Composing Her Own Path: A Conversation with LunART's 2026 Composer-in-Residence Libby Larsen

Composer Libby Larsen is one of America’s most celebrated composers still living. With over 500 (yes, 500!) published works, a Grammy Award, and multiple honorary college degrees, she has dominated the classical and contemporary music scene with her art. Libby has not just participated in this musical era- she has helped shape it. From orchestral to vocal and opera

Libby Larsen - LunART's 2026 Composer-In-Residence

pieces, she has no shortage of talent to offer. I had the privilege of sitting down in an interview with Libby to pick her brain and see what makes her tick! 

Though born in Wilmington, Delaware, Larsen spent most of her life in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a young child, some of her earliest musical experiences came from her schooling, where everyone learned to read and sing Gregorian Chant. However, her piano teacher taught her an array of styles, adding to her catalog of genres. From Chant to Boogie, she grew to have an ear for everything. 

“My piano teacher, Sister Colette, was extraordinary in the kinds of repertoire she gave me. I played very unusual repertoire—Mozart, Bartók, Stravinsky, Japanese music, and boogie right away. That variety was very important in introducing so many different musical sounds and colors to me.” 

Libby Larsen continued her journey in Minneapolis, earning her Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees from the University of Minnesota. While there, she recalls sitting in class when a bit of an epiphany occurred. 

“I remember distinctly sitting in a class one day in undergrad, could have been a sophomore, maybe a junior, in Scott Hall at the University of Minnesota, when it dawned on me that I could be a composer-which is different from 'I compose.'” This sparked action, inspiring her

Libby making the airport her office!

colleagues to build something bigger than themselves. Making this next move was purely for the love and craft of composing music. 

In 1973, Libby, along with Stephen Paulus, formed the American Composers Forum (formerly known as the Minnesota Composers Forum). The idea was to turn classroom exercises into something that was really performed. They did not always have people performing the music that they wrote, the actual exercise that is so important to the art of composition- collaboration. 

“You know, it seems so obvious to me. Why don’t we have a flute in here playing the pieces? And the answer was we don’t have the funds and that’s not the way we teach here, which is fine.” Libby also recalls this as one of the projects that cemented her identity of being a composer. “We weren’t rebelling, you know; we weren’t encamped. We just needed it to be right.” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSZN8mkcAh0

This is yet another form of proof that Libby Larsen helped sculpt the American composition scene and make it what it is today. This further secured her spot as an architect of the composition world. 

While speaking with Libby, I wanted to hear about what drives her to create every day, and where she gets her creative spark. She describes really taking yourself and your craft seriously, but as for muses, the lack of composers in her answer was a sure surprise! I was expecting a long list of musicians she admires, but instead, she credits visual artists, poets, painters- and an unexpected audience member. 

Libby recalls an audience member from a performance of one of her works with the Houston Symphony. During a Question-and-Answer session, someone asked, “Why do you think this piece is about birds? What makes you think anyone cares?”  

This took her by surprise, and during our time together, she stated this after telling the story: 

“I thought to myself that listening is as intimate and unique as composing.” 

For Libby, composition is not a one-way street. This further proves the philosophy of the listener’s job being as important as the composer’s. Connecting with the listener and creating a soundscape for them is a unique process, and one that is incredibly valuable for the art of composing music. 

As a pioneering force in a male-dominated field, Libby recalls other composers who are women that found solidarity in each other; and put their noses to the grindstone. She listed people like Joan Tower and Ellen Zwilich, both also leaders in the field. Now, they all know each other, but in the 1970s and 80s, there were not many composers who were women that were sustaining a public platform in music. They did not come together to create a club or anything like that; they simply got to work, and they worked hard. 

“Once we found each other, it’s not that we said ‘Hey! Let’s build a world for women composers.’ No, each one of us were working to maintain a consistent platform for our music in public... the number of such brilliant women who are now working consistently in public is what has changed.” 

Following this, the topic of women in composition and the arts inevitably came up in the interview. When asked about the male domination of the composition realm, Libby describes the importance of consistency in work and showing up every day- and that she does not like the term “woman composer.” She credits this very trait to how many incredible women there are with works being performed by the world consistently in the present day.  

Libby declares that it helps when

“people are comfortable just being the artist (not “woman composer”) that they truly are rather than being an artist who is a representative of an idea of gender influence.” 

She says,

“I have never felt good about being called a woman composer any more than a man would be, you know, a male composer. All of us who are composing are just making shapes in the air. Everything else about how people hear our shapes is not about us, and that is the bargain that a composer makes. When we create a piece of music and offer it for contemplation, the bargain we make is that we cannot control. I wish that we get to a point where the audience listens to the music and not the biography.” 

She continued,  

“There's been real pressure to search for biography, you know, and sidestep the music and to only value biography as the way into a piece of music.” 

As a musician myself and growing up with works by people like Libby Larsen and Joan Tower, I am naturally curious about what composers today wish for the next generation of writers and creators. When asked what her hopes and advice for up-and-coming composers is, she says to be weary of the shiny things, and do not take the easy way out when mastering your craft. 

“We’re in the midst of a very seductive time in technology, and a parallel time might be during Telemann’s time, when the keyboard was undergoing the technology of the time. So for the next generations, my hope is for them to avoid shiny things because time is short,” she warns. 

“From my end, I can see how you don’t have much time to make pieces of music. My hope is that the technology is taken in, but it’s got to be your music. Then you’ll be speaking authentically.”  

She goes on to emphasize that it is not about fame but about speaking genuinely from your own generation. If it feels like fame and looks like fame, it’s probably not fame. 

That is one thing Libby did not waste her time on, focusing on creating work for fame. It takes a special person to compose; one must be aware of the sounds happening around you and be able to arrange them into something that speaks for itself.  

Libby Larsen continues to set a high standard for American composers- and composers surrounding the globe. From Grammy’s to honorary degrees, her art knows no limits, and people recognize the significance of her works. It was an honor and a privilege to be able to interview someone so passionate about and renowned for what she does, and it left me looking forward to dedicating myself even more to my craftsmanship.  

Come work with Composer-in-Residence Libby Larsen at the Composers' Hub during LunART Festival May 26-31, 2026!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81d_saBln8Y

“Music exists in an infinity of sound... it is the composer’s task to order and make sense of sound.” 

--

Hannah Gardner is a saxophonist, educator, and Production Intern at LunART. As a 2024 graduate of UW-Madison with a degree in saxophone performance, Hannah enjoys privately teaching saxophone in the greater-Madison area.

In her free time, Hannah loves to hang out with her cats and partner, paint, and write music. As a current graduate student at the Bolz Center, she looks forward to continuing her teaching and to using her knowledge and passion for teaching to help bridge educational and accessibility gaps in music lessons.