Discipline: Interdisciplinary Art

Claudia Stevens

Discipline: Interdisciplinary Art
Region: Oakland, CA
MacDowell Fellowships: 1992

Claudia Stevens is an American musician, performance artist, and librettist. Initially a pianist specializing in contemporary music, she is recognized for creating and performing widely an array of interdisciplinary solo performance works, and for her collaborations with composer Allen Shearer as librettist of seven operas. In 1985 Stevens launched a career as a musical and dramatic solo performer, creating a repertoire of some 20 original works, first in collaboration with composers including Vivian Fine in The Heart Disclosed (1988) and Fred Cohen in An Evening with Madame F (1989), which was televised and presented in performance continuously for 25 seasons. By the 90's, portraying Felice Bauer in Felice to Franz (1992) and multiple characters in Playing Paradis (1994), Stevens was composing both music and text.

Studios

Van Zorn (formerly Kirby)

Claudia Stevens worked in the Van Zorn (formerly Kirby) studio.

Constructed thanks to a bequest from Sarah L. Kirby, Kirby Studio was the last new building to be erected during Mrs. MacDowell’s leadership (1907-1951). The load-bearing masonry walls were laid by local mason Augustus Beaulieu atop a fieldstone foundation. A 1995 renovation preserved the brick fireplace with wooden mantel and…

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