« staff page		 Bernadette Speach
US Agent

Tel: (917) 974-4986


Bernadette Speach's work as a composer embraces a variety of styles, and includes solo, chamber and orchestral works. In recent years PARALLEL WINDOWS - UNFRAMED for piano and orchestra was performed by Anthony de Mare and the Absolute Chamber Orchestra, and WITHIN for piano and orchestra was performed by Ursula Oppens and the Brooklyn Philharmonic under the direction of Lukas Foss. Her second string quartet, LES ONDES POUR QUATRE, was premiered by the Arditti String Quartet in Darmstadt, Germany, where Ms. Speach lectured as a part of the composition faculty, and at the Ravinia Festival, where it received its American premiere.

Bernadette and poet/writer Thulani Davis have worked together extensively since 1986. TELEPATHY SUITE, their first collaborative settings, were released on the CD, WITHOUT BORDERS (Mode 16), which also included chamber works by Ms. Speach performed by the Bowery Ensemble, Anthony de Mare, Leonard Krech, Michael Pugliese, Jeffrey Schanzer and Jan Williams. A new CD of her more current chamber works, REFLECTIONS (Mode 105), with performances by The Arditti String Quartet, Anthony de Mare, Lois Martin, Rozanna Weinberger, Speach/Davis & Musicians and others was released in February, 2002.

Bernadette has collaborated with video artist, Anney Bonney, on a number of projects since 2000 which involve living video processing as well as presentation with live music.

She has performed as pianist with her husband Jeffrey Schanzer as the Schanzer/Speach Duo across the United States, in Puerto Rico, Gent and Liege, Belgium, and Cologne and Herne, Germany. Their first CD, DUALITIES, was released on the Mode/Avant Label in 1992.

Bernadette's work has been played by numerous performers including: pianists Anthony de Mare, Yvar Mikhashoff, Kathleen Supove and Nurit Tilles; vocalists Joan La Barbara, Cheryl Marshall, Thomas Buckner and Lauralyn Kolb; percussionists Robert Previte, Robert Schulz, Jan Williams, Ricardo Souza and Gustavo Aguilar; cellist Frances-Marie Uitti; The Arditti String Quartet and Soldier String Quartet, Maelstrom Percussion Quartet, The Omni Ensemble, Talujon Percussion Quartet, Leroy Jenkins' Sting, The Contemporary Ensemble of the University of Nottingham in England, The Abel/ Steinberg/Winant Trio, Fidelio, Zeitgeist, The Barton Workshop and Auros Group for New Music.

Bernadette received her Ph.D. in Music Composition from SUNY - Buffalo where she studied with Morton Feldman and Lejaren Hiller. She was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Composers Fellowship in 1992. In the same year she received a commission through the American Composers Forum with funding by The Jerome Foundation to compose for the ensemble Zeitgeist, as well as commissioning funds from The New York State Council on the Arts through MusicVistas to continue her collaboration with Thulani Davis. Bernadette was a Music Composition Fellow through the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship program in 1998 - 1999. She was the Composer in Residence at the Electronic Studios of CUNY - Brooklyn's Conservatory of Music in 2001 - 2002.

Through her efforts as an administrator, fundraiser,Board member, presenter and educator with organizations and institutions such as Composers' Forum, Inc. (1984 - present), the Alternative Museum (1987 - 1993), Musicians of Brooklyn Initiative (1987 - 1991), MusicVistas, Inc. (1988 - present), The New School University (1994 - 1998), The Kitchen (1995 - 1998), Women Make Movies (1998 - 1999), CUNY - Brooklyn (1999 - present), Engine 27 (1999 - 2001), Electronic Music Foundation (1999 - present), Purchase College (2005) and The Flea Theater (2000 - present) Bernadette continues to bring the work of a broad range of contemporary artists to audiences in the New York metropolitan area and beyond.