Join Email List
Julia Adolphe and Melody Eötvös will receive orchestral commissions as part of a new initiative to increase opportunities for women composers, the League of American Orchestras, American Composers Orchestra, and EarShot.
Julia Adolphe (b. 1988) is a
composer, writer, and soprano whose music embraces diverse artistic and sociological influences, unfolding intricate emotional narratives. Adolphe’s work has received performances across the United States and abroad in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Paris, Berlin, and Pavia, Italy. Sylvia, a chamber opera based on her original story and libretto, has been presented by Bargemusic (NYC), The Lost Studio Theatre (Los Angeles); and the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, in excerpt. Adolphe is currently working on a new opera set in present-day Iran.
Adolphe has received numerous awards for her compositions, including grants from the American Composers Forum, New Music USA, Sam Spiegel Foundation, Anna Sosenko Assist Trust, and Puffin Foundation. She received the Theodore Front Prize from the International Alliance for Women in Music, the Jimmy McHugh Composition Prize, John James Blackmore Prize, and John S. Knight Prize. Adolphe is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the USC Thornton School of Music studying composition with Stephen Hartke. Prior teachers include Steven Stucky, Donald Crockett, and Frank Ticheli. Adolphe holds a Master of Music degree in music composition from USC and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music composition and literary theory from Cornell University.
Melody 
Eötvös (1984) is a Bloomington IN-based Australian composer whose work draws on both multi-media and traditional instrumental contexts, as well substantial extra-musical references to a broad range of philosophical topics and late 19th Century literature.
She has studied with a variety of composers across the globe, including Gerardo Dirié (Australia), Simon Bainbridge (UK), Claude Baker (US), David Dzubay (US) and has studied electronic music with Jeffrey Hass, John Gibson, and Alicyn Warren. Melody has been the recipient of various awards including the 3MBS National Composers Award (Australia 2009), an APRA PDA (Australia 2009), and the Soundstream National Composer Award (2012). She has had her music performed by ensembles/orchestras such as the London Sinfonietta, BBC Singers, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian String Quartet, and has participated in several electronic music festivals including SEAMUS 2011 (US), ACMC 2012 (Australia), and ICMC 2011 (New Zealand). Current projects include a commission from Music Viva Australia (Sydney), an Australia Council Grant to compose a new piano sonata for Bernadette Harvey (Sydney), and composer fellow for the Intimacy of Creativity 2014, Hong Kong. Melody holds a Doctor of Music (2014) from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a Master of Music (2008) from the Royal Academy of Music, London UK.
About the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation
The initiative is made possible by the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Program for Commissioning Women in the Performing Arts, featured a series of readings with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra (CA), Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and American Composers Orchestra (NY), including career development workshops and mentoring opportunities with established composers. A total of six female composers participated in the readings, which were administered by American Composers Orchestra on behalf of EarShot, the National Orchestral Composition Discovery Network. Adolphe and Eötvös were selected by a composer panel to receive the commissions.