Susan Hurley is an American composer living and working in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

.

Hurley's compositional style is an "unusual, unique voice [and] highly individualistic." Her work "defines [the] two opposing characteristics of the post-minimalist style – lyricism and rhythmic drive . . .”
The 1992 piece "Gallery Music for Harp" examples this by engaging the listener with "a strong introductory flourish" developing into "gentle, otherworldly sounds.” This alternation between opposites is observed again in a review of "Vermont Poems" and its harmonic reliance on "shifts between unisons and dissonants"

The range of the instruments used by Hurley is broad, including ancient and subtle instruments such as the clavichord

Clavichord

The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...

 and older compositional vehicles such as the chamber opera. Hurley wrote one such opera based on the lives of Anaïs Nin

Anaïs Nin

Anaïs Nin was a French-Cuban author, based at first in France and later in the United States, who published her journals, which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death, her erotic literature, and short stories...

 and Rupert Pole

Rupert Pole

Rupert Pole was a husband of Anaïs Nin, and her literary executor.Pole was born in Los Angeles. His father Reginald was a highly regarded Shakespearean actor...

. This was commissioned by Joan Palevsky

Joan Palevsky

Joan Palevsky , a former wife of Max Palevsky, was an investor and philanthropist who contributed to many charitable organizations during her lifetime and after....

 of Los Angeles. Palevsky had been "instrumental" in securing a transfer of the papers of Anaïs Nin to UCLA. The commission was part of this effort.

Hurley was born in Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 and raised in Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

.

Education

American Conservatory, Fontainebleau, France, studied under Nadia Boulanger, and others.

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...

, MM, composition, 1982

Indiana University’s School of Music, DM, composition, 1988

Professional Positions & Residencies

Composer-in-residence, seven years Interlochen Center for the Arts

Interlochen Center for the Arts

Interlochen Center for the Arts is a privately owned, 1,200 acre arts education institution in Interlochen, Michigan, roughly 15 miles southwest of Traverse City...

, Interlochen, Michigan

Composer-in-residence, Atlantic Center for the Arts

Atlantic Center for the Arts

Atlantic Center for the Arts is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary artists’ community and arts education facility dedicated to promoting artistic excellence by providing talented artists an opportunity to work and collaborate with some of the world’s most distinguished contemporary artists in the...

, Lawrence University

Visiting faculty, “Associate Instructor,” teaching fellowship, Indiana University

Composer-in-residence, New York, Meet the Composer

Meet the Composer

Meet the Composer is an American organization founded in 1974 by the composer John Duffy as a project of the New York State Council on the Arts. It seeks to assist composers in making a living through writing music by sponsoring commissioning, residency, education, and audience interaction...

Commissions

Sage City Symphony, Bennington, VT SCS reference

The New Calliope Singers, New York, NY, details pending

"Anaïs," a one-act chamber opera for soprano & tenor about the life of Anaïs Nin

Anaïs Nin

Anaïs Nin was a French-Cuban author, based at first in France and later in the United States, who published her journals, which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death, her erotic literature, and short stories...

.

There are various film scores. The details of these are best obtained through ASCAP.

Discography, partial

"Soft Sounds," CD, Omstream, Zehn Improvisitationen, Clavichord, [vor 2004] Aufnahme 2004, P 2005, Deutsche Clavichord Societät, German Clavichord Society reference,Omstream publishers note

"Wind River Songs," Capstone Records, Nicole Philibosian, soprano, Crispin Campbell, cello, Michael Coonrod, piano publishers note,Society of Composers Listing, Wind River Songs

"Vermont Poems," Finnadar, New Calliope Singers, directed Peter Schubert “10th Anniversary Anthology of New Choral Chamber Music” Finnadar Catalog 908501, publishers note

"The Audio Book of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...

," KCRW

KCRW

KCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. The general manager of KCRW is Jennifer Ferro...

Studios

Publications

• "Grassroots Commissioning," Symphony Magazine, April/May 1984, p. 8
• "Vermont Poems," choral work published by Ludwig Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
• "Visions," choral work published by Ludwig Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

Audio samples

• Sample of The Audio Book of Alices Adventures in Wonderland, with original music by Hurley, KCRW Studios

Work in progress includes

At the time of this writing, April 2008, Hurley is working on an opera of larger scale entitled The Sibyl of Cumae.

Biographical References

"International Encyclopedia of Women Composers," Publisher: Books & Music USA; 2nd edition (June 1987) ISBN 978-0961748524

Composers Forum Biography

Artist Biography Omstream Publishing