From orchestra to solo, epigram to epic, Edie Hill's music unfolds itself seamlessly in all spaces and idioms. Hill (b. 1962, New York City), currently Artist-in-Residence at St. Paul's Schubert Club, is a nationally acclaimed composer whose vocal and instrumental works are frequently performed both internationally and throughout the United States. Audiences have heard her compositions performed at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, the LA County Museum of Art's Monday Evening Concert Series, Minneapolis' Walker Art Center, the New York City Downtown Arts Festival, the New Music Chicago Spring Festival, Boston's Jordan Hall, the New Jersey Cape May Festival and the Schubert Club of St. Paul, MN.
Her often-performed choral music has been sung by the Dale Warland Singers, the Rose Ensemble, VocalEssence, Cantus and the Harmonium Choral Society, as well as by collegiate choirs throughout North America. Hill's solo vocal works have been performed by Glenda Maurice, KrisAnne Weiss, Mary Westbrook-Geha and Eleanor Taylor. As a composer of instrumental music, Hill has recently completed a commission for guitarist Kenneth Meyer of Syracuse University entitled Draw the Strings Tight. It will be performed during the 2006-2007 concert season throughout the U.S. and will be recorded in Summer 2007. Other recent commissions include The Jammin' Town Musicians, an updated version of the classic Grimm fable, performed by members of the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as Jambalaya Stomp for concert band, premiered by 415 students of Orono Schools. She has also received instrumental performances and commissions for solo, chamber and orchestral artists such as the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, The Cape May Festival Orchestra, the Amarillo Symphony, the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, the Ives Center Chamber Orchestra, the contemporary chamber group ICE, flutist Linda Chatterton, pianist Susan Billmeyer, flutist Susan Rotholz, organists Stephen Self and Dean Billmeyer. Hill is currently developing work for the St. Paul-based ensemble Zeitgeist, Andrew Lamy and the Mixed Flock Orchestra Project, and New Jersey-based Halcyon Trio.
Prior to her residency at The Schubert Club, Hill has been a Composer-in-Residence with Minneapolis' Rose Ensemble (1999-2000), the Intergalactic Contemporary Ensemble (2000-2003) and Cantus (2005). In addition to teaching privately, she actively cultivates the talents of young composers and musicians through her work in composer residencies at Tufts University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Syracuse University and various Twin Cities Schools. She has led several Creative Connections events through Meet The Composer, including workshops and coaching sessions with collegiate and professional ensembles. Hill works with children and youth through programs with public schools, Girl Scouts, Minnesota Music Educators Association and community organizations. In the fall of 2005, she worked with members of the Orono High School Band in preparation for Jambalaya Stomp to perform on March 6, 2006 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, MN.
Distinguished by the St Paul Pioneer Press as
one of the Twin Cities best known young creators,
and by the Star Tribune as
a local star,
Hill is a three-time McKnight Composer Fellow, a 2001 Minnesota State Arts Board
Fellow and a 1999 recipient of a Bush Foundation Fellowship in the Arts. A
1996 winner of the Dale Warland Singers Choral Ventures Program, she has
received grants/awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer and three major grants
for the creation of new work from the Jerome Foundation. In conjunction
with Cantus, Hill is the recipient of a Chamber Music America Commissioning
Grant, through which she is composing A Sound Like This, based on the Kabir
translations by Robert Bly, premiering March 10, 2007, with readings by the
poet himself. Hill's music has been broadcast internationally. She has
been profiled on WNYC, "Alive and Well" with Anthony Cheung in Boston, in a
one-hour feature on Michigan Public Radio with host Foley Schuller and on
NPR's All Things Considered.
Hill earned a B.A. in music composition and piano performance at Bennington College where she studied with Vivian Fine then earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota with principal composition teacher, Lloyd Ultan. She has also studied extensively with Libby Larsen. Hill has been nominated every year for the Minnesota Music Academy's Composer of the Year award beginning in 1999. Her music has been praised for its dynamism, broad color palette, vivid and evocative images, economy and grace.
Short Bio
From solo to orchestra, epigram to epic, Edie Hill's music unfolds itself seamlessly in all spaces and idioms. Presenters include Lincoln Center, LA County Museum of Art, Walker Art Center, Cape May Festival (NJ) and the Downtown Arts Festival (NYC). A 2006, 2001, & 1996 McKnight Artist Fellow and a two-time Bush Artist Fellow (1999, 2007), Hill has been awarded grants from the Jerome Foundation, ASCAP, Meet the Composer, Chamber Music America, and the Argosy Foundation.
Hill earned a B.A. in music composition and piano performance at Bennington College where she studied with Vivian Fine then earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota with principal composition teacher Lloyd Ultan. She has also studied extensively with Libby Larsen. Currently she serves as Composer-in-Residence at The Schubert Club in St. Paul, MN, and resides in Minneapolis where she works as a freelance composer.