In light of her recent New York performance of Electric Sweepers and Vacuum Creepers, the New York Times gave American composer Annie Gosfield a full profile in its Music pages, followed by an excellent review. Gosfield performed Electric Sweepers and Vacuum Creepers and other original compositions at an event in celebration of her 55th birthday last month. She created the piece—which features the familiar hum of a domestic appliance—upon the request of the Hoover company, who learned about her work from the composer John Zorn. (Ironically, Gosfield was terrified of vacuum cleaners as a child and only realized that she had overcome her phobia during a visit to an acupuncturist as an adult, according to the Times.) The composer and electroacoustic musician was a 2012 fellow at the American Academy in Berlin and a recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award. Her music has been performed worldwide at Warsaw Autumn, Bang on a Can, MATA, MaerzMusik, Venice Biennale, and Lincoln Center. Gosfield performed solo and in collaboration with Roger Kleier at the Agosto Foundation's vs. Interpretation Festival and Symposium in July 2014. “Ms. Gosfield’s choice of sounds—which [on the occasion of her recent performance] also included radio static, the signals transmitted by the Soviet satellite Sputnik I, and recordings of Hurricane Sandy—are never a mere gimmick,” the Times wrote. “Her extraordinary command of texture and timbre means that whether she is working with a solo cello or with the ensemble she calls her ‘21st-century avant noisy dream band,’ she is able to conjure up a palette of saturated and heady hues.” by Morgan Childs
Photo courtesy of anniegosfield.com