Joan La Barbara

is a composer, performer, sound artist, actor, and renowned for her unique vocabulary of experimental and extended vocal techniques, influencing generations of composers and singers. Awards include: Foundation for Contemporary Arts John Cage Award; Premio Internazionale “Demetrio Stratos”; DAAD-Berlin, Civitella Ranieri and Hermitage Artist-Residencies; Guggenheim Fellowship (Music Composition); seven National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and The American Music Center’s Letter of Distinction for her significant contributions to contemporary American music. “Ears of an Eagle; Eyes of a Hawk: In the Vortex”, commissioned by The New York Philharmonic’s Project 19, premiered on February 10, 2020 in The Appel Room, Jazz @ Lincoln Center. Other numerous commissions include composing for multiple voices, chamber ensembles, orchestra, interactive technology, and soundscores for dance, video and film, including for voice and electronics for Sesame Street broadcast worldwide since 1977. Her multi-layered textural compositions were presented at Brisbane Biennial, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Warsaw Autumn, MaerzMusik Berlin, Rewire and Unsound festivals and Lincoln Center among many others. Artistic Director of the multi-year Carnegie Hall series “When Morty Met John”, co-founder of performing composers collective Ne(x)tworks, featured actor in artist Matthew Barney’s film “River of Fundament” and Aleksandar Kostic’s award-winning “Parallel Dreams”. With Jóhann Jóhannsson, she co-composed music for feature film “Arrival” (2016), incorporating her original music from “Erin”. Recordings of her work include: “ShamanSong”; “Sound Paintings”, “Voice is the Original Instrument”; “Tapesongs”, “73 Poems”, “The Debussy Effect”, and “The Early Immersive Music of Joan La Barbara”. For her sound painting “in solitude this fear is lived”, inspired by Agnes Martin’s minimalist drawings and paintings, La Barbara seated the American Composers Orchestra around and among the audience in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. La Barbara is on the College of Performing Arts Faculty at Mannes/The New School and at New York University.  Throughout her career she has worked with, helped develop, recorded and premiered works by Robert Ashley, David Behrman, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier, Steve Reich, Morton Subotnick and many others. La Barbara is a Composer and Publisher member of ASCAP, her compositions are also published by PSNY (Schott); member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, she is currently composing a new opera exploring sounds within the mind.