Gwyneth Walker

"Press Kit" Composer Information

This page contains the following links and information intended primarily for the use of journalists or those preparing programs or publicity materials related to the music of Gwyneth Walker. Links on the website's home page contain all other information regarding Walker's music.

• Biography
• Download Printable version (color) of Gwyneth Walker portrait shot
  (no photo credit necessary)
• Download Full-size printable version (color) of Gwyneth Walker portrait shot
  (use photo credit: Robert Eddy)
• Download Full-size printable version (B&W) of Gwyneth Walker and the cows photo
  (use photo credit: Robert Eddy)
• Download Full-size printable version (B&W) of Gwyneth Walker portrait shot
  (no photo credit necessary)

• View a video introduction and interview with the composer -- strongly recommended.
• Hear Gwyneth Walker on WFDD with David Ford, Winston-Salem, NC -- archived broadcast from February 26, 2005 in RealAudio G2 or MP3
• Hear Gwyneth Walker on WDAV with Rachel Jeffreys, Davidson, NC -- archived broadcast from February 23, 2005 in RealAudio G2 or MP3

• Read Gwyneth Walker: An American Original, an introduction to her work by Carson P. Cooman.
• Read For Braintree Composer Gwyneth Walker, The Commissions Keep On Coming by Ruth Horowitz, Seven Days. (1999)
• Read An Interview with Gwyneth Walker by Gene Brooks, Executive Director, The American Choral Directors Association. (1999)
• Read Gwyneth Walker to Receive VCA Lifetime Achievement Award by Marjorie Drysdale, The Herald of Randolph. (2000)
• Read An Interview with Gwyneth Walker by Susan Weber and Marcia Lee Goldberg, MMB Music Newsletter. (2004)
• Read Walker Celebrates Lifetime of Composition by Chris Costanzo, The Randolph Herald. (2007)
• Read a review of Harlem Songs (2000) for SATB chorus and piano by Orson Scott Card, The Rhinocerous Times.
• Read a review of I Thank You God (1998) for SSA chorus and piano by Roger MacNeill, Nebraska Music Educators Association.
• Read a review of Craftsbury Trio (1990) for piano trio by Jim Lowe, The Times Argus.
• Read a review of The Light of Three Mornings (1987) for orchestra by Everett Hafner, Daily Hampshire Gazette.
• Read essays by and about the composer.
• View the full list of articles about the composer's music and activities.
• View the full list of reviews of the composer's works.

Biography

Dr. Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947) is a graduate of Brown University and the Hartt School of Music. She holds B.A., M.M. and D.M.A. Degrees in Music Composition. A former faculty member of the Oberlin College Conservatory, she resigned from academic employment in 1982 in order to pursue a career as a full-time composer. For nearly 30 years, she lived on a dairy farm in Braintree, Vermont. She has now returned to her childhood hometown of New Canaan, Connecticut.

Gwyneth Walker has been a proud resident of Vermont. She is the recipient of the Year 2000 "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Vermont Arts Council as well as the 2008 "Athenaeum Award for Achievement in the Arts and Humanities" from the St. Johnsbury (VT) Athenaeum.

Walker's catalog includes over 200 commissioned works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, chorus, and solo voice. The music of Gwyneth Walker is published by E.C. Schirmer(choral/vocal music) and Lauren Keiser Music Publishing (orchestral/instrumental music).

In recent years, Gwyneth Walker traveled across the United States working with a variety of musicians as they recorded her works. As a result of these collaborations, several new CDs have been released: A Vision of Hills (piano trios and string works, performed by Trio Tulsa), An Hour to Dance (music for SATB chorus recorded by the choirs at Whitman College), Now Let Us Sing! (with Bella Voce Women’s Chorus, Burlington, Vermont), The Sun Is Love (solo voice and piano works performed by Chicago artists Michelle Areyzaga and Jamie Shaak), and Scattering Dark and Bright (song cycles recorded by the Walker-Eklof Duo).

In addition to the composing of new works, there has also been a special project of creating orchestral accompaniments for many of the choral and vocal works in the Walker catalog. Thus, the Songs for Women’s Voices, Three Days By the Sea, I Thank You God, and the song cycle, No Ordinary Woman!, have all been orchestrated. Another new work, A Testament to Peace, combines three peace-oriented choral works (Tell the Earth to Shake, The Tree of Peace, and There is a Way to Glory) into a set with chamber orchestra. Coming soon will be The Promised Land – songs for Soprano and Orchestra based on familiar American songs.

Another special project has been the creation of works for orchestra with narrator. Muse of Amherst (based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson) has been performed by several New England orchestras. And, By Walden Pond (with readings of H. D. Thoreau) was premiered in 2009 by the Carson City (NV) Symphony.

Recent works include two new SATB choral/orchestral sets: The Morning Train (songs about trains) and Alpha and Omega (Christmas songs), as well as Blessings from the Children (for youth chorus and orchestra) and The Circus of Creation - a staged presentation with music based on the poetry of Robert Lax. Circus was premiered at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, FL, with the Sarasota Brass Quintet and Narrator/Ringmaster Cliff Roles.