I will explore the creative process behind my Opera America award-winning work, "Why Women Went West." In the presentation, I discuss how my work documents historical dramas and revive the voices of women through archival research, collaboration, and deep listening at significant sites, aiming to impact the future.
This is a virtual presentation held via Zoom.
Full Blurb:
Pamela Madsen, an internationally acclaimed composer, performer, researcher, and director of the CSUF New Music Series, will share insights into her creative process, focusing on her Opera America award-winning work, Why Women Went West; Her diverse portfolio includes immersive concert-length projects, solo and chamber music, and multimedia opera collaborations, tackling themes of social change, image, music, text, and the environment. With a Ph.D. in Music Composition from UCSD and Yale University, and training in Deep Listening with Pauline Oliveros, Madsen’s research explores compositional evolution, improvisation, electronic music, and the role of women in music. As a composer, she documents historical dramas, reviving women’s voices through archival research, collaboration, and deep listening at significant sites, aiming to impact the future. Her major works include award-winning operas like Why Women Went West; Oratorio for the Earth; and There Will Come Soft Rains. exploring themes around Marie Curie, ancient sibyls, Arctic myths, and climate change. Madsen has been recognized as a Huntington Library Mellon Fellow, Alpert Award Panelist, and Creative Capital artist “on the radar”, with awards from the Copland Foundation, American Scandinavian Foundation, MacDowell, UCross, Women’s International Studies Center, and Wurlitzer Foundation. She currently serves as Professor of Music Composition at California State University, Fullerton.