Levon Chilingirian and Academy students perform Schubert’s Trout Quintet

Joan Tower is widely regarded as one of the most important American composers living today.

During a career spanning more than 60 years, she has made lasting contributions to musical life in the USA as composer, performer, conductor, and educator. Major ensembles, soloists, and orchestras have commissioned her, including the Emerson, Tokyo, and Muir quartets; soloists Evelyn Glennie, Carol Wincenc, David Shifrin, Paul Neubauer, and John Browning; and the orchestras of Chicago, New York, St Louis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Nashville, Albany NY and Washington DC, among others. The New York Philharmonic gave the premiere of 1920/2019 on 3 December 2021, honouring the 2020 centennial of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution guaranteeing women the right to vote, and recognising the growing strength of the #MeToo movement. Her tremendously popular six Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman have been played by over 600 ensembles. Tower was pianist and founding member of the Naumburg Awardwinning Da Capo Chamber Players.

Recent awards include Chamber Music America’s Richard J Bogomolny National Service Award, Musical America’s 2020 Composer of the Year, and the League of American Orchestras’ highest honour, the Gold Baton. She is Asher Edelman Professor of Music at Bard College, where she has taught since 1972.