Joan La Barbara

Radio:
•  “Other Voices, Other Sounds”, (1989-present), La Barbara produces and co-hosts a weekly two-hour radio program, broadcast on KUNM-FM – Albuquerque, and webcasting on kunm.org, featuring Contemporary Classical Music and Sound Art.
•  KPFK-FM - Los Angeles (1979-83), produced and hosted “Other Voices, Other Sounds”, a monthly segment of the “Imaginary Landscapes” series, focusing on Contemporary Classical Music and Sound Art.
•  “RadioVisions” series for NPR: hosted, co-wrote and co-produced (with Linda Blythe) the program on The Contemporary Voice.
•  “New Music America, Chicago” radio broadcasts (1982), co-hosted and co-produced with Charles Amirkhanian, satellite broadcast nationwide and on European radio stations.

•  Commissioned radio works:  as a composer, La Barbara received numerous commissions to create works designed for the radio medium, including “Twelvesong” (Radio Bremen, 1977); “ShadowSong” and “Klee Alee” (RIAS, Berlin, 1979); “Erin” (VPRO, Holland, 1980); “Berliner Träume: (“Airwaves” series, broadcast on WNYC, 1983); “Time(d) Trials and Unscheduled Events” (“Sounds in Motion” series for Los Angeles Olympics Arts Festival, 1984); “Loose Tongues” for National Public Radio's "House with a View”, 1985); “Urban Tropics” (New Music America Festival, Miami, 1988); “in the dreamtime” (WestDeutscher Rundfunk-Köln, 1990); “Klangbild Köln: (WDR-Köln, 1991).

Presenter/Production/Executive Positions:
•  Curator and Artistic Director of “Insights”, a new series of encounters with distinguished composers, premiering for The American Music Center in 2003.
•  Series Director for Carnegie Hall (current), “When Morty met John ...”, focusing on the music of John Cage and Morton Feldman, which premiered February 9-11, 2001, continued April 12-14, 2002 and culminates in October 25 & 26, 2003 in Carnegie’s  new Zankel Hall.
•  Board of Directors, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe (1996-97):  rescued arts organization in danger of folding; involved fund raising, damage control, PR, establishing new management.
•  Producer of recordings by John Cage, Earle Brown, Morton Feldman and Joan La Barbara for various labels; involved fund-raising, grant-writing, selection and hiring musicians, music rental and purchase, and liner notes.
•  Chief Financial Officer, Wizard Music, Inc., a non-profit corporation assisting in the development and production of contemporary music events, interactive music theatre, educational workshops on interactive technology (1976-present).
•  Co-Artistic Director (with Carl Stone), New Music America Festival in Los Angeles, 1983-85:  This position entailed organizing various arts organizations in the greater Los Angeles area, fund-raising, grant-writing, budget, soliciting scores and proposals for events, artistic oversight regarding programming, production of concerts and radio broadcasts.
•  Co-President, New Music Alliance, 1985-86, national organization responsible for artistic oversight and maintaining integrity of New Music America festivals
•  Vice President, American Music Center and Board of Directors (c.1981-87).
•  Owner, Wizard Records, recording and production company (1976-present).

Filmwork:
•  Alien: Resurrection created and performed the "Newborn Vocals" (Sound Designer Leslie Shatz; Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet; release date: November 26, 1997)
•  I Still Know What You Did Last Summer vocal soloist on the musical soundscore (Composer John Frizzell; Director Danny Cannon; release date: November 13, 1998)
•  Date with an Angel La Barbara created and performed the "Angel Voice" for actress Emmannuelle Béart, replacing her voice for the entire feature film (Sound Designer Dane Davis; Director Tom McLoughlin; released November 1987)
•  Anima (Elizabeth Harris Productions) filmscore composed by Joan La Barbara 
•  Immersion; (Jodi Kaplan, filmmaker; shown at the 1999 "New Directors/New Films" Festival at the Museum of Modern Art and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) with music by Joan La Barbara
• Signing Alphabet (animated film by Steve Finkin, broadcast on Sesame Street/Children’s Television workshop worldwide since 1977) with music composed and performed by Joan La Barbara
•  Endless Songs/Textures through Time (video by Susanna Carlisle, choreography by Mary Anne Santos Newhall, Music composed and performed by Joan La Barbara ©2002)
•  Tango Two (video by Susanna Carlisle, story by Melody Sumner Carnahan, music composed and performed by Joan La Barbara ©2002)
•  Voice Windows/Vocalization One (video by Steina, interactive interface and mapping by Woody Vasulka, music composed and performed by Joan La Barbara ©1987)
•  Devil’s Book (animated film by Steven Subotnick) with music composed and performed by Joan La Barbara
•  Roost (animated film by Amy Kravitz) with music composed and performed by Joan La Barbara
• Tending Echo Park (film by Monica Gazzo) with music composed and performed by Joan La B arbara
•  and music for numerous independent films by Richard Blau, Monica Gazzo, Amy Kravitz, Elyse Rosenberg, Steven Subotnick and others.

Artistic Advisor/Panelist/Services to the field:
Massachusetts Arts Council, (Chair, Music Panel 1985; Music panel, 1986); Arizona Arts Council; Santa Fe Arts Commission; National Endowment for the Arts, Music and Inter-Arts panels; Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Recording panel; Bush Foundation; Ford Foundation; National Advisory Committee, New Music America Houston 1985-86; Artistic Advisory Council, The College of Santa Fe, Contemporary Music Program, 1997; American Academy of Rome, Music panel (1997 & 98); Composer Delegate, American Composers Orchestra Sonidas de las Americas festival, 1999.

Writing:
Musical America/High Fidelity magazine, contributing New Music Editor 1977-87
Schwann/Opus magazine, contributing Editor 1996-98.
Feature Articles and reviews for Data Arte (Milan); Nouvel Observateur and Libération (Paris); SoHo in Berlin Arts Festival catalogue, Soho Weekly News, Los Angeles Times.

Concert Music and Music Theatre Productions (a selected list)   (* = Premieres): 

ShamanSong/Incense* by Joan La Barbara for Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Town Hall, New York City, 2002.
Dragons on the Wall * by Joan La Barbara for Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 2001.
Dust * by Robert Ashley – Kanagawa Arts Center, Yokohama, Japan; The Kitchen, NYC; Festival d’Été, Paris.
Intimate Immensity * by Morton Subotnick - Lincoln Center Festival, NYC and ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany, 1997.
Balseros * by Robert Ashley – Miami Grand Opera, 1997.
The Misfortune of the Immortals * by Joan La Barbara, Morton Subotnick, and Mark Coniglio - Arizona State University; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis and Site Santa Fe, 1996.
Now Eleanor's Idea * by Robert Ashley - Festival d'Avignon, 1996 and BAM's Next Wave Festival
Calligraphy II/Shadows * by Joan La Barbara for Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Danspace, NYC, 1995.
Jacob's Room, * a chamber opera by Morton Subotnick for American Music Theater Festival, Philadelphia and MANCA, Nice, 1993-94.
“to hear the wind roar”* by Joan La Barbara, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe,1991, also performed by I Cantori, Los Angeles and Gregg Smith Singers, New York, 1991-92.
Events in the Elsewhere * by Joan La Barbara - Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, 1990.
Voice Windows *by Joan La Barbara with video by Steina and interactive interfacing by Woody Vasulka, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, 1986-87.
Hungers * by Morton Subotnick and Ed Emshwiller - Los Angeles Festival and Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, 1987.
Winds of the Canyon * by Joan La Barbara - Los Angeles Theater Center, 1986.
The Double Life of Amphibians * by Morton Subotnick - Los Angeles Olympics Arts Festival, 1984.
Three Voices * (for Joan La Barbara) by Morton Feldman – Contemporary Music Festival, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, 1983, and NYC’s The Alternative Museum, Bang on a Can , Lincoln Center Festivals, Carnegie Hall.
Solo for Voice 45 * with Atlas Eclipticalis and Winter Music by John Cage at Festival de La Rochelle, France, 1976.
Einstein on the Beach * by Philip Glass and Robert Wilson – Festival d’Avignon, France, 1976.
Dr. Selavy’s Magic Theatre by Richard Foreman and Stanley Silverman - Mercer Arts Center, NYC, 1973.
Drumming * by Steve Reich at New York's Town Hall, 1971, and numerous European Museums and U.S. concert halls.

Teaching:
•College of Santa Fe (1996-‘02):  Adjunct Faculty, teaching Contemporary Voice and Composition 
•University of New Mexico (1999-‘01): “The Experimental Tradition” (course covered movements including Italian Futurists, Russian Constructivism, Swiss and German Dada, Surrealism, Fluxus, Minimalism, Experimental, Electronic and Electro-Acoustic Music, Avant Garde Music Theatre), and “Contemporary Vocal Techniques and Composition”
•California Institute of the Arts (1981-86): taught courses in “Contemporary Vocal Composition and Performance” and “The Experimental Tradition” 
•Hochschule der Kunst, Berlin (1979-80): taught course in Contemporary Composition, Performance, and Extended Vocal Techniques

Residencies:
The Institute for Living Voice, Musik-Theatre Transparant, de Singel, Antwerp, Belgium , 2002.
Atlantic Center for the Arts, Master Artist, 1992.
MusikAkademie der Stadt Basel, Switzerland: taught courses in Contemporary Composition, Performance, and Extended Vocal Techniques, 1983.
Ars Nova, Denmark, 1983.
Cité des Arts, Paris, 1980-81.
Fêtes Musicales de la Sainte Baume en Provence, France: Contemporary Vocal Composition, Performance and Extended Vocal Techniques, and Aspects of Collaboration for Dancers and Musicians, 1977.
State University of New York at Buffalo: Visiting Slee Composer, 1976.
University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana: Contemporary Vocal Composition, Performance, and Extended Vocal Techniques, and Aspects of Collaboration for Dancers and Musicians.
also, Gettysburg College; Kutztown College; Universty of Iowa; Arizona State University; University of California, Irvine, etc. 

Workshops on Contemporary Vocal Techniques and Composition:
Podewil (1990), and Lützowstrasse Project (1979), Berlin, Germany
American Center for Students and Artists (1981), Paris, France
LAICA (Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Arts), 1983.
Concordia College, Theatre Department, Interdisciplinary Institute of Performing Arts, Montréal, Canada; 
Mills College, Oakland; San Francisco Conservatory of Music; Washington University, St. Louis; Goteborg, Sweden; etc.

Education:
Syracuse University (1965-68)
New York University, Bachelor of Science in Music Education (1970, received under maiden name: Joan Linda Lotz)
Tanglewood/Berkshire Music Center, Master Classes with Phyllis Curtin (1967 & ‘68)
Private voice study with Helen Boatwright and Marian Szekely-Freschl
Abington High School, Radio Production courses; served as Voice of Abington producing and hosting daily radio programs and weekly cultural events on local radio station.

Unions/Professional Societies:
SAG, AFTRA, AEA
ASCAP – Composer and Publisher member
American Music Center