Meet Valarie Morris


Over the last 25 years Valarie Morris has composed a large body of music, ranging from solo works to quartets and quintets to works for symphonies. Her sheet music and music books and recordings are available from Sandscape Publications, stores across the U.S. and in Canada, and online sites.

Instrumental compositions by Valarie Morris are multi-dimensional, though she often combines her music with other art forms such as words, dance, visual arts, and theatre. Mood exploration and the ability to create visual images with sounds are some of the special attributes of Valarie's music.

Photo by Clare Lighton

Musicals and Theatrical Works

The 8-Minute Genetically-Modified Opera by Valarie Morris received its World Premiere in January 2009. This comedic work sheds light on the effect of genetically-modified foods on humans. William Ballowe and Elizabeth Mitchell commissioned the work and premiered it with pianist Glen Smerage. Other theatrical works include:

Resistance
M. Emily Einson and Valarie Morris, set in Paris, 12-piece orchestra and chorus.

The Gloaming, Oh My Darling
Script by Megan Terry, 5-piece instrumental ensemble.

Watching the War
Structured improvisation. Voice/actor, winds, brass, strings, piano, percussion.

Photo by VMorris

Musical Influences

  • Anthony Braxton
  • Arturo Salinas
  • Charles Mingus
  • Ethel Smyth
  • Erik Satie
  • Kurt Weill

    After Mills College Contemporary Music Program

    After her MA in Composition from Mills College, Valarie Morris continued performing and started a music company to publish her compositions for the public. While in the San Francisco Bay Area, she composed for groups including:

  • Clarinoya (an eclectic clarinet quartet)
  • The Whitehouse Saxophone Quartet (a classical group)
  • Five Winged Bird (a jazz saxophone quintet)
  • Poet's Theatre Workshop and its spinoff group
  • Ovaryaction and other improvisation-based groups

    Valarie Morris is a former member of MOSAIC, a group of women composers in the Bay Area who produced a series of concerts of member's music several times a year.

    She was a guest on Bay Area radio shows that aired her music and produced a multimedia performance for a professional organization with music from TransFormations, her second album. Her third album is reeding between the lines.

    And Words

    Also a writer, Valarie Morris occasionally comes up with words to go with her music or music to go with her words. To contribute to the world's growing library of information about women composers, Ms. Morris interviewed and wrote articles about the following women:

  • Composer and pianist Elinor Armer (Mills Quarterly, January 1991)
  • French bassist/composer Joelle Leandre (Strings Magazine, Jan/Feb 1991)
  • Violinist India Cooke (Strings Magazine, May/June 1992)

    Read about composer, conductor, writer, and political activist Ethel Smyth.

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