Meredith Monk

Meredith Monk ( born November 20, 1942 in New York City ) is an American singer, composer, choreographer and performance artist.

Life

Meredith Monk graduated in 1964 her studies at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, from. In 1968, she founded under the name The House is a theater group that developed interdisciplinary performances. With this project, Monk exercised substantial influence over many other artists. So called, for example, Bruce Nauman, Meredith Monk as one of the artists who had the strongest influence on his artistic work.

In 1978, she introduced under the name " Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble" a new group together, which also includes the percussionist Collin Walcott was one and the exploration of new and advanced in their spectrum sounds devoted himself, often clearly contrasting with minimalist instrumental sounds. One of the most outstanding works is the " Dolmen Music ", published in 1981 at Manfred Eicher's ECM label. In the 1980s she made ​​two films, " Ellis Iceland " (1981) and "Book of Days".

1991 years Monk wrote an opera entitled " Atlas " (premiere in Houston, Texas). Your first symphony appeared in 2003. Another symphonic work, "String songs ," she wrote in 2004 for the Kronos Quartet.

Meredith Monk's music has been variously used in movies, such as in "The Big Lebowski " ( Ethan and Joel Coen, 1998) and in Jean -Luc Godard's " Nouvelle Vague " (1990).

On the occasion of its 40th anniversary, a stage four-hour music marathon was held in New York in November 2004.

Meredith Monk is currently pursuing (2005/2006) more composition projects for different ensembles.

Awards and honors

Works (selection)

Discography

• Do You Be, ECM, Munich, 1987, ECM 1336 1 CD.
• Atlas: opera in three parts, ECM, Munich 1993, ECM 1491 and 1492, 2 CD.