2019 MICF resident composer Kristina Wolfe describes herself as “a composer, wanderer, electronic musician, maker, and multi-instrumentalist.”
A native of Tampa, FL, Wolfe (pictured) currently is a composer and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Scholar working in sound archaeology exhibition and composition at the University of Huddersfield in the UK.
She earned her PhD in multimedia and electronic music experiments from Brown University in 2016, having previously completed an MA in digital music at Dartmouth College and a BA in music technology at Florida International University.
For the MICF, Wolfe has composed a new work titled “A Curation of Finds,” which will be performed by Alarm Will Sound along with new music from the festival’s seven other resident composers at the grand finale concert on Saturday, July 27 at the Missouri Theatre.
Wolfe’s music has been performed at the MATA, Bang on a Can, and Huddersfield Contemporary Music festivals, and can be heard on recordings including her own 2010 CD release Swa Cwæð Eardstapa and the multi-artist collections Transcendigitalism – a compilation of esoteric drones on Silent Records and Music of Ostrava Days 2013.
Her prizes and awards include a commission in 2017 from MATA; winning entries in the 2016 Villiers Quartet New Works Competition and the 2016 Viola da Gamba Society of America Competition for New Music for Viol and Piano; and an honorable mention for the 2014 Pauline Oliveros Prize from the International Alliance for Women in Music.
Wolfe will be a composer in residence in 2020 for ISCM-VICC in Visby, Sweden. Her previous residencies include the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival in Massachusetts; the Centre D’Art Contemporani i Sostenibilitat El Forn de la Calç in Catalonia, Spain; the Composit Festival and Institute in Italy; Ostrava New Music Festival in the Czech Republic; and Visiones Sonoras 2008 in Morelia, Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico.
For more about Kristina Wolfe, you can listen to her recent interview recorded for KMUC’s “Mizzou Music” program; read the profile of her published in 2017 by the online magazine Van; and watch a video of her presentation at the Ambient@40 conference last year in Huddersfield. You can hear samples of some of her music in the embedded players below.
“Record of Ancient Mirrors,” recorded during the MATA Festival on April 29, 2017 at The Kitchen in New York, NY, performed by NOVUS NY with Scott Jarrett conducting and Doug Balliett as soloist on viola da gamba
“Near Sky,” recorded February 28, 2018 at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY, performed by Bearthoven, featuring Karl Larson (piano), Matt Evans (percussion), and Pat Swoboda (bass)