You reached this page through the archive. Click here to return to the archive.

Note: This article is over a year old and information contained in it may no longer be accurate. Please use the contact information in the lower-left corner to verify any information in this article.

Music faculty member Mary Ellen Childs one of five in nation awarded residency for composers

30
April 23, 2001

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. ? St. Olaf College music faculty member and Minneapolis composer Mary Ellen Childs has received a "New Residencies" award from Meet the Composer Inc. The three-year residency, one of only five awarded nationally in 2001, supports partnerships among composers, professional arts institutions and community-based organizations.

New Residencies allows a variety of community-arts partners to host composers of all styles of music in three-year residencies. Composers create music to celebrate the culture of the community, organize cultural events, teach, promote local heritage and help make music a positive force in community life.

Childs, known for creating exuberant instrumental works and bold, kinetic compositions that integrate music, dance and theater in unexpected ways, will be in residence in Minnesota with The Southern Theater, a presenter of the Twin Cities? most exceptional artists, working in all performance media. She also will be in residence with the St. Olaf Music Department, in collaboration with its Art, Dance, Theater and Interdisciplinary Fine Arts departments, and in residence with the Eden Prairie High School band program, with its traditional large ensembles, innovative chamber music groups and percussion ensemble.

Among her anticipated projects are collaborations with visual artists; a series of "Street Noise" public space performances; new works written especially for band for Eden Prairie High School and St. Olaf College; and a full-evening performance by Childs? performing company "CRASH" at The Southern Theater. Childs also will work with students at St. Olaf College and Eden Prairie High School, visiting classes, mentoring students and including them in professional performances with her percussion ensemble, "CRASH."

"This residency with Mary Ellen will serve as a terrific enhancement to an active theory-composition program at St. Olaf," said Dan Dressen, chair of the college?s Department of Music. "We are also very excited about the possibility of collaborations between St. Olaf and Eden Prairie High School bands."

? more ?

Mary Ellen Childs ? 2

Funding for the Meet the Composer Residency is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts and other generous supporters.

St. Olaf College prepares students to become responsible citizens of the world, fostering development of mind, body and spirit. A four-year, coeducational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), St. Olaf has a student enrollment of 2,950 and a full-time faculty complement of approximately 300. It is one of Money Guide?s top 100 "elite values in college education today," and it leads the nation?s colleges in percentage of students who study abroad.

Contact Michael Cooper at 507-786-3315 or cooperm@stolaf.edu.