Living Composer of Concert Music–Suzanne Farrin

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Paper on a Current Composer-Suzanne Farrin
Background
Suzanne Farrin was born on February 15, 1976, in America. She is a 46-year-old modern composer and performer of instruments. Suzanne Farrin specializes in the composition and performance of the ondes Martenot. She was recently co-commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble for her composition of the Natch in 2020 (Farrin). She was also co-commissioned by the Carolyn Royall Just Fund in the Library of Congress in the same year during an online concert held live via YouTube during the pandemic (Music Hunter College). 
Suzanne Farrin is a renowned composer well known for the visceral potentialities of instruments and sounds. Her musical works have attracted the interest of other musicians who have performed these pieces on stage across Northern and Southern America, Europe, and worldwide. In her earlier works, Suzanne Farrin studied solo instruments and created a personal language and intensity for her music (Band Camp). She also established an interpretive personality for her work, which helped her performance. Some of her early works include solo strings composed from the piano, violin, bass drum, and violin. Suzanne Farris originally composed these pieces for her loved ones. These pieces gained recognition from other musicians and have been played and performed by many interpreters over the years (Music Hunter College). Suzanne Farrin’s solo string pieces are unique since they capture and explore the personal habits and feelings of the people to who she wrote and dedicated the songs (Farrin). The pieces are intimate, and the sounds and instruments used in these pieces allow her to connect universally with her being. Suzanne Farrin’s music has gained popularity over the years and continues to be featured in festivals and venues. For instance, JACK Quartet featured her music in the BBC prom (Band Camp). Her works have also been featured in other events and festivals, such as Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Miller Theatre, the Park Avenue Amory, Town Hall Seattle, Mostly Mozart, BAM NextWave, and many others. 
Besides composing, Suzanne Farrin also performs an old electronic instrument known as the ondes Martenot. Maurice Martenot, a French engineer, created the instrument. Maurice created the Ondes martenot after the technological advancements and distraction of the First World War. Suzanne Farrin embraced her performance using the ondes martinet, earning recognition as an interpreter of the instrument (Music Hunter College). Through her performance, Suzanne Farrin has been part of musical events in venues such as Centro de Artes in Buenos and the Abros Arts Center in New York City. Her exquisite performance using the instrument also earned her a place in television, where she was featured in Roman Coppolla’s episode of Mozart in the Jungle, an Amazon series (Farrin). She also earned a spot as a performer in Gael Garcia Bernal’s Chicuarotes, a famous Mexican film. Suzanne Farrin was also featured in the award-winning film Sade Ma’bar, an Iranian film by Mohsen Gharaie.
Suzanne Farrin went to Yale University, where she earned her doctorate degree. Currently, Suzanne Farrin serves as a music professor at Frayd B Linderman (Southbank Centre). She is also the chairperson at the CUNY Graduate Center and Hunter College. She is also a composition teacher at the same institution. Her debut album was the notable Corpo di Terra followed by the Dolce la Morte as her second album, which she released in November 2018 (Music Hunter College). In 2017, Suzanne Farrin won the prize in composition at the Juilliard/Water Damrosch in Rome (Farrin). She is currently a fellow in music composition at Guggenheim, and her works are found in the Albany Records label as well as the VAI Signum Classic record label (Music Hunter College). Her Guggenheim award in 2019 recognized her creativity in music and art (CUNY Graduate Center). Suzanne Farrin also composed a monodrama about the love poetry of Michelangelo. The piece was under the commission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the International Contemporary Ensemble. 
Analysis of her Works
Corpo di Terra
Suzanne Farrin’s Corpo di Terra is a new focus recording that was released on November 15, 2012. The piece falls under the 21st-century genre of contemporary chamber music. Suzanne Farrin’s Corpo di Terra comprises songs without words. It was created by the composer using Petrarch’s sonnets. Petrarch was an Italian poet who inspired Suzanne Farrin’s piece, Corpo di Terra (CUNY Graduate Center). The piece comprises solos and duos that explore different expressions and sounds of intimacy through the use of different instruments. The piece was dedicated by Suzanne Farrin to Cello. The audios in the piece Corpo di terro include Time is a cage, a piece that uses the violin, and di bracccia which uses the piano or a bass drum. Other contemporary music artists, such as harpist Nuiko Wadden and clarinetist Joshua Rubin have performed the solos and duos from the piece Corpo di terra. The piece has gained recognition and influence across the world (CUNY Graduate Center). It features seductive harmonies that bring out feelings and emotions. The duos and solos in the piece also evoke feelings of solace through its harmonies. Suzanne Farrin uses instruments in the piece to express ideas effectively.
The piece, Corpo di terra, begins in a simple tone with crescendos and escalates to high-pitched screaming distortion. The composer uses the piece to demonstrate how emotions arise and escalate. The sound also circles around a central pitch using gestures that alternate with harmonies and silence. The composer exceptionally balances silence with the harmonies to create a unique sound (Southbank Centre). The piece is visceral and highly evocative as the composer establishes a compelling mood that influences an audience to connect with their inner self as it incorporates high and low pitches with silence (Music Hunter College). The composer devotes the piece, Capri de terra, to her works of music, and the piece is found on many pieces of music streaming websites, including the Albany Records label, Signum Classics, and VAI. 
Dolce La Morte