Allen Shawn

{{Infobox person

| name = Allen Shawn

| birth_name = Allen Evan Shawn

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|8|27}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.New York, New York, Birth Index, 1910-1965

| relatives = Wallace Shawn (brother)

| parents = {{ubl|William Shawn|Cecille Lyon}}

| education = Harvard University (BA)
Columbia University (MA)

| occupation = Composer, pianist, educator, author

| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Jamaica Kincaid|1979|2002|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|Yoshiko Sato|2007}}}}

| years_active =

| children = 3

}}

Allen Evan Shawn (born August 27, 1948)Vermont, Marriage Records, 1909-2008 is an American composer, pianist, educator, and author based in Vermont.

His music

Shawn began composing at the age of ten, but dates his mature work from 1977. He has written a dozen orchestral works, including a symphony, two piano concertos, a cello concerto, and a violin concerto; three chamber operas; five piano sonatas and many additional works for piano; and a large catalogue of chamber music, songs and choral music. Among Shawn's available recordings are several of chamber music, four CDs of piano music, including a CD devoted to his piano work by German pianist Julia Bartha, a piano concerto performed by Ursula Oppens with the Albany Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David Alan Miller, and the chamber opera The Music Teacher, with a libretto by his brother, Wallace Shawn.

As author

Shawn is the author of a book about Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, Arnold Schoenberg's Journey, and a book about Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician.

He is also the author of Wish I Could Be There: Notes from a Phobic Life, which examines his experiences with anxiety and panic disorder, as well as his relationship with his autistic twin sister Mary,Shawn, Allen. Wish I Could Be There: Notes from a Phobic Life (New York: Viking, 2007) and Twin: A Memoir, also about Mary and his relationship with her.Shawn, Allen. Twin: A Memoir (New York: Viking, 2011) He discussed Twin with Terry Gross on WHYY's Fresh Air on January 3, 2011.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/01/03/132618326/parallel-lives-having-a-twin-with-mental-illness|title=Parallel Lives: Having A Twin With Mental Illness|work=NPR.org|access-date=2018-03-21|language=en}}

Personal life

Shawn is a son of The New Yorker editor William Shawn, and the brother of the actor and playwright Wallace Shawn. His family is of Jewish background. He received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, a master's degree from Columbia University, and studied in France with Nadia Boulanger.{{Cite web|url=http://kalvos.org/shawnal.html|title=Allen Shawn, Nonpop New Music Composer|website=kalvos.org|access-date=2018-03-21}}

He teaches composition and music history at Bennington College and was formerly married to novelist Jamaica Kincaid, with whom he has a son, Harold, and a daughter, Annie.

He is married to pianist Yoshiko Sato, with whom he has a son, Noa.

Books

Arnold Schoenberg's Journey (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002, {{ISBN|0374105901}})
Wish I Could Be There: Notes from a Phobic Life (New York: Viking, 2007, {{ISBN|9780670038428}})
Twin: A Memoir (New York: Viking, 2011, {{ISBN|9780670022373}})
Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014, {{ISBN|9780300144284}})
In the Realm of Tones: A Composer's Memoir (University of Rochester Press, 2025, {{ISBN|9781648251177}})

References

External links

[http://kalvos.org/shawnal.html Allen Shawn biography]
[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7494941 Terry Gross Fresh Air interview with Allen Shawn], NPR.org, February 20, 2007.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120224000546/http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=people&first=Allen&last=Shawn&middle= Allen Shawn] at the Internet Off Broadway Database
[http://members.aol.com/chaspen/shawn.html Allen Shawn Biography] at Chaspen Foundation for the Arts
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080619092130/http://www.bennington.edu/acad_fac_shawna.asp Resume] at Bennington College

Category:1948 births

Category:20th-century American male musicians

Category:20th-century American classical composers

Category:21st-century American male musicians

Category:21st-century American classical composers

Category:American male classical composers

Category:American music educators

Category:Bennington College faculty

Category:Classical musicians from New York (state)

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:Educators from New York City

Category:Harvard University alumni