(short)
Helena Michelson completed her undergraduate studies in Music at
the University
of California, Berkeley
and a doctorate in composition and theory from the University
of California, Davis.
First trained as a pianist, she studied piano with Mack McCray at the San
Francisco Conservatory of Music and, in masterlasses, with Richard Goode and
Awadagin Pratt. She has studied composition, among others, with Olly Wilson,
Cindy Cox, Jeffrey Miller, Pablo Ortiz, and, in masterclasses, with Louis
Andriessen, Martin Bresnick, Mario Davidovsky, Eric Chasalow, Philippe Leroux,
Bernard Rands, Judith Shatin, and Joel Hoffman. She has been a participating
composer in MusicX, a festival of new music at the University of Cincinnati
College-Conservatory of Music in 2003, 2005, and again, in 2007, an invited
composer at Domaine Forget in Quebec (2004), and a composition fellow at the
Composer's Conference at Wellesley College (2003), the Ernest Bloch Composers'
Symposium (2004), and in the summer 2009, an invited composer at June in
Buffalo. Her music has been performed and recognized by such groups and
organizations as North/South Consonance, San Francisco Chamber Wind Festival,
Berkeley Contemporary Players, Empyrean Ensemble, Le Nouveau Ensemble Moderne, Riverside
and Berkeley Symphonies, and through a commission from the American Composers
Forum as well as Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center.
(long)
Helena Michelson was born in
Moscow, Russia and grew up in Riga, Latvia, where she began studying piano at
age five. She received her early music instruction at the Jazeps Medins
School of Music in Riga and, after moving to the United States, continued at the Preparatory
Department of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied piano
with Mack McCray. She completed her undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley. While there, she frequently
performed in the Noon Concert Series at Hertz Hall as a soloist as well as a
collaborative pianist. She also played in masterclasses with pianists
Richard Goode and Awadagin Pratt.
It was also during her studies at UC Berkeley that Helena Michelson shifted her
primary focus to composition. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, she continued her graduate studies
in composition at California State University, East Bay (MA) and received a
doctorate in Music Composition and Theory from the University of California, Davis in 2003.
Helena
Michelson has studied composition, among others, with Olly Wilson, Cindy Cox,
Jeffrey Miller, Pablo Ortiz, and, in masterclasses, with Louis Andriessen, Martin
Bresnick, Mario Davidovsky, Eric Chasalow, Philippe Leroux, Bernard Rands, and
Judith Shatin. She has been a participating composer in MusicX, a
festival of new music at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of
Music in 2003, 2005, and again, in 2007, an invited composer at Domaine Forget
in Quebec (2004), and a composition fellow at the Composer's Conference at
Wellesley College (2003), the Ernest Bloch Composers' Symposium (2004), and in the summer 2009, an invited composer at June in
Buffalo.
Her music has been performed and recognized by such groups and organizations as
North/South Consonance, San Francisco Chamber Wind Festival, Berkeley Contemporary Players, Empyrean Ensemble, Le Nouveau Ensemble
Moderne, Riverside and Berkeley Symphonies, and through a commission from the
American Composers Forum as well as Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center.
.
© Copyright 2009 Helena Michelson, All Rights Reserved
