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About

A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Libby Larsen studied with Dominick Argento at the University of Minnesota. As stated by Mary Ann Feldman in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, “…Although she [Larsen] has written abundantly for orchestras and mixed ensembles, she is attracted in particular to the qualities of the voice – in this she betrays the influence of Argento.” Besides her excellent song cycles (including Sonnets to the Portugese with text by Elizabeth Barrett Browning), Larsen’s more adventurous compositions include a cantata about Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as a multi-movement cycle entitled Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), which is performed with projections of Cassatt’s paintings. She has also written over 12 operas and has a catalogue of over 400 works.

Larsen is also an advocate for women in the field of music, and was the first woman to hold a residency with a major orchestra (Minnesota Orchestra, 1983-1986). She is also a great advocate for music education. In her search to bring new music out of academia, she co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum in 1973 (now called the American Composers Forum). Her prominence in the 1980s and 1990s earned her a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship as well as a Grammy Award (1994).

–Christie Finn

Related Information

Songs

A Man Can Love Two Women

Libby Larsen

Calamity Jane

Song Collection: Songs From Letters

A Pig in the House

Libby Larsen

A Working Woman

Libby Larsen

Calamity Jane

Song Collection: Songs From Letters

All I Have

Libby Larsen

Calamity Jane

Song Collection: Songs From Letters

Ántonia

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: My Ántonia

Ántonia in the Field...

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: My Ántonia

Before Winter

Libby Larsen

Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

H. D.

Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Song Collection: Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

Beneath the Hawthorne Tree

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: Margaret Songs

Billy the Kid

Libby Larsen

Song Collection: Three Cowboy Songs

Bind Me - I Still Can Sing

Libby Larsen

Song Collection: Chanting to Paradise

Boy's Lips

Libby Larsen

Rita Dove

Song Collection: Love After 1950

Bright Rails

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: Margaret Songs

Bucking Bronco

Libby Larsen

Belle Starr

Song Collection: Three Cowboy Songs

By a Departing Light

Libby Larsen

Emily Dickinson

Song Collection: Chanting to Paradise

Center Field Girl

Libby Larsen

Chain of Hope

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Chanting to Paradise

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Emily Dickinson

Conversation in Avila

Libby Larsen

Phyllis McGinley

Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

Donal Oge

Libby Larsen

Eleanor Roosevelt

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Far in a Western Brookland

Libby Larsen

A. E. Housman

Go From Me

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Song Collection: Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

He Never Misses

Libby Larsen

Calamity Jane

Song Collection: Songs From Letters

Hell's Belles

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

How Do I Love Thee?

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

I Thought Once How Theocritus...

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

If I Leave All For Thee

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

In This Short Life

Lori Laitman

Emily Dickinson

Jazz at the Intergalactic Nightclub

Libby Larsen

Landscape - From the Train

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: My Ántonia

Landscape II - Winter

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: My Ántonia

Landscape III - Prairie Spring

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: My Ántonia

Landscape IV - Sunset

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: My Ántonia

Late in the Day

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Lift Me Into Heaven Slowly

Libby Larsen

Robert Creeley

Song Collection: Three Cowboy Songs

Love After 1950

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Rita Dove

Margaret Songs

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Me (Brenda Ueland)

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

My Letters!

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

My Ántonia

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Oh, Yes!

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

Out of Sight?

Libby Larsen

Emily Dickinson

Song Collection: Chanting to Paradise

Paterfamilias

Libby Larsen

Phyllis McGinley

Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

Perineo

Libby Larsen

Raspberry Island Dreaming

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Saints Without Tears

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Phyllis McGinley

Sifting Through the Ruins

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Anonymous

So Like Your Father's

Libby Larsen

Calamity Jane

Song Collection: Songs From Letters

So Little There

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: Margaret Songs

Song

Libby Larsen

E. E. Cummings

Songs From Letters

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Calamity Jane

Songs of Light and Love

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Sonnet from Assisi

Libby Larsen

Phyllis McGinley

Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

Sonnets From the Portuguese

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Take

Libby Larsen

The Apple's Song

Libby Larsen

The Giveaway

Libby Larsen

Phyllis McGinley

Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

The Hired Girls

Libby Larsen

Willa Cather

Song Collection: My Ántonia

The Temptations of St. Anthony

Libby Larsen

Phyllis McGinley

Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

Three Cowboy Songs

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

Anonymous

Robert Creeley

Belle Starr

Three Love Songs

Song Collection

Libby Larsen

White World

Libby Larsen

H. D.

Song Collection: Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

With the Same Heart, I Said, I'll Answer Thee

Libby Larsen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

Videos

Larsen: “Before Loving You” (McFerrin, Stepanova)

2012

Larsen: “Try Me, Good King” (Anne Boleyn)

2012

Recordings

Show Me the Way

(Jasmine Barnes, Amy Marcy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Libby Larsen and Florence Price)

2024

Buy via Cedille Records

In This Moment: Women and Their Songs

(Juliana Hall, Lori Laitman and Libby Larsen)

2013

Listen via IDAGIO
Buy via Albany Records
Buy via ArkivMusic
Buy via Amazon

(In) Habitation

(Tania León, Lori Laitman and Libby Larsen)

2010

Listen via IDAGIO
Buy via Amazon (MP3)

American Art Song Today: Alive!

(Daron Aric Hagen, Libby Larsen, John Musto and Joseph Turrin)

2009

Buy via Amazon (CD)

The Unquiet Heart: American Song Cycles

(Libby Larsen and Stephen Paulus)

2007

Listen via IDAGIO
Buy via Amazon (CD & MP3)

American Songs

(H. Leslie Adams, Lee Hoiby, Lita Grier and Libby Larsen)

2006

Listen via IDAGIO
Buy via Amazon (MP3)
Buy via ArkivMusic (CD)

New American Song Cycles

(Tom Cipullo, Libby Larsen and Daron Aric Hagen)

2002

Listen via IDAGIO
Buy via Amazon (MP3)
Buy via Arkivmusic (CD)

Dwell in Possibility: Dickinson in Song

(Ernst Bacon, Aaron Copland, Celius Dougherty, John Woods Duke, Lee Hoiby, Richard Hundley, Jake Heggie, Lori Laitman, Libby Larsen, Etta Parker, Simon Sargon, Leo Smit and Richard Pearson Thomas)

2004

Buy via Amazon (CD)
Find at your Local Library