Andrea Clearfield facts for kids

Andrea Clearfield, a talented composer

Andrea Clearfield (born in 1960) is an American composer who writes contemporary classical music. Her music is often asked for and played by groups in the United States and other countries. She creates music for orchestras, choirs, solo singers, small groups of musicians, dance performances, operas, movies, and even projects that mix different art forms.

About Andrea Clearfield

Andrea Clearfield was born on August 29, 1960, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up in a nearby town called Bala-Cynwyd. Her family was very artistic, and she started learning music when she was young. She played the piano, flute, and timpani (a type of drum). She also became interested in many different kinds of music. Early on, she enjoyed making her own music by arranging pop songs from the radio for voices, strings, and drums.

Andrea met her teacher, composer Margaret Garwood, while she was a student at Muhlenberg College. Later, she earned a master's degree in piano from the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts. She then received a higher degree in composition from Temple University, where Maurice Wright was her main teacher. She taught music composition and interdisciplinary arts at The University of the Arts from 1986 to 2011.

Since 1986, Andrea Clearfield has hosted a special concert series called "Salon" in Philadelphia. These events feature many types of music, like classical, jazz, world, folk, rock, and electronic music. They also include dance, spoken word, and multimedia art. She organizes these events, and they have become a popular place for musicians from different styles to meet and share their work.

Andrea's Music Style

Andrea Clearfield writes music for many different types of performances. This includes operas, orchestral pieces, choral works, chamber music, dance music, and multimedia projects. She has also written several large-scale cantatas, which are like long musical stories for singers and instruments.

Her music often has a beautiful, flowing sound and strong rhythms. She uses rich harmonies and different layers of sound and texture. Andrea's music is inspired by many cultures and art forms. For example, one of her major cantatas, Women of Valor, is based on women from the Bible and uses poems by modern women writers. Another work, The Golem Psalms, is inspired by the old legend of the Golem of Prague.

Much of Andrea's work is influenced by ancient Tibetan music, stories, and culture. This includes her opera MILA, Great Sorcerer. In her 2012 cantata, Tse Go La (which means "At the threshold of this life"), she even used Tibetan melodies. She collected these melodies during her trips to northern Nepal, where she worked to record and save the local traditional music.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Andrea Clearfield has received many awards, fellowships, and opportunities to work as an artist-in-residence throughout her career. Some of these include honors from the NEA, ASCAP, Leeway Foundation, American Music Center, and American Composers Forum.

She also received a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2016 and a Pew International Residency Award in 2020. She has been given fellowships from the Independence Foundation. Andrea has also had residencies at famous places like The Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, American Academy in Rome, Yaddo, and The MacDowell Colony.

Clearfield has also been a composer-in-residence at many universities and music schools. These include the Yale-National University of Singapore, the Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, and Michigan State University. She was also the main composer featured at the 2014 Women Composers Festival of Hartford.

Selected Musical Works

Andrea Clearfield's many musical pieces for voices, orchestras, chamber groups, and other styles are published by well-known companies like Boosey & Hawkes and G. Schirmer. Her music has also been recorded by various record labels, including MSR Classics, Innova, and Albany.

Music Recordings

• Three Tributes; includes: Romanza for Violin and Chamber Orchestra. (2021)
• La Loba; includes: Songs of the Wolf. (2020)
• The Diaries of Adam and Eve; includes: A Dream of Trees for violin and double bass. (2019)
• Ecstatic Songs; includes: The Kiss for treble choir, cello and piano. (2018)
• American Canvas; includes: Spirit Island. (2018)
• It's About Time; includes: River Melos. (2017)
• Convergence; includes: Convergence. (2015)
• Metamorphosis; includes: The Golem Psalms. (2012)

Operas

• MILA, Great Sorcerer (2018): This opera tells a story with words by Jean-Claude van Itallie and Lois Walden. It was first performed in New York City in January 2019.

Orchestra and Large Ensemble Music

• GLOW (2019): This piece is for electric guitar and a small orchestra. It was first played in Philadelphia in 2019.
• Romanza (2007): A piece for violin and orchestra.
• Concertino for Marimba and String Orchestra (2004): Written for marimba (a type of xylophone) and a string orchestra.

Choral Music (with Orchestra)

• Singing into Presence (2022): For choir and orchestra.
• Tse Go La – At the threshold of this life (2012): For two choirs, a small orchestra, and electronic sounds.
• Kabo Omowale (Welcome Home Child) (2008): A choral cantata for choir, a narrator, and orchestra. It was commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra.
• The Golem Psalms (2006): A choral cantata for a baritone singer, choir, and orchestra.

Choral Music (Chamber/A Cappella)

• The Song of Hannah (2018): For choir and organ.
• Khandroma (Sky Dancer - 2017): For choir, with optional percussion.
• That Summer: A Fantasia on Family (2016): For men's choir, piano, and two percussionists.
• The Kiss (2013): For women's choir, cello, and piano.
• When I am Woman (2013): For treble choir and piano, celebrating the Pennsylvania Girlchoir's 10th anniversary.

Vocal Music (with Orchestra)

• Rabsong Shar – The Eastern Room of the Palace (2016): For soprano singer and chamber orchestra.
• Women of Valor (2000): For soprano and mezzo-soprano singers, a narrator, and orchestra.

Vocal Music (Chamber)

• Tse Go La Chamber Suite (2016): For a solo singer, flute, piano, percussion, and string quintet.
• Hagar (2011): For soprano and mezzo-soprano singers, violin, percussion, piano, and a narrator.
• Women of Valor Suite (2011): A shorter version of the Women of Valor cantata, for singers, violin, percussion, piano, and narrator.

Vocal Music (Voice and Piano)

• You Bring Out the Doctor in Me (2013): For tenor singer and piano.
• The Drift of Things; Winter Songs (2012): A song cycle with nine parts for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and piano.

Chamber and Solo Instrumental Music

• Ha-Galgal (The Wheel – 2019): For solo horn.
• Earth Door/Sky Door (2018): For flute, piano, percussion, and string quartet.
• a space between (2018): For marimba/spoken word and string quartet.
• River Melos (2014): For horn and piano.
• AfterBach (2014): For two flutes.
• Into the Falcon’s Eye (2003): For two horns and piano.
• Spirit Island (1996): For flute, cello, and piano.
• Songs of the Wolf (1994): For horn and piano.

Collaborative and Multimedia Works

• Just as Mist on a Mirror Fades (2013): An electronic music score for a visual artist.
• Califia and the Trespassers (2013): An electronic music score for a performance with a filmmaker/poet and choreographer. This work won an award for electro-acoustic music.
• Chinnamasta (2011): An electronic music score for a dance company.