La Loba for woodwind quintet with piano (1994)
I. Cantadora I
II. La Loba
III. Hambre del Alma
IV. Llamar o Tocar
V. Descansos/Wise Woman
VI Cantadora II/ La Loba
Commissioned by Quintet of the Americas with support from the New York State Council on the Arts
This work was recorded by Quintet of the Americas with Amy Rubin on piano on the 1996 release Quintet of the Americas Self Portrait CRI CD 722
Commissioned by Quintet of the Americas with support from the New York State Council on the Arts
This work was recorded by Quintet of the Americas on the 1996 release Quintet of the Americas Self Portrait CRI CD 722
Music from her sextet, “La Loba” was danced to by the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company in their national tour 2003-2004 of the “Flight Project”. When the recording of “La Loba “ was released on CRI, Fanfare magazine applauded her as “free and fearless in her ability to synthesize different materials, open and fluent in her use of various media” and rated the work “highly accessible in its infectious tunes and rhythms”.
As educator, Rubin ran the Musicianship Program at SUNY at Stony Brook, was an Assistant Professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey where she directed all musical activities on campus, and was a Visiting Professor at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.
As a senior Fulbright Scholar in 1992-93, she lived in Ghana, West Africa, where she was a Professor at the National Academy of Music and the National Institute for Film and Television. She has also served as a Master Teacher at the Lincoln Center Institute, the Oregon Institute for Arts and Education, The Memphis Institute for Arts and Education, and has been an educational consultant to the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and New Jersey Symphony.
As producer, Rubin produced a fourteen event festival at Fairleigh Dickinson called “Close Encounters With Music Around The World”, as well as a five year long concert series featuring major artists in the NY area. While in Ghana she produced and directed the First National Conference on African Music: “Traditions and Innovations”. As a Visiting Professor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle she conducted pre-concert talks with visiting performers and co-produced a festival of Music of West Africa.
In January 2005 the Music Research Institute Press published “Towards an African Pianism 1: Keyboard Music of Africa and the Diaspora”. This important volume will include recordings and scores of both “Hallelujah Games” and “American Progressions”. Rubin is one of the few women, and Americans to be included.
Prior to composing for the concert stage, Rubin worked as a composer of music for the theater and film. During this time she was fortunate to create scores for Peter Brook, Joseph Chaikin, The Acting Company, The Hartford Stage Company, the Juilliard Drama Department and others. She also worked as a pianist, music director on and off-Broadway and at Lincoln Center, for Joseph Papp. Her fascination with music as narrative informs all of her work, regardless of genre.
Rubin now lives in Seattle where she composes, performs, teaches, lectures and collaborates. In her last few years she has enjoyed creating music with the Seattle Chamber Players, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Seattle Symphony, and the Jack Straw Foundation. She is currently working on a number of new projects including “ Piano Portraits”, a series of radio pieces funded by the Jack Straw Foundation. She is also working on a film about her field research in Ghana, “Chasing the African Tale”, and a large musical/ visual landscape comprised of new compositions for solo and multiple keyboards presented in combination with her current work in photography.
Rubin grew up in New York City where she attended the High School of Music and Art. She began studying “ classical ” piano, and composition at the early age of seven, and soon began to also play jazz, rock and roll, and compose music for theater. After High School she attended Cornell University where she received her BA in piano, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors in all subjects. She holds a Masters Degree in Music from the Yale School of Music in Composition and was a recipient of their Distinguished Alumna Award.
For more information visit Amy Rubin’s website:
https://www.amydrubin.com/index.shtml
Scores and parts may be ordered through:
Amy Rubin Music Publishers
3829 NE 153rd St
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
206-948-3951