Elizabeth R. Austin facts for kids

Elizabeth R. Austin (born in 1938) is an American composer. This means she writes music! She has created many different kinds of music, from songs to operas and symphonies. Her music has been played in many places around the world.

About Elizabeth R. Austin

Elizabeth R. Austin was born in Baltimore in 1938. She started learning music at a young age at The Peabody Conservatory. A famous music teacher named Nadia Boulanger heard some of Austin's songs. She was so impressed that she gave Austin a special scholarship. This allowed Austin to study music in France at the Conservatoire Americaine in Fontainebleau.

Later, Elizabeth Austin studied at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. She earned a Master's degree there. While she was a teacher at the Hartt School, she helped set up a student exchange program. This program connected students and teachers with a music school in Germany. She also earned her Ph.D. at The University of Connecticut. During her studies, she won a top prize in an electronic music competition. This was for her piece called Klavier Double, which used both piano and tape recordings.

Awards and Recognition

Elizabeth Austin has received many honors for her music. She won a grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. A group of women artists in Germany and Austria, called GEDOK, chose her to represent her region in a special art show. She also won first prize in the Miriam Gideon Competition in 1998 for her piece Homage for Hildegard. In 2001, she received a special residency at the Rockefeller Foundation in Italy. This allowed her time to focus on her music.

Her music has been performed and praised in many countries. These include places in Europe, Scandinavia, the United States, and the Caribbean. A German radio station, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, has featured her work. A pianist from Germany, Ulrich Urban, often plays her piano music. He has performed her pieces in famous concert halls.

Studying Her Music

Two people have written special academic papers, called dissertations, about Elizabeth Austin's music. Dr. Michael K. Slayton wrote his paper in 2000. Dr. Teresa Crane wrote about Austin's song cycles in 2007. Her music has also been discussed in many articles and interviews in music journals. An online journal called SCOPE featured an article about her music in 2011.

In 2015, Dr. Austin was a special composer-in-residence at Vanderbilt University. This meant she spent time there working on and sharing her music. Part of her full-length opera, That I am One and Double Too, was performed in a concert. The final part of this opera was also performed again in 2018. The Hartford Musical Club asked her to write a new piece for their 125th anniversary in 2015. This new piece was also performed in a concert celebrating her work. In 2017, her piece Litauische Lieder was performed in Berlin, Germany.

Austin's music is published by several companies, including Arsis Press and Tonger Musikverlag. Her music has also been recorded on CDs by labels like Parma and Leonarda. You can find her sheet music through the American Composers Alliance.

Special Honors and Awards

Here are some of the important awards Elizabeth Austin has received:

• First Prize, David Lipscomb Electronic Music Competition for Klavier Double (1983)
• First Prize, IAWM's Miriam Gideon Composition Competition for A Hommage for Hildegard (1998)
• Chosen by GEDOK (a society for women artists) to represent her region in a special exhibition in Germany (1996)
• A special concert celebrating her work was held by GEDOK in Germany (1998)

Musical Works