Libby Larsen Photo by Ann Marsden

Academy Award: Libby Larsen

Libby Larsen is co-founder of the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composers Forum. The first woman to serve as a resident composer with a major orchestra, Larsen has held residencies with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, and the Colorado Symphony. Her opera, Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus was selected as one of the eight best classical musical events of 1990 by USA Today. She has been commissioned by Benita Valente, The King's Singers, American Guild of Organists, Eugenia Zukerman, Minnesota Orchestra, Cleveland String Quartet, St. Louis Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra. She has received grants from the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Consortium Commission, Bush Artists Fellowship, Exxon-Rockefeller/Meet the Composer - Composer-in-Residence Program, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her works are recorded on labels such as Angel/EMI, Koch International, Nonesuch, and Decca. Her B.A., M.M. and Ph.D. are from the University of Minnesota.

(Read an interview with Libby Larsen.)