Anne LeBaron facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dr. Anne LeBaron
LeBaron in 2018. Photo by Adel Oberto.
Born	Alice Anne LeBaron (1953-05-30) May 30, 1953 (age 72) Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Alma mater	University of Alabama (BA, music) Stony Brook University (MA, music) Columbia University (Doctorate, music)
Occupation	Composer harpist academic writer
Notable work	Crescent City Sucktion
Awards	Guggenheim Fellowship Fulbright scholarship Alpert Award in the Arts Toulmin Grant from Opera America

Anne LeBaron (born May 30, 1953) is an American composer, harpist, and writer. She is known for her unique and experimental music. Her compositions often mix different styles like blues, jazz, pop, and rock.

LeBaron's music explores interesting themes. These include nature, different cultures, and big ideas about life. She often uses theater, videos, and even humor in her works. She also uses special electronic tools and techniques for the harp. For example, she might "prepare" the harp or use a bow on its strings.

Her music has been played in famous places. These include Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. Big orchestras like the Los Angeles Philharmonic have performed her pieces. Anne LeBaron has won many important awards. These include a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship. She has also been asked to create music by groups like the Library of Congress.

LeBaron used to teach at the California Institute of the Arts. She retired from teaching in 2024. She is now a professor emerita, which means she holds an honored title after retiring.

Early Life and Learning

Anne LeBaron was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She grew up in Memphis and Tuscaloosa. Her father, Gordon, was a bluegrass musician. He played guitar, banjo, and mandolin. Anne grew up listening to live bluegrass music at home. She also heard gospel music at church.

As a child, Anne taught herself to play the piano. She also learned to read music. When she was a teenager, she took piano lessons. She also wrote songs on her guitar. She would set her own poems to music.

Her grandmother taught her to play chess. When Anne was 12, she won a chess competition. She later said that chess taught her to be strong and focused. It also taught her to always look for a better solution.

Discovering the Harp

LeBaron went to the University of Alabama to study piano. But she found a harp in an empty music room. She decided to switch her focus to the harp. She studied classical harp techniques there.

While in college, she was part of a surrealist art group. It was called Raudelunas. She earned her bachelor's degree in music from the University of Alabama. She then got her master's degree from Stony Brook University.

She later earned a doctorate in music from Columbia University. Her doctoral paper was about a "Sacred Theory of the Earth." It was partly inspired by a book on chaos theory. She also studied traditional Korean music in Seoul.

Her Music Career

Anne LeBaron was a composer-in-residence in Washington, DC. This was from 1993 to 1996. She also taught music at the University of Pittsburgh. Later, she became a professor at the California Institute of the Arts. She held a special teaching position there from 2013 to 2015. In 2024, she retired from teaching.

Creating Music

LeBaron creates music for instruments, electronics, and performances. She often mixes different musical styles. She uses blues, jazz, pop, rock, and folk music. You can hear this in her opera The E & O Line (1993). She also used these styles in American Icons (1996) for orchestra.

She often uses American stories in her music. For example, Devil in the Belfry (1993) was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. Is Money Money (2000) used texts by Gertrude Stein.

LeBaron also creates music that combines different cultures. Lamentation/Invocation (1984) uses Korean-style sounds. Noh Reflections (1985) is inspired by Japanese Noh theater. Her big work The Silent Steppe Cantata (2011) celebrates Kazakhstan. It uses traditional Kazakh instruments.

A music expert, Susan McClary, wrote about LeBaron's music. She said LeBaron is interested in how music can change time. It can make time feel like it bends, stops, or dances.

Music and Theater

Theater is very important in LeBaron's music. She has written pieces like Concerto for Active Frogs (1974). She also wrote harp solos like I Am an American ... My Government Will Reward You (1988).

She has created a series of one-person shows for female singers. These include Pope Joan (2000) and Sucktion (2008). LeBaron also developed a new type of opera called "hyperopera." This is an opera where many artists work together very closely. They break down the usual rules of traditional opera.

Her hyperopera Crescent City (2012) is a great example. It involved many artists working together. They included visual artists who designed the sets. LeBaron used smaller groups of instruments and electronic sounds. The musicians and singers could easily switch between different music styles. The opera also used videos, lighting, and freedom in performances.

Improvisation

Anne LeBaron is also a skilled improviser. This means she makes up music on the spot. She uses many special techniques for the harp. She might "prepare" the harp, like John Cage did with pianos. This means placing objects on the strings to change the sound. She also uses a bow on the strings. She uses electronic tools to change the harp's sound too.

She started developing these new ways of playing the harp in the 1970s. She has performed with many creative musicians. Her double-CD 1, 2, 4, 3 (2010) shows her collaborations. It features her playing with thirteen different musicians.

LeBaron performs in Los Angeles with the Present Quartet. This group includes Ellen Burr on flutes, Charles Sharp on reeds, and Jeff Schwarz on bass.

Awards and Grants

Anne LeBaron has received many important awards and grants. These help her create new music.

Major Productions

Here are some of Anne LeBaron's major musical productions.

Major Works

Here are some of Anne LeBaron's important musical works.

Chamber Music

• Concerto for Active Frogs (1974)
• Rite of the Black Sun (1980)
• I Am An American...My Government Will Reward You (1988)
• Is Money Money (2000)
• Transfiguration (2003)
• Los Murmullos (2006)
• Way of Light (2006)
• Radiant Depth Unfolded -- Settings of Rumi (2015)
• The Heroine with a Thousand Faces (2024 -)

Orchestral Music

• Strange Attractors (1987)
• Double Concerto for Two Harps (One Player) (1995)
• Southern Ephemera for Orchestra (1984)
• American Icons (1996)
• Traces of Mississippi (2000)

Choral Music

• Story of My Angel (1993)
• Silent Steppe Cantata (2011)
• Floodsongs (2012)

Operas

• The E. & O. Line (1993)
• Blue Calls Set You Free (1994)
• Pope Joan (2000)
• Sucktion (2008)
• Crescent City (2012)

Selected Recordings

Here are some of the albums featuring Anne LeBaron's music.

• Unearthly Delights (2020). Innova Recordings 026.
• Crescent City (2014). Innova Recordings 878.
• Floodsongs. Included on Floodsongs (2014). Albany Records TROY1468.
• 1, 2, 4, 3 (2010). Innova Recordings 236.
• Pope Joan, Transfiguration (2007). New World Records 80663–2.
• Is Money Money. Included on To Have and to Hold (2007). Koch International Classics 7593.
• Los Murmullos. Included on Rumor de Páramo (2006). Quindecim Recordings 164.
• Sacred Theory of the Earth. (2000) New World/Composers Recordings NWCR 865.
• Southern Ephemera. Included on Dance of the Seven Veils (1996). Music & Arts 4931.
• The Musical Railism of Anne LeBaron (1995). Mode Records 42.
• Dish. Included on Urban Diva (1993). New World Records|New World/Composers Recordings NWCR 654.
• Phantom Orchestra (1992). Ear Rational ECD 1035.
• Rana, Ritual & Revelations (1992). Mode Records 30.