(b. September 28, 1956, New York City)
American composer of mostly chamber and vocal works that have been performed throughout the world; she is also active as a promoter.
Ms. Kaminsky studied composition with Joseph Wood at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music from 1974-78, where she earned her BA magna cum laude in psychology. She also studied composition with Mario Davidovsky at the City College of New York from 1978-80, where she earned her MA, on a Tuch Foundation Fellowship.
Among her numerous awards are two fellowships from the Millay Colony for the Arts (1984, 1986), six fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (1985, 1989-92, 1999) and the Centrum Artist Residency Fellowship in Port Townsend, Washington (2004). She has received grants from the Artist Trust, King County, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Seattle Arts Commission, the Serage Foundation, USIA, and other organizations, as well as annual grants from Meet the Composer since 1983.
The Ahlert-Schwab Duo, the Colorado Quartet, the Degas Quartet, the Esoterics, the Fidelio Trio, the Icicle Creek Piano Quartet, the Jubal Trio, the New York Treble Singers, the Odeon Quartet, the Quintet of the Americas, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Taneko Trio, among other ensembles, have commissioned her music.
Ms. Kaminsky is also active in other positions. She founded the new music ensemble Musicians Accord in 1984 and has since served as its artistic director. The ensemble is in residence at the City College of New York and works with David Del Tredici and his students. In addition, she served as Director of the Humanities and Film Programs of the 92nd Street Y from 1984-88, artistic director of the Town Hall from 1988-92 and Director of Music and Theater Programs at the New School for Social Research from 1993-96. She has also served as a board member, consultant or panelist to state arts councils, the American Music Center, CEC ArtsLink, Chamber Music America, the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS, the Ford Foundation, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Meet the Composer, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
She lived and worked in Ghana in 1992-93 and served as director of the European Mozart Academy in Poland in 1996-97. She then served as chairwoman of the music department at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle from 1999-2004 and has served as dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College/State University of New York since 2004.
Web: http://composers21.com/compdocs/kaminskl.htm (2009)