed by Lisa Delan (soprano), Lester Lynch (baritone), Steven Bailey (piano), Dawn Harms (conductor), Musicians of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Volti Chorus. PENTATONE. Compact Disc. * 2015 - ''"Orbit" Music for solo cello (1945-2014)''. Performed by

(cello). PENTATONE/Oxingale Records. Compact Disc. * 2016 - ''Overtures to Bach''. Performed by

(cello). PENTATONE/Oxingale Records. Compact Disc. * 2018 - ''Angel Heart''. English version. Performed by Lisa Delan (soprano),

(cello),

(narrator), Zheng Cao (mezzo-soprano), Caterina Lichtenberg (mandolin), Mike Marshall (mandolin), Michael Morgan (conductor), Daniel Taylor (counter-tenor),

Sanford Sylvan Sanford Sylvan (December 19, 1953 – January 29, 2019) was an American baritone. Biography Sanford Mead Sylvan was born in New York City on December 19, 1953, and grew up in Syosset, New York. Starting at age 13 he participated in the Juillia ...

(baritone), Uccello, Children’s Choir of St. Martin de Porres School in West Oakland. Based on text from

. PENTATONE/Oxingale Records. Compact Disc. * 2019 - ''Ein Engel in der Nacht" (Angel Heart)''. German version. Performed by

Frederica von Stade Frederica von Stade OAL (born June 1, 1945) is a semi-retired American opera singer. Since her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1970, she has performed in operas, musicals, concerts and recitals in venues throughout the world, including La Scala, th ...

(soprano),

(cello),

(narrator), Zheng Cao (mezzo-soprano), Caterina Lichtenberg (mandolin), Mike Marshall (mandolin), Michael Morgan (conductor), Daniel Taylor (counter-tenor),

(baritone), Uccello, Children’s Choir of St. Martin de Porres School in West Oakland. Based on text from

. PENTATONE/Oxingale Records. Compact Disc.

References

External links

Official website of Luna Pearl Woolf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolf, Luna Pearl 21st-century American composers 21st-century American women musicians Women opera composers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Smith College alumni Harvard College alumni 21st-century women composers