Long a collaborator with other composers as a singer, (Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Philip Glass and Gunther Schuller to name a few), Adrienne Albert began composing her own music in the 1990s. A graduate of UCLA in music and the child of European trained professional violinists, Adrienne began studying the piano at age 4 and composition at age 10. Her piano teachers included Jacob Gimpel and Aube Tzerko in Los Angeles, and Joanna Graudan at the Aspen Music School.  Composition studies with Leonard Stein preceded a lengthy hiatus performing other people’s music. Returning to Los Angeles after years of working in the New York music scene, she returned to UCLA in the 1990s and received a Certificate in Film Scoring determined to write both instrumental and vocal music for the concert stage.  She studied composition with Stephen Mosko at CalArts and orchestration with Albert Harris.  Since then,  her concert works have been performed throughout the United States, Europe, Thailand, Mexico, China and South Africa. Among numerous commissions, awards and grants, Albert was the recipient of a 2006 National Endowment for the Arts grant in conjunction with the American Composers Forum for a Continental Harmony Project in Alaska.  “An Alaskan Symphonyâ€�, a work in three movements for choir and orchestra was premiered in Alaska in April of 2007.  “Animalogyâ€� for Woodwind Quintet was a 2007 Winner of the Aeros Quintet Competition and was performed in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in May of 2008.  She is Composer-In-Residence at Cal State University, Fresno, in October, 2009 and was Composer-in-Residence at the Ucross Foundation in October of 2007.  Recent commissions and premieres include chamber works for Definiens Project (2009), The Newstead Trio (2009) as part of the grand opening of the new Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts building designed by Philip Johnson in Lancaster, PA., Chamber Music Palisades (2008), Duo for Low Flutes (2008) for Peter Sheridan, Contrabass flutist for his upcoming CD, “(Mis)Conceptionsâ€�,  “Wind Tidesâ€� commissioned by trombonist Andrew Malloy (2008), Pacific Serenades (2007), and St. Bedes Episcopal Church (2007). Adrienne toured China in the summer of 2007 with the Newstead Trio as their composer-in-residence meeting with gifted young musicians along the Silk Road. She has been the recipient of AMC Composer Assistance grants, numerous Meet the Composer grants, and consecutive ASCAP Awards.  She is also the recipient of The 2008 ACME Award, a prestigious award given by Mu Phi Epsilon for outstanding achievement. Other commissions include works for The Henry Mancini Institute at which she conducted the premiere of her orchestral work in Long Beach, CA, three choral commissions from The Gregg Smith Singers (she was Composer-in-residence at the 34^th Annual Adirondacks American Music Festival in the summer of 2006), and several orchestral works commissioned by The Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra, Ivan Shulman, Music Director.  Her orchestral works,“Western Suiteâ€� and “Courageâ€�, have been performed by numerous orchestras in the United States including The Virginia Symphony.  Her works have been recorded for Centaur Records, Little Piper and ABC Classics, and she has recorded numerous works on Sony.  Her String Orchestra works, “Boundariesâ€� and “Interiorsâ€� will be released on the Naxos label In the spring of 2010.

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 Vocal Credits

Ms. Albert’s vocal career began while attending UCLA.  While singing with The Gregg Smith Singers,  Igor Stravinsky discovered her “perfect boy altoâ€� voice and hired her to be the alto soloist on his “Massâ€�. She worked with the Maestro on many occasions and recorded three more solo recordings with him, including his “Four Russian Songs For Flute, Harp, Guitar, and Voiceâ€�, “Cantataâ€�, and Stravinsky’s last song, “The Owl And The Pussycatâ€�, with Robert Craft accompanying.

Ms. Albert enjoyed a long working relationship with Leonard Bernstein as a singer and contractor on his celebrated recordings of “Mass�, (the premiere of which opened the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC), and “West Side Story�, on which she contracted the Jets and Sharks, performing with Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras. She also sang with Barbara Hendricks at Bernstein’s 70th birthday celebration in Tanglewood under the baton of John Williams. Other solo recordings include songs of Charles Ives with The Columbia Symphony and Phillip Glass’ opera, “The Photographer�, with Glass conducting.

At Avery Fisher Hall, she performed with Gunther Schuller and the New York Philharmonic in a premiere of Schuller’s “Symphonia for Four Voices and Orchestra�. As a studio singer in New York and Los Angeles, Ms. Albert performed on hundreds of television and radio commercials, sang on countless film scores and worked with such diverse artists as Pablo Casals, Benny Golson, Dave Grusin, Lieber and Stoller, Zubin Mehta, Frank Sinatra, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

 Organizations

Ms. Albert is the current Co-President of the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon Music Fraternity, a member of the LA Composers Forum, SAG, AFTRA, The American Music Center, American Composers Forum, International Alliance for Women In Music (IAWM), The Dominant Club, NACUSA and ASCAP.  For more information about Adrienne Albert, visit her website at:

http://www.adriennealbert.com.