Frances White (composer)
American composer (born 1960)
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Frances White (born August 30, 1960) is an American composer. A 2004 Guggenheim Fellow, she composes for the Japanese flute instrument shakuhachi and her work includes the album She Lost Her Voice, That's How We Knew (2015).
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- University of Maryland (BM)
- Brooklyn College
- Princeton University (MA and PhD)
Frances White | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 30, 1960 |
| Alma mater |
|
| Occupation | Composer |
| Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship (2004) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Electronic music[1] |
| Instrument | Shakuhachi |
| Label | Ravello Records |
Biography
White was born on August 30, 1960,[2] to an electrical engineer father and teacher mother, and raised in Bowie, Maryland.[3] She started learning piano when she was six and composing when she was ten, before studying music theory in high school.[3] She obtained her BM from the University of Maryland in 1981 and her MA in Brooklyn College; both degrees were in music composition.[3] She later obtained a second master's degree and a PhD at Princeton University.[3] She was a MacDowell Colony Fellow in 2003 and 2005.[4]
White composes for shakuhachi, having become interested in the instrument due to its sound.[3] In 1998, Stephen D. Hicken of American Record Guide said that her shakuhachi/computer music piece Birdwing was an example of growing aesthetic interest in digital technology on the part of composers.[5] In 1999, she composed the shakuhachi/tape piece Centre Bridge, inspired by the Centre Bridge–Stockton Bridge. Michelle Nagai of Organised Sound said that "White, through a process of deep immersion in an actual sounding place, and subsequently in her recordings of that place, is able to internalise her experiences as a listener" through that piece.[6] Another piece inspired by the bridge, Center Bridge (Dark River), premiered in 2003 at the New Jersey Symphony.[7] Susan Van Dongen of PrincetonInfo said that "her sensuous, atmospheric compositions ... blend her writing with natural and ambient sounds".[3] In 2004, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.[8]
White composed the album She Lost Her Voice, That's How We Knew, released in 2015 by Ravello Records.[9] She and Wendy Steiner composed a chamber opera, Upon Reflection, during the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] She later wrote another shakuhachi piece called "The Book of Evening", inspired by the Mark Strand poem Moon.[3] She co-produced Trio Getsuro's 2022 shakuhachi album Trio Getsuro: Music from Innisfree.[10]
White lives in the Griggstown section of Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, with her husband, musicologist and pianist James Pritchett.[3]