Joan La Barbara

Joan La Barbara ( born June 8, 1947 in Philadelphia ) is a singer and composer of contemporary music.

La Barbara graduated from Syracuse University with Helen Boatwright, before she completed her Bakalaureat at New York University. From 1971, she first worked in the ensemble of Steve Reich and was in 1974 a member of the ensemble by Philip Glass and sang at the premiere of the opera Einstein on the Beach. Since 1979, she has also worked with her ​​husband, the composer Morton Subotnick worked. Other composers such as John Cage, David Tudor, Robert Ashley, Morton Feldman, Larry Austin, Phill Niblock and Peter Laurence Gordon composed for her vocal pieces, which she performed successfully. In addition, she also worked with jazz musicians such as Jim Hall and Don Sebesky.

La Barbara is best known for her vocal abilities, and their extended vocal techniques that she taught in masterclasses. In addition, she has also written numerous compositions, such as the spoken opera "An American Rendition ," which premiered in 2008 in New York, or 73 Poems to texts by Kenneth Goldsmith. She has also set to music for the Sesame Street cartoon Signing Alphabet (1977).

Discography (selection)

• Voice Is the Original Instrument: Early Works (1976/2003, Wizard Records / Lovely Music )
• The Reluctant Gypsy (1980, Wizard Records)
• Sound Paintings (1990, Lovely Music )
• Singing Through John Cage (1990, New Albion Records)
• Shamansong (1998, New World Music )