Musicians
Luna Pearl Woolf
Photo by Marion Ettlinger
The music of award-winning Montréal-based composer/producer Luna Pearl Woolf has been enthusiastically received across North America and Europe. Called "the first major work of classical music to commemorate the flooding of New Orleans" (Arts Journal), Woolf's Après Moi, le Déluge, for solo cello and a cappella choir was described by New York Times as: "an unsentimental but moving tribute… by turns blazingly ardent and softly haunting." Strings Magazine called the work, "sorrowful, deeply political, and aching with universal regret." Woolf's music has also been featured on the BBC's The World and on NPR's All Things Considered. A full album of her music, including the "operatorio" Orpheus on Sappho's Shore, and Après Moi, le Déluge, was recently released on Oxingale Records. Woolf's Odas de Todo el Mundo, for soprano, cello and piano, was recently released on PentaTone Classics. Woolf has been commissioned by the Minnesota Sinfonia, the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, cellist Matt Haimovitz, violinists Scott St John and Jonathan Crow, pianist Katherine Jacobson, flautist Eugenia Zukerman and soprano Lisa Delan, among others.
The producer of ten recordings on Oxingale records, Woolf has worked closely with performers such as cellist Matt Haimovitz, pianists Itamar Golan and Geoffrey Burleson, the Miro quartet and others to release critically acclaimed albums that have been nominated for several JUNO and INDIE awards and frequently appear in the press's top ten lists including Amazon's Best Classical Instrumental Album of the year in 2003.
Recently Woolf was named Artistic Director of eXcentris, a new multi-venue, cross-disciplinary performance space, restaurant and lounge in Montréal.
Woolf graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University, having also studied at Oberlin Conservatory, and earned her MA from Smith College. Woolf's principal composition teachers have included Mario Davidovsky, Augusta Read Thomas, and Lewis Spratlan.
Articles and Reviews:
New York Times: Elusive Preaching, and a Beatle's Conservative Classicism
Associated Press: New concerto carries hope to New Orleans
Strings Magazine: A Helping Hand
New Music Box: Album: Après Moi, Le Déluge
La Scena: Musique contemporaine
Poetry Northwest: Eleanor Wilner on collaborating with Luna Pearl Woolf
Arts Journal: Memorializing Katrina, But With A Universal Touch
Opera News: Five Lovers
Hampshire Gazette: New work from Luna Woolf
Selected List of Works:
LARGE ENSEMBLE
75th Fanfare for orchestra (2008) 4' in honor of Gordon Getty. Premiered March 2009, Boca Raton, FL by the Russian National Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev conducting.
Où allons-nous?, for solo violin and chamber orchestra (2008) 15' Commissioned by the Ensemble contemporaine de Montréal for Jonathan Crow. Premiered May, 2008
Max's Moon for cello and orchestra (2007) 8' Commissioned by the Minnesota Sinfonia for Matt Haimovitz, premiered January 2008, Minneapolis, MN. String Orchestra version (2009)
After the Wave, for orchestra (2005), commissioned by the Greenwood Music Camp. Premiered August 2005, Cummington, MA.
Orpheus on Sappho's Shore, oratorio in two parts for soprano, tenor and eight instruments (2004) 50' Original libretto by Eleanor Wilner, Part I commissioned by Jane Bryden. To be premiered in full, June 20, 2006, Montreal, QC.
Still Life Suite, Five Dances for Orchestra (1996) 15' Premiered Harvard University.
Sanguinaria, for chamber orchestra and fifteen dancers, collaboration with choreographer Jon Meyers (1992) 45' Premiered Oberlin College.
CHORAL
Après Moi, le Déluge, cello and choir SATB (2006) 25' Original text by Eleanor Wilner. Commissioned by Matt Haimovitz for his "Buck the Concerto" series. Premiered Madison, WI, April 9, 2006.
Into The Twilight SATB (2001) 7' Text by W. B. Yeats, premiered by the Transylvania Philharmonic Choir, Cluj, Romania, Jeffrey Bernstein conducting.
Songs for Women's Chorus SSAA (1995) 6' Texts by James Joyce, commissioned and premiered by the Radcliffe choral Society.
To The Fire, for six male voices a cappella (1994) 14' on an Old Testament text
INSTRUMENTAL CHAMBER MUSIC
The Impressionists, for three violas (2005) 10' Commissioned by Sweetwater Music Weekend, premiered September 2005, Leith, ON
Ontogeny, for bassoon, horn and piano quartet in three movements (2004) 16' Commissioned by Stephen Walt and Jean Rife, premiered May 2004, Saratoga Springs, NY.
Regression, for flute, violin, viola, cello (2002) 14' Commissioned and premiered by the El Paso Pro-Musica Chamber Music Festival for Eugenia Zukerman.
Impromptu for Cello Solo (2001) 7' Commissioned by the Beethoven Festival, premiered Bonn, Germany.
Ten Images Gifts in Miniature for Deborah Sherr for clarinet & cello (2001) 13' Commissioned by Bill Feinstein, premiered Amherst College.
String Trio (Pueraria lobata) for violin, viola, and cello in three movements (2000) 19' Premiered Amherst College.
Quartet for Oboe and Strings (1995) 9' Premiered Harvard University.
Leche mi Amore solo cello, incidental music to award-winning computer animated video, produced and commissioned by the Center for Knowledge Communication, UMass Amherst (1996)
Chimera, for Chamber Ensemble (1993) 11' Premiered Harvard University.
CHAMBER MUSIC WITH VOICE
I am a Fish, for soprano and string quartet (2005) commissioned by Jama Jandrokovic on poems by Jandrokovic. Premiered May 2005, Alice Tully Hall.
Reluctance, for soprano, oboe and bassoon on a text by Robert Frost (2000) 7' Premiered by the Syrinx Ensemble.
Epithalamion for soprano and cello on a text by Richard Crashaw (1998) 7' Premiered Holyoke, MA. Version for oboe and bassoon premiered Agawam, MA.
The Orange and the UnderTree, for soprano and cello on a text by Peter Lin (1997) 12' Premiered Les Flaneries Musicales d'Ete de Reims, France, France.
Sonnet CXXX, for soprano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and violin, on Shakespeare's sonnet (1993) 9' Commissioned by the Syrinx Ensemble, premiered Longmeadow, MA.
Luna Roja, for tenor, flute, Eng. horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello (1991) 14' Commissioned by Juan Carlos Franco, premiered Oberlin Conservatory.
