Lockwood, Annea (actually, Anna Ferguson)

Lockwood, Annea (actually, Anna Ferguson), New Zealand composer and instrument builder; b. Christchurch, July 29,1939. She studied at Canterbury Univ. in New Zealand (B.Mus., 1961), and then went to London, where she took courses with Fricker (composition) and E. Kendall Taylor (piano) at the Royal Coll. of Music (diplomas in both, 1963). She also attended courses in new music in Darmstadt (1961- 62), had lessons with Koenig at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne (1963–64), studied at the Bilthoven (Netherlands) Electronic Music Center (1963–64), worked in computer composition at the Electronic Music Studio in Putney, England (1970), and undertook research at the Univ. of Southampton’s Inst. for Sound and Vibration Research (1969–72). In 1968 she gave non-lectures at the Anti-Univ. of London, and later taught at Hunter Coll. of the City Univ. of N.Y. (1973–83) and at Vassar Coll. (from 1982), where she subsequently became a prof. and head of the music dept. In 1968, with her then husband, Harvey Matusow, she undertook a series of experiments in total art, including aural, oral, visual, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory demonstrations and sporadic transcendental manifestations. Since the mid-1970s, her concerns have been with aural perception and the utilization of sounds found in nature and the environment in participatory or on-site installations and performance pieces. For a decade from the mid-1980s she concentrated on writing for acoustic instruments and voices, and then returned to electroacoustic performance and installation works with Duende (1998) and floating world (1999).

Works

Violin Concerto (1962); À Abélard, Heloïse, chamber cantata for Mezzo-soprano and 10 Instruments (1963); Glass Concert for 2 Performers and Amplified Glass (1966); River Archives, recordings of select world rivers and streams (1966- ); Tiger Balm, tape collage of sensual and erotic sounds (1972); Malaman, Solo Chant (1974); World Rhythms, 10-channel live mix of Sounds and Biorhythm of a Gong Player (1975); Spirit Songs Unfolding for Tape and Slides (1977); Delta Run, mixed-media work for Tape, Slide Projection, and Movement (1982); A Sound Map of the Hudson River, installation work (1982–83); Night and Fog for Baritone, Baritone Saxophone, Percussion, and Tape, after Osip Mandelstam and Carolyn Forche (1987); The Secret Life for Amplified Double Bass (1989); Amazonia Dreaming for Snare Drum (1989); Red Mesa for Amplified Piano (1989); Thousand Year Dreaming for Conch Shells, 4 Didjeridus, Winds, Trombones, Frame Drums and Other Percussion, and Projections (1990); The Angle of Repose for Baritone, Alto Flute, and Khaen (1991); I Give You Back for Mezzo-soprano, after Joy Harjo (1992); Western Spaces for Flutes, Zoomoozophone, and Percussion (1995); Monkey Trips for Strings, Winds, Percussion, and Non-Western Instruments (1995; in collaboration with the California E.A.R. Unit); Shapeshifter for Chamber Orch. (1996); Far- Walking Woman for Prepared Piano (1997); Tongues of Fire, Tongues of Silk for Women’s Chorus and Percussion (1997); Duende for Baritone and Tape (1998; in collaboration with Thomas Buckner); float ing world for Tape (1999).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire