Andrea Clearfield
Classical music composer and host of the zalon
Andrea Clearfield is an award-winning composer of music for orchestra, opera, chorus, chamber ensemble, dance, and multimedia collaborations. Clearfield creates deep, emotive musical languages that build cultural and artistic bridges. She has been praised by the New York Times for her “graceful tracery and lively, rhythmically vital writing”, the Philadelphia Inquirer for her “compositional wizardry” and “mastery with large choral and instrumental forces”, the L.A. Times for her “fluid and glistening orchestration” and by Opera News for her “vivid and galvanizing” music of “timeless beauty”. Her works are performed widely in the U.S. and abroad.
Among her 170 works are seventeen large-scale cantatas including Kabo Omowale, commissioned and premiered by The Philadelphia Orchestra. Her 2009 Lung-Ta (The Windhorse) for large chamber ensemble, 2012 cantata, Tse Go La for double chorus and chamber orchestra and 2016 Rabsong Shar for soprano, chamber orchestra and digital audio were inspired by her Tibetan music fieldwork in Lo Monthang Nepal. There she documented the repertoire of the last of the royal court singer, Tashi Tsering, with anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Katey Blumenthal. Lung-Ta was presented as a gift to His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama as an initiative for world peace. Andrea had the great honor of being invited to perform with the Court of the Dalai Lama.
Her first opera, MILA, Great Sorcerer, on the venerated Tibetan saint Milarepa, with libretto by Jean Claude van Itallie and Lois Walden was presented at the acclaimed Prototype Festival in January, 2019 at the Gerald Lynch Theater in NYC. Hailed by the press as “mystical and dramatically compelling”, “a colorful, expressive score”, “lush and rich”, “a sonic exultation with lasting power”, “successfully delivers its redemptive message”, “highly recommended” and “the most accomplished and mature of this year’s compositions”, the opera was commissioned and produced by Gene Kaufman and Terry Eder and directed by Kevin Newbury.
She has been awarded numerous fellowships including a 2020 Pew Center for Arts & Heritage International Artist Residency Award, a 2016 Pew Fellowship in the Arts, two Independence Fellowships in the Arts and two Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residencies. She has also held fellowships at the American Academy in Rome, Civitella Ranieri, Yaddo, MacDowell, Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Copland House, Ucross, Djerassi, Ragdale, Blue Mountain Center, Montalvo and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts among others. She has been invited as Visiting Composer to numerous universities and colleges including the University of Texas at Austin, Curtis Institute of Music, Yale-National University of Singapore, Emory University, Michigan State University, The College of New Jersey, Indiana University, University of Chicago, Temple University, Rimsky Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was McIlroy Visiting Professor at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Clearfield was recently Composer-in-residence with National Concerts at Carnegie Hall. She was the 2018 Composer-in-Residence at Music from Angelfire Festival, Ida Kafavian, Artistic Director and was named the Steven R. Gerber Composer-in-Residence with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia for their 2018-19 season. Clearfield is also in demand as a curator, adjudicator, speaker and concert host.
Dr. Clearfield served on the composition faculty at The University of the Arts from 1986-2011 where she taught Composition and Interdisciplinary Performance Art. She received a DMA in Composition from Temple University where she studied with Maurice Wright, was a two-time recipient of the John Heller Memorial Award for Excellence in Composition and holds the distinction of being the first composer in the history of the University to receive the prestigious University-wide Presidential Fellowship. She was honored by Temple University as a Distinguished Alumna. She received an MM in Piano from the University of the Arts and a BA in Music from Muhlenberg College where she studied with her mentor, Margaret Garwood, graduated with Summa Cum Lauda, Phi Beta Kappa and first place awards in Performance and Musicianship and was the recipient of the Alumni Achievement in the Arts Award. Clearfield sits on the Boards of the Recording Academy/Grammy’s Philadelphia Chapter as well as Wildflower Composers, a nonprofit that supports and amplifies female, transgender, non-binary, and genderqueer composers.
Her works are published by Boosey & Hawkes, G. Schirmer, Hal Leonard, International Opus and Seeadot and have been recorded on the Bridge, Sony, MSR, Albany, Crystal and Innova labels. Active as a pianist, she performed with the contemporary music ensemble Relâche for twenty-five years. Now completing its 36th year, Clearfield is also the founder and host of the renowned Salon, featuring contemporary, classical, jazz, electronic, multimedia and world music and winner of Philadelphia Magazine’s 2008 “Best of Philadelphia” award. She is represented by Black Tea Music. Learn more at www.andreaclearfield.com.
