Carolyn Yarnell (born 1961)[1] is an American composer and visual artist. A recipient of the
Rome Prize,
Charles Ives Prize, and a
Guggenheim Fellowship, she is particularly noted for works which combine visual and musical depictions of landscape and light, many of which were inspired by the landscapes of her native California.[2]
Background
Yarnell grew up in the
Sierra Nevada region of California.[3] She studied composition at the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she received a Bachelor of Music in 1986 and at
Yale University where she received her master's degree in 1989.[1] Two years later the final two movements of her five-movement Symphony No. 1, Enemy Moon and Exit, commissioned by the
Tanglewood Music Center, had their world premiere at Tanglewood's Festival of Contemporary Music.[4] Yarnell is a long-time member of the Common Sense Composers Collective who via collaborations with groups such as the New Millennium and American Baroque ensembles have premiered many contemporary works by their members and other composers. The collective has produced several CDs including TIC (2007) and The Shock of the Old (2002). The latter featured contemporary compositions played on
baroque period instruments.[5]
Selected works
The Same Sky, for piano, electronics and video projection (2000)
The Shock of the Old – Common Sense Composers Collective and the American Baroque Ensemble, works by
Marc Mellits, Belinda Reynolds, Ed Harsh,
Randall Woolf, Dan Becker, Carolyn Yarnell, John Halle and
Melissa Hui (2002). Label: Santa Fe New Music
Sonic Vision – works by Carolyn Yarnell (2003). Label: Tzadik
TIC – Common Sense Composers Collective and the New Millenium Ensemble, works by Marc Mellits, Belinda Reynolds, Ed Harsh, Randall Woolf, Dan Becker, Carolyn Yarnell and John Halle (2007). Label:
Albany Records