Gwyneth Walker

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. She now lives on a dairy farm in Braintree, Vermont.

Ms. Walker’s catalog includes over 170 commissioned works for orchestra, band, chorus and chamber ensembles. The music of Gwyneth Walker is published by E.C. Schirmer of Boston (choral/vocal music) and MMB Music of St. Louis (orchestral/instrumental music).

“Her work is characterized by a tremendous energy and a strong sense of humor. Even in her most calm and serene pieces, there is a constant undercurrent of energy -- a lifeblood that ties the music together. Many personal stylistic traits appear throughout her work including elements that have often been classified as characteristic of "American music" (including the strong rhythmic sense, open sonorities, and influences of rock, jazz, blues, and American folk music). She is strongly in the American tradition of composers such as Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein -- but is a slave to no compositional school or prescribed style. Her music is recognizably her own and thoroughly original.” ...her work is in continual demand. Her music is performed frequently, and she receives continual commissions for new works from orchestras, choruses, chamber ensembles, and soloists...” Carson P. Cooman

The Golden Harp is a musical setting of spiritual poems from Gitanjali by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). He was the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize in literature (1913).

You can obtain more information about Ms. Walker at this website: www.gwynethwalker.com.