Composer Margaret Brouwer at work. Photo by Ken Blaze.
In Thursday’s (12/12) The Land (Cleveland), Zachary Lewis writes, “One line you’ll probably never see on Margaret Brouwer’s lengthy ‘about’ page is any reference to retirement. Never mind that Brouwer will soon turn 85. Cleveland’s unofficial composer laureate has no intention of stopping, retiring or even of slowing down. On the contrary, she’s got more plans than ever…. Although, at this point, Brouwer’s music is liable to pop up just about anywhere, many of her most active and devoted interpreters are right here in Northeast Ohio, where she’s lived since 1996, when she began a 12-year stint as head of composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The list of Brouwer’s local champions is a who’s-who of Cleveland’s classical ensembles and soloists. In addition to student groups and contemporary music specialists, she counts regular premieres and other performances by the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra, the Cavani Quartet, members of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Composers Guild, and pianist Shuai Wang … The list of orchestras, chamber ensembles, and festivals that have performed Brouwer’s music outside Cleveland would be the envy of almost any living composer … The Ann Arbor native [was] a violinist in the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra [and] the Dallas Symphony Orchestra…. She’s still enamored with the sound of an orchestra, enthralled by the limitless sonic palette it offers.”
