Composer, director, choreographer, and filmmaker Meredith Monk emerged from the fertile New York scene in the 1960s as a multi-faceted artist. Having studied piano from the age of three, and both music and dance at Sarah Lawrence College (the latter with Bessie Schönberg), Monk has long been a pioneer in what is now known as “interdisciplinary performance” and “site-specific” work. In 1968 she founded The House, a company dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to performance, and in 1978 she founded Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble to expand her musical textures and forms. Her works can be epic in nature, deeply personal, and inspired by a place or moment in time. While Monk herself often refers to her works as operas, they consistently demonstrate a choreographic sensibility. She made her official Pillow debut with the performance seen here in 1997, nearly forty years after spending a summer as a Jacob’s Pillow student. The following season, Monk returned to the Pillow with a work-in-progress, Magic Frequencies.
EXPLORE MAURA KEEFE’S MULTIMEDIA ESSAY ON MEREDITH MONK.
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