Oliveros, Pauline

Oliveros, Pauline, American composer, performer, teacher, author, and philosopher; b. Houston, May 30, 1932. She received rudimentary instruction in music from her mother and grandmother, and then had lessons with William Sydler (violin), Marjorie Harrigan (accordion), and J.M. Brandsetter (horn). Following studies in composition with Paul Koepke and in accordion with William Palmer at the Univ. of Houston (1949–52), she studied with Robert Erickson (1954–60) and at San Francisco State Coll. (B.A. in composition, 1957). In 1966–67 she was director of the Mills Coll. Tape Music Center in Oakland, Calif. From 1967 to 1981 she was a prof. of music at the Univ. of Calif. at San Diego, where she also was director of its Center for Music Experiment (1976–79). In 1985 she was a prof. at the Theater School for New Dance in Amsterdam. In 1985 she founded and became president and co-artistic director of the Pauline Oliveros Foundation, Inc. Among her writings are Pauline’s Proverbs (1976), Initiation Dream (1982), and Software for Peoples (1984). In 1973 she held a Guggenheim fellowship. She received annual ASCAP awards from 1982 to 1994. In 1984, 1988, and 1990 she held NE A composer’s fellowships. In 1994 she was awarded the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts grant. In her life and work, Oliveros has been absorbed by the potentialities of meditation, ritual, and myth. In her music, she has extended the boundaries of her art by an innovative approach to the sound and non-sound worlds, from the use of improvisation to electronics and beyond.

Works

3 Songs for Soprano and Piano (1957); Variations for Sextet for Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet, Horn, Cello, and Piano (1959); Sound Patterns for Chorus (1961); Trio for Flute, Piano, and Page Turner (1961); Outline for Flute, Percussion, and String Bass (1963); Trio for Accordion, Trumpet, and String Bass (1963); Pieces of 8, theater piece for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Trumpet, Horn, and Trombone (1965); Aeolian Partitions, theater piece for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1968); Double Basses at 20 Paces, theater piece for 2 Basses, Their Seconds, and a Referee with Slide and Tape (1968); Meditation on the Points of the Compass for Chorus (1970); To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of Their Desperation for Ensemble or Orch. (1970); Deep Listening Pieces for Voices and Instruments (1970–90); Bonn Feier, environmental theater piece with knowing and unknowing performers (1971); Sonic Meditations for Voices and Instruments (1971); Rose Moon, ritual theater piece for Chorus (1977); Spiral Mandala for Clarinets, Tuned Crystal Glasses, and Bass Drum with 4 Players and Chant (1978); Music for Stacked Deck for 4 Players (1979); El Relicario de los Animales for Singer and 20 Players (1979); The Witness for Solo or Duo or Any Ensemble (1979); Traveling Companions for Percussion and Dancers (1980); Tashi Gomang for Orch. (1981); The Wanderer for Accordion Ensemble and Percussion (1982); Earth Ears for Any Ensemble (1983); Gathering Together for Piano, 8-Hands (1983); Tree/Peace for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1983); The Well and the Gentle for Ensemble (1983); The Wheel of Time for String Quartet (1983); Wings of Dove for Double Wind Quintet and 2 Pianos (1984); Lion’s Eye for Javanese Gamelan and Sampler (1985); Portraits for Solo or Any Ensemble (1987); Dream Horse Spiel for Voices and Sound Effects (1988); Dream Gates for Solo or Ensemble (1989); Wind Horse for Chorus (1989); All Fours for the Drum Bum for Solo Drum Set (1990); Contenders, dance piece (1991); Njinga the Queen King, theater piece (1993); Hommage a Serafina, dance piece (1996); Ghost Dance, dance piece (1996).

Bibliography

H. von Gunden, The Music of P. O. (Metuchen, N.J., 1983).

—Nicolas Slominsky/Laura Kaun/Dennis McIntire