Gabriela Lena Frank
Gabriela Lena Frank (born September 1972) is an American pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.
Biography
Gabriela Lena Frank was born in
Frank received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Rice University and a Doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Michigan in 2001. She has studied composition with Paul Cooper, William Albright, Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty, and Samuel Jones.
Style
Frank's work often draws on her multicultural background, especially her mother's Peruvian heritage. In many of her compositions, she elicits the sounds of
Professional life
Frank's music has been commissioned and performed by the
She has served as composer-in-residence with many institutions including the
2009 saw Frank receive her first
In 2010 Frank won a United States Artists Fellow award.[5]
Gabriela Lena Frank is a member of the
Also in 2011, Frank released a complete CD of her works, entitled "Hilos," on the Naxos label with the Nashville-based ALIAS Ensemble, featuring a new mixed quartet written expressly for ALIAS. In its first week of release, it broke into the Billboard's top 100 Classical Recordings and was subsequently awarded a rare "10/10" rating by Classics Today. "Hilos" was nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award in the category of Best Small Ensemble Performance on which Frank plays piano.[6] It has received more than a dozen positive reviews.[7]
In 2012, Frank was sponsored by the US-Quito Embassy in Ecuador and small crowdsourced private donors through USA Artists to compose a new work for the Ecuadoran group La Orquesta de Instrumentos Andinos (Orchestra of Andean Instruments). The work, "Compadre Huashayo," is to be played entirely on indigenous instruments while drawing on a mix of modernist classical and traditional indigenous practices.[8] Once again, PBS profiled Frank in a documentary, likewise entitled "Compadre Huashayo" that was premiered in fall 2013.
In 2013, Frank received the Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization for outstanding young Black and Latino leaders in classical music. She received her award in a ceremony at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., meeting Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Ginsburg.[9] Later that year, she released another CD of her chamber works with Meme Ensemble on the Albany Records label.
Frank is frequently performed by the Caminos del Inka collective under the direction of conductor
Frank is also a Grammy-nominated pianist. She has recorded the complete piano works of Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Leslie Bassett on the Equilibrium label. Recent performances include those with current and former members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, St. Luke's Orchestra, the Lydian Quartet, the Manhattan Quartet, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Frank is a freelance composer who left her native
In 2020, Dr. Frank received the 25th Annual Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities for her work "weaving Latin American influences into classical constructs and breaking gender, disability and cultural barriers in classical music composition."[10]
Selected works
Orchestra
- Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra (2017) Commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America
- Concertino Cusqueño (2012)
- Elegía Andina (2000)
- Escaramuza (2010)
- Five Scenes (2015)
- Karnavalingo (2013)
- Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (string orchestra) (2001)
- Manchay Tiempo (Time of Fear) (2005)
- Peregrinos (2009)
- Raíces (2012)
- Requiem for a Magical America: El Día de los Muertos (orchestral version) (2012)
- Three Latin American Dances (2004)
- Two American Portraits (2008)
- Two Peruvian Dances (for beginning string orchestra) (2015)
- Walkabout: Concerto for Orchestra (2016)
Soloist(s) and orchestra
- La Centinela y la Paloma (The Keeper and the Dove) (2010) Soloist: Soprano
- Compadrazgo (2007) Soloists: Piano, cello
- Cuentos Errantes: Four New Folk Songs (2015) Soloist: Piano
- Havana Jila (2003) Violin
- Illapa: Tone Poem for Flute and Orchestra (2004) Soloist: Flute
- Journey of the Shadow (2013) Soloist: Narrator
- La Llorona: Tone Poem for Viola and Orchestra (2007) Soloist: Viola
- Will-o’-the-Wisp (2013) Soloist: Piccolo
Orchestral Winds and Percussion
- Requiem for a Magical America: El Día de los Muertos (2006)
Soloist(s) and Large Ensemble
- Compadre Huashayo (2012) Soloists: 3 Male voices; Ensemble: 3 Quena (3 Quenilla), 2 Flauta de Pan, 2 Zampoña, 6 Toyo, 6 Percussion, 4 Charango, 4 Bandolín, 4 Bandola, 6 Guitarra, Arpa Andina, Contrabass
- Haillí Lírico (2010) Soloist: Violin; Large Ensemble: 4fl, 2perc, 4vn, 2va, 2vc, 2db
Opera
- El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) (2022[11])
Notes
- ^ "Gabriela Lena Frank: Composite Identity". April 2008.
- ^ "Carnegie Hall Commissions". Carnegie Hall website. Carnegie Hall. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
- ^ "Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes". inquirer.com. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
- ^ Zwiebach, Michael (August 18, 2009). "Joint Interview with Berkeley Symphony'sNew Director and Its Creative Advisor". San Francisco Classical Voice.
- ^ "United States Artists Official Website". Archived from the original on November 10, 2010.
- ^ "54th Annual Grammy Awards Nominees for Classical Music (2012)". Archived from the original on April 23, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
- ^ "Naxos Classical Music - Naxos Album Reviews".
- ^ "Compadre Huashayo by Gabriela Lena Frank - Music - USA Projects - Artist Fundraising & Advocacy". www.usaprojects.org. Archived from the original on June 17, 2012.
- ^ "Sphinx Organization - Sphinx Medals of Excellence". Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
- ^ "The Heinz Awards :: Gabriela Lena Frank". www.heinzawards.net. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
References
- Clark, W. A. (2012). "Latin American Impact on Contemporary Classical Music". In Moore, R. and W. A. Clark (ed.), Musics of Latin America. W. W. Norton & Company.
- Hayes, D. (2011). "Gabriela Lena Frank". In M. Slayton (ed.), Women of influence in contemporary music: Nine American composers (pp. 85–140). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc.
- Kelly, J. (2013). In her own words: conversations with composers in the United States. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
External links
- Gabriela Lena Frank page - Wise Music Classical (Schirmer)
- The Beautiful Next Step: An In-depth Interview with Composer Gabriela Lena Frank (in 8 parts)
- Gabriela Lena Frank: The Well-Grounded Composer - Article in San Francisco Classical Voice
- Journey Into Faith: The Creation of Holy Sisters - Article in San Francisco Classical Voice
- Santos: The Powers That She - Article in San Francisco Classical Voice
- Gabriela Lena Frank works in two Boston-area concerts - Article in Boston Globe
- Composer Gabriela Lena Frank bursting with ideas - Article in Philadelphia Inquirer
- "Gabriela Lena Frank's energetic chamber works reveal her multi-cultural roots" - Review in Chicago Tribune
- Some delights among the duds in MusicNOW season finale at Harris Theater - Review in Chicago Tribune
- Relevant Tones with in-studio guest Gabriela Lena Frank