photo by Ken Blaze
MARGARET BROUWER's musical prowess has earned her widespread acclaim for compositions brimming with lyricism, vivid imagery, and emotional resonance. Revered as one of contemporary America's most innovative composers, Fanfare Magazine declares: "For those of us who, years ago, were wondering where music might turn after the challenges of the atonalists, this is it. [Brouwer] is not afraid of the modern idiom, and uses whatever techniques are called for at the moment, but at the same time never loses sense of that fundamental and essential musical ingredient called melody." Her music has been lauded as “inhabiting its own peculiarly bewitching harmonic world” (New York Times), “a marvelous example of musical imagery,” (American Record Guide), and "accessible and engaging…utterly luminous in its beauty" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
Brouwer’s dedication to musical innovation has garnered numerous accolades, including the prestigious Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Guggenheim Fellowship, Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, Meet The Composer Commissioning/USA award, Cleveland Arts Prize, Lebenbom Award, Ettelson and International Women’s Brass Conference prizes and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, Ford Foundation, John S. Knight Foundation, Cleveland Foundation and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. Margaret Brouwer was named one of "The Best of Female Classical Composers" on Naxos' album POWER TO THE WOMEN.
The 2015 establishment of the Margaret Brouwer Collection at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center stands as a testament to her enduring influence on contemporary composition. Scores, manuscripts, and recordings housed within this collection serve as invaluable resources for scholars, composers, and performers alike.
Dr. Brouwer's illustrious career has seen her hold positions such as Head of the Composition Department at the Cleveland Institute of Music (1996 – 2008), NEA Composer in Residence with the Roanoke (VA) Symphony (1992-1997) and Composer-in-Residence at Washington and Lee University (1988-1996). Residencies have included those at the MacDowell Colony where she was a Norton Stevens Fellow, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Charles Ives Center for American Music.
Her compositions have been brought to life by orchestras across the globe, including the symphonies of Detroit, Dallas, Rochester, American Composers Orchestra, CityMusic Cleveland, Flagstaff, Maryland, Columbus, Toledo, Canton, Cabrillo, Liverpool, the Royal Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Orchestra, City of Cambridge Orchestra (UK), Halle (UK) Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique De L’Aube, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seattle, St. Louis, and Poznan Philharmonic (Poland). Her works have graced the stages worldwide and have been performed by such ensembles as American Modern Ensemble, Alias, counter)induction, Composers Now, Da Capo, MOZAIC, Continuum, Off the Hook Arts, AURA Contemporary Ensemble, the Audubon, Da Vinci, Cavani and Cassatt String Quartets at venues throughout the country including at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Orchestra of St. Luke’s “Second Helping,” SubCulture, Kennedy Center, Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Concoran Gallery, Philips Gallery, National Opera Center, Boston’s Dinosaur Annex, Aspen Summer Music Festival, Bowdoin’s Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music, as well as in Germany, Taiwan, Brazil, Hungary, Croatia, and more.
“(Brouwer) has a talent for taking the simplest melody and through her expansive array of compositional techniques, develop it into a polished musical gem…Every note she writes has musical purpose." (Cleveland Classical). Recordings of Brouwer’s music can be found on the Naxos, New World, CRI, Crystal, Centaur, and Opus One labels. In 2024, Marin Alsop and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra recorded an album featuring five of Brouwer’s orchestral works, set to be released by Naxos.
Recent notable commissions include Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, commissioned by the International Clarinet Association, with generous support of a co-commissioners’ consortium, Justice March (CityMusic Cleveland), Fear, Hiding, Play (the American Wild Ensemble), Parallel Isolations (Orli Shaham and the Pacific Symphony’s Café Ludwig Chamber Players), and Disappearing Act (Composers Conference 80th Anniversary).
Recent premieres and performances include Voice of the Lake, an 80-minute eco-oratorio, Through the Haze (4 percussionists), All Lines are Still Busy (solo violin), The Lake (tenor and piano), Daniel and Snakeman filmed with puppet performers, and The Art of Sailing at Dawn previewed by JoAnn Falletta with the CIM Orchestra.
With each composition, Margaret Brouwer continues to redefine the landscape of contemporary classical music, and leave an enduring legacy.