![]() ![]() In the 1980s, Monk wrote and directed two films, Ellis Island (1981), and Book of Days (1988). During this period Monk recorded Dolmen Music (1979), her first album released on Manfred Eicher's record label ECM, in 1981. Monk began a long-standing relationship with the Walker Art Center of Minneapolis, which continues to showcase her work to this day. In 1978 Monk formed Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble (modeled after similar ensembles of musical colleagues, such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass), to explore new and wider vocal textures and forms, which often were contrasted with minimal instrumental textures. Monk's performances have influenced many artists, including Bruce Nauman, whom she met in San Francisco in 1968. In 1964, Monk graduated from Sarah Lawrence College after studying with Beverly Schmidt Blossom, and in 1968 she founded The House, a company dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to performance. ![]() In December 1961, she appeared at the Actor's Playhouse in Greenwich Village (NYC) as a solo dancer in an off-Broadway children's musical theater adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, entitled Scrooge (music and lyrics by Norman Curtis directed and choreographed by Patricia Taylor Curtis). Meredith Monk is primarily known for her vocal innovations, including a wide range of extended techniques, which she first developed in her solo performances prior to forming her own ensemble. Monk has a bachelor's degree from Sarah Lawrence, where she studied composition with then-graduate student and Alwin Nikolais dancer Beverly Schmidt Blossom. Meredith has a sister, Tracy (born 1948). Zellman, and Rose (Kornicker) Zellman, a concert pianist of German Jewish background from Philadelphia. #Meredith monk dolmen music professional#Her mother, a professional singer of popular and classical music known under the stage name of Audrey Marsh, was herself the daughter of professional musicians: the Russian bass-baritone Joseph B. A true original, Monk's work should be sought by anyone with an interest in vocal exploration.Meredith Monk was born to businessman Theodore Glenn Monk (1909–1998) and singer Audrey Lois Monk (née Audrey Lois Zellman 1911–2009), in New York City, New York. Listeners will also be very pleased to find that her wonderful voice is not crowded or overshadowed. This minimalist support only furthers Monk's vast vocal language as the prominent focus in the recordings. Most of the musical accompaniment is minimalist (mainly piano with occasional, sparse percussion, guest vocalists also being prominent on the final six-part track "Dolmen Music"). ![]() On Dolmen Music, Monk wavers from being sad to the point of being quite morose (such as the tracks "Gotham Lullaby" and "The Tale") to being happy to the point of hysteria (as on "Traveling" and "Biography") without skipping a beat. Listeners who can get past just how unique and abstract her approach is will find immense joy and sadness deep within her pieces. Meredith Monk has such a wonderful and unique vocal style that she is able to sing in complete abstraction (no known words or language for much of the album) yet maintain a very emotional and even sentimental quality in these abstractions, at times. ![]()
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