Ann Loomis Silsbee

Ann Loomis Silsbee was an American composer and poet who composed two operas, published three books of poetry, and received several awards, commissions, and fellowships.
Silsbee was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She earned a bachelor's degree from Radcliffe College, a master's in music from Syracuse University, and a doctor of musical arts in composition from Cornell University. She studied with Irving Fine, Earl George, and Karel Husa, and in Paris with unspecified teachers. Her dissertation was on a composition by Peter Maxwell Davies called Stone Litany. While at Cornell, she attended a poetry seminar led by Archibald Randolph (A.R.) Ammons, whose poetry she would later set to music. She married Robert Silsbee, a physicist who taught at Cornell, and they had three sons, Doug, David, and Peter.
In 1964, Silsbee's work River was performed at the Ferienkurs fuer Neue Musik in Darmstadt, Germany. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she taught at the State University of Cortland and at Cornell University. In the early 2000s, she hosted several poetry groups and retreats. Her awards, commissions, and fellowships included:

Awards

Burge Eastman Prize
Society for New Music

Commissions

First Street Playhouse, New York
TROIKA Association, Ithaca, New York

Fellowships

Composers Conference, Vermont
Composer Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
Yaddo Residency 1979

Silsbee served on the boards of the American Composers Alliance and the International League of Women Composers. Her papers are archived at Cornell University. Her works were recorded commercially on the LPs TURNA TV 34704 and NORTH NR 221, and published by the ACA. They include:

Books

Book of Ga
Fullest Tide
''Orioling''

Chamber

Another River
Expressions
Glyphs
Go Gentle
Journey
Pathway
Phantasy
Pharos
Quartet
Quest
Runemusic
Spirals
Three Chants
''Trialogue''

Dance

''River''

Electronic

''Prometheus''

Opera

Nightingale’s Apprentice
''People Tree''

Orchestra

Seven Rituals
Spirals
Trois Historiettes

Piano

Bagatelle
Corrai
Doors
Expressions
In and Out the Window
Letter from a Field Biologist
''Spirals''

Vocal

An Acre for a Bird
Bourn
Canticle
De Amore et Morte
Diffraction
Dona Nobis Pacem
“Huit Chants en Brun”
Hymn
Icarus
Leavings
Mirages
“Now”
Only the Cold, Bare Moon
Pictures from Brueghel
Raft
''Scroll''