Marie Nelson Bennett

Utah composer, Marie Nelson Bennett (1926 – 2018), earned her music degree from Yale while studying with Paul Hindemith. She earned her PhD in composition from the University of Utah.

Her orchestral works include eight symphonies, five concertos and the oratorio ‘Once in Israel.’ She has also composed a trio for flute, clarinet and piano, a string quartet, various sonatas, songs, choral works, and the scores of seven plays. Her opera ‘Orpheus Lex’ was premiered in February 2010 in New York by the New York Virtuoso Singers under Harold Rosenbaum.

Her works have been premiered and recorded by London Symphony, Slovak Radio Symphony, Manhattan Sinfonia, Czech Radio Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Corcordia, Prague Symphony, Utah Symphony, Salt Lake Symphony, Paradigm Chamber Orchestra and Boston Modern Orchestra.

Her works have been conducted by Gerard Schwarz, Robert Stankovsky, Glen Cortese, Vladimir Valek, Marin Alsop, Joseph Silverstein, Roger Briggs, Gil Rose, Joel Rosenberg, James Caswell and David Cho.

Marie was a recipient of the Merit of Honor Award at the University of Utah, where her works are held in a special collection. She has also been nominated for a Friedheim Award at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.