Wendy Mae Chambers

Part serious composer and part playful performance artist, Wendy Mae Chambers has a puckish sense of humor that influences all of her work, making her much more entertaining to listen to than the majority of self-serious composers of 20th century art music. Born on January 24, 1953, in New Jersey, Chambers received her bachelor's degree in music from Barnard College, studied piano with noted new music keyboardist Kenneth Cooper, and completed her master's in composition at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1977. Upon completing her studies, Chambers embarked upon the series of compositions and events on a grand scale that made her early name. Chambers' first success was "Music for Choreographed Rowboats" (1979), a piece performed on Central Park Lake by 24 musicians playing in rowboats oared by members of the Columbia University crew team. Her next success was 1983's "Ten Grand," a piece for ten grand pianos and a choreographed laser light show at Lincoln Center. The following year, Chambers premiered "The Grand Harp Event," a piece for 30 harps that played both at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the inauguration of the sculpture garden at the Museum of Modern Art. Chambers got her most high-profile commission to date when her "Liberty Overture" was performed on board a 100-foot boat in New York Harbor during the centennial celebrations for the Statue of Liberty in 1986. That same year, Chambers was commissioned by the Percussive Arts Society and delivered "Marimba!," a playful work for 26 marimbas which premiered at Kennedy Center. A smaller-scale piece, "Quills," for six harpsichords and surround-sound tapes of birdsong, premiered at Symphony Space in 1987. The enormous "Symphony of the Universe," an hour-long piece in four movements for 100...