Mary Ellen Childs is an American composer and multimedia artist and founder of the ensemble Crash. She grew up as a dancer and writes music often influenced by dance rhythms.

Her music is chiefly for small instrumental groups, especially for percussion, string groups and solo piano, and it usually has an essential theatrical or visual dimension. Her collaboration with accordionist Guy Klucevsek

Guy Klucevsek

Guy Klucevsek is an American-born accordionist and composer.Klucevsek is one of relatively few accordion players active in jazz and free improvisation....

 led to several works for that instrument. Her works have been widely performed my major ensembles, including a commission from the Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet

Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...

. Her 2007 recording of Dream House features the string quartet ETHEL

Ethel (string quartet)

ETHEL is a New York based string quartet that was co-founded in 1998 by Ralph Farris, viola; Dorothy Lawson, cello; Todd Reynolds, violin; and Mary Rowell, violin. Unlike most string quartets, ETHEL plays with amplification and integrates improvisation into its performances...

. Reviews of her work have been published in newspapers nationwide, including The New York Times.

She is based in the twin city Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota area.

Discography

• Kilter (Experimental Intermedia, 1996)
• Dream House (Innova Recordings, 2007)

External links

• Mary Ellen Childs homepage
• CD release of Dream house with reviews