Daria Semegen
Encyclopedia
Daria Semegen is an important contemporary American composer of classical music. While she has composed pieces for traditional instruments — her Jeux des quatres (1970), for example, is scored for clarinet, trombone, cello, and piano — she is best known as a "respected electronic
composer." She is a figure on the academic side of the electronic music genre, connected with the conservatory and the university (like her older contemporary Karlheinz Stockhausen
), rather than the more popular expression of the genre that followed upon the widespread availability of synthesizers and personal computers in the 1970s and after.
Born in Bamberg
, West Germany of Ukrainian heritage, Semegen pursued an academic career in music, earning her MA from Yale University
in 1971; she has studied at the Eastman School of Music
and the Rochester Institute of Technology
. She taught at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (1971–75). She studied composition under Bülent Arel
http://www.ericchasalow.com/oralhist.html and Alexander Goehr, and in turn has taught other composers, including Joseph DiPonio, Daniel Koontz, Gilda Lyons and Philip Schuessler. Her writing covers a range of topics related to musical composition and has been the subject of studies by other scholars.
In a distinguished academic career in a field still heavily dominated by men, Semegen has received six grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; has been selected as a Fullbright Fellow; and has been awarded fellowships at the MacDowell Colony
, Tanglewood
, the Chautauqua
Institution, and Yaddo
— among a range of other awards and distinctions. She is currently Associate professor of Composition, Theory, and Electronic Music Composition at Stony Brook University, and is Director of its Electronic Music Studio.
Her best-known piece is probably Electronic Composition No. 1 (1971).
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
composer." She is a figure on the academic side of the electronic music genre, connected with the conservatory and the university (like her older contemporary Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
), rather than the more popular expression of the genre that followed upon the widespread availability of synthesizers and personal computers in the 1970s and after.
Born in Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
, West Germany of Ukrainian heritage, Semegen pursued an academic career in music, earning her MA from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1971; she has studied at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
and the Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
. She taught at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (1971–75). She studied composition under Bülent Arel
Bülent Arel
Bülent Arel was a Turkish-born composer of contemporary classical music and electronic music.He was born in Istanbul, and studied composition at the Ankara Conservatory and sound engineering in Paris...
http://www.ericchasalow.com/oralhist.html and Alexander Goehr, and in turn has taught other composers, including Joseph DiPonio, Daniel Koontz, Gilda Lyons and Philip Schuessler. Her writing covers a range of topics related to musical composition and has been the subject of studies by other scholars.
In a distinguished academic career in a field still heavily dominated by men, Semegen has received six grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; has been selected as a Fullbright Fellow; and has been awarded fellowships at the MacDowell Colony
MacDowell Colony
The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
, Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
, the Chautauqua
Chautauqua
Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with...
Institution, and Yaddo
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...
— among a range of other awards and distinctions. She is currently Associate professor of Composition, Theory, and Electronic Music Composition at Stony Brook University, and is Director of its Electronic Music Studio.
Her best-known piece is probably Electronic Composition No. 1 (1971).
Further reading
- Hinkle-Turner, A.E. "Daria Semegen: A Study of the Composer's Life, Work, and Music." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois — Urbana.
- Hinkle-Turner, Elizabeth. Women Composers and Music Technology in the United States: Crossing the Line, Ashgate Publishing, 2006.
- Johnson, Rose-Marie. Violin Music by Women Composers: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 1989.
- Lerner, Ellen D. and David Wright. 'Daria Semegen', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 26 October 2006),
- Semegen, Daria. "Art-tickle: points to ponder." Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 32, No.1.
- Simoni, Mary. Women and Music in America Since 1900: An Encyclopedia, Greenwood Press, 2002.