Laura Kaminsky (born September 28, 1956) is an American composer, producer of musical and multi-disciplinary cultural events, and educator. She was born in New York City, graduated from the High School of Music and Art, and studied with Joseph Wood at Oberlin College and Mario Davidovsky at City College of New York. She graduated from City College/CUNY with a Master of Arts degree in composition in 1980.
Kaminsky has maintained an active composing studio and has had her music performed internationally. She is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and fellowships (see below). In addition, her music has been extensively recorded. She has received national recognition for her innovative cultural programming and has held posts at a number of important institutions including New York City's 92nd Street Y, Town Hall, and Symphony Space, where she is currently artistic director. In 1984 she co-founded and remains the artistic director of the new music collective, Musicians Accord, which is in residence at City College of New York, where the ensemble members work with Professor David Del Tredici and his graduate composition students.
From 1992-93 Kaminsky lived and worked in Ghana, where she taught at the National Academy of Music and produced a series of concerts, including a conference on African Music: Tradition and Innovation. From 1996-97 she served as director of the European Mozart Academy, an international post-graduate music fellowship program based in Poland that brought together talented young musicians from Western and Eastern Europe to study and perform in concerts across Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. From 1999-2004 she served as chair of the music department at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, and from 2004-08 was dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College State University of New York when she left to assume the post of artistic director of New York City's multi-disciplinary performing arts center, Symphony Space, succeeding its founding director, Isaiah Sheffer. In addition, she continues to teach composition and arts management at Purchase College.
Honors and awards
For Composing:
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, 2012
Hermitage Artist Retreat Center Residency Fellowship, 2012
Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress Commissioning Award, 2011
Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2011
Meet the Composer Met Life Creative Connections Residency Grant, 2011
Faculty Support Award, Purchase College, 2011
Seal Bay Chamber Music Festival Composer-in-Residence Fellowship, 2011
Meet the Composer Met Life Creative Connections Residency Grant, 2010
Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble Residency, Staten Island, NY, 2010-2011
Lucy Moses School of Music Chamber Music Commission, 2010–11
Dorland Mountain Artists Colony Residency Fellowship, 2010
New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artists Commission, 2010
Hermitage Artist Retreat Center Residency Fellowship, 2009-2011
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 2009-2010
Copying Assistance Program Grant/American Music Center, 2009
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 2009
Meet the Composer Met Life Creative Connections Residency Grant, 2009
Kenan Institute for the Arts Commission, 2009
Lucy Moses School of Music, Kaufmann Cultural Center and Women’s Work Music Co-Commission, 2008
Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize (“Terra Terribilis: Concerto for Three Percussionists and Orchestra”), 2008
Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2008
Lucy Moses School of Music Chamber Music Commission, 2007-2008
Purchase College Professional Development Award, 2007
Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2007
Lucy Moses School of Music Chamber Music Commission, 2006-2007
Purchase College Professional Development Award, 2007
Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2007
Lucy Moses School of Music Chamber Music Commission, 2006-2007
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 2006
CEC ArtsLink Projects Award, 2006
National Endowment for the Arts commission, 2005
North Carolina Arts Council Grant, 2004
Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship, Port Townsend, WA, 2004
Jordan Foundation Commissioning Grant, 2003
Icicle Creek Music Center Visiting Composer Residency, Leavenworth, WA, 2003
Cornish College of the Arts Professional Development Award, 1999-2004
Artist Trust GAP Grant, 2002
Jory Copying Assistance Program Grant/American Music Center, 2001
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters: nominated for composer award (Joan Tower), 2001
Seattle Arts Commission Performing Artists Award, 2001
King County Arts Council Special Projects Grant [through Odeon String Quartet], 2001
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1999
Serage Foundation Artist Grant, 1998
National Endowment for the Arts Recording Grant [through Musicians Accord], 1995
Meet the Composer Grants, 1983-1997; 1999, 2000; 2002
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1992
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1991
National Flute Association, Finalist, Newly Published Works Competition, 1991
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1990
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1989
New York State Council on the Arts Recording Grant, 1987
Millay Colony for the Arts Residency Fellowship, 1986
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 1985
Millay Colony for the Arts Residency Fellowship, 1984
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters: nominated for composer award (Miriam Gideon), 1986
Panopticon/New York Women Composers Competition, 1986
Composers' Forum: New Music/New Composers Competition, 1985
American Society for Jewish Music Competition, 1985
American Women Composers National Competition, 1984
Tuch Foundation Fellowship, 1978–80
For Presenting/Producing:
Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage 2010 Chopin Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Legacy of the Great Composer
CEC ArtsLink/Likhachev Foundation Grant to support Wall to Wall Behind the Wall, Russia, 2010
Trust for Mutual Understanding Grant to support Wall to Wall Behind the Wall, 2010
Likhachev Foundation & Russkiy Mir Foundation Cultural Fellowship to St. Petersburg, Russia, 2009
NEA American Masterpieces for “The 1939 Project: American Arts at a Turning Point” at Symphony Space, 2008–09
Wachovia Foundation for “Africa and the African Diaspora: Traditions, Revolutions and Innovations,” 2007-08
Mellon Foundation for “Africa and the African Diaspora: Traditions, Revolutions and Innovations” New York Festival and Symposum, 2007-2008
New York State Music Fund for “New Latin Music for New Audiences,” a part of “Africa and the African Diaspora: Traditions, Revolutions and Innovations,” 2006-2008
Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming as Artistic Director of the Cornish Music Series, 2003
Aaron Copland Fund for Music Supplemental Program Grants for “The Cornish Music Series” in 2003/04, 2002/03 and “Copland & Weill: A Centenary Celebration” in 2000
Aaron Copland Fund for Music Performing Ensembles Grants for Musicians Accord, 1990-2002
Jack Straw Productions Artist Support Grant as Director of Musicians Accord to record “The Brazil Project,” 2000
Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming as Artistic Director of The Town Hall, NYC, First Prize, 1991
Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming as Artistic Director of The Town Hall, NYC, First Prize, 1990
Citation from the Office of the Manhattan Borough President for Service to New York as Artistic Director of The Town Hall, 1989
Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming as Artistic Director of The Town Hall, Second Prize, 1989
Kaminsky has a large catalog of works, and composes mostly chamber and vocal music. Selected works include:
Operas:
Some Light Emerges
Orchestral:
Terra Terribilis: Concerto for Three Percussionists and Orchestra
PIano Concerto
String Quartets:
Transformations
Transformations II: Music for a Changing World
Monotypes
American Nocturne
Cadmium Yellow
Chamber Music:
Vukovar Trio
Duo for Flute and Piano
Duo for Cello and Piano
Wave Hill for Violin and Piano
And Trouble Came: An African AIDS Diary
Twilight Settings
Proverbs of Hell
Whence it Comes
Inerpolations on Utopia Parkway
Solo Piano:
Fantasy
Music for Artur
Calendar Music
Triftmusik
Danza Piccola
Other solo works:
The Great Unconformity (cello)
Isole (cello)
Until a Name (flute)
Songs:
Rise, My Love
Whitman Songs
