Hailed by the New York Times for her “soaring melodies and beguiling harmonies,” Dale Trumbore (b. 1987) has been widely commissioned and performed by ensembles including the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Boston New Music Initiative, California ACDA’s All-State Honor Choir, Inscape Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, and The Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists. She has served as Composer in Residence for Nova Vocal Ensemble and Artist in Residence at Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, Copland House, Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, and Willapa Bay AiR.
Recently, Trumbore’s choral music was recorded on Choral Arts Initiative’s album How to Go On: The Choral Works of Dale Trumbore, which debuted at #6 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart. Trumbore’s works for voice have also been recorded by Choral Arts Northwest, The Esoterics, New York Virtuoso Singers, and soprano Gillian Hollis. Trumbore’s interest in the convergence of music and language leads her to collaborate frequently with contemporary writers. Her compositions are available from Boosey & Hawkes, G. Schirmer, and MusicSpoke.
Trumbore holds a dual degree in Music Composition and English from the University of Maryland as well as a Master of Music degree in Composition from the University of Southern California, where she studied with Morten Lauridsen and Donald Crockett. A New Jersey native, Trumbore currently lives in Los Angeles.
Articles by Dale Trumbore:
Somewhere in the homestretch of writing a new composition, I become convinced—temporarily, falsely—that not only is there nothing redeemable about this awful piece, but that composing itself is meaningless, I've...
A composer's style becomes distinctive not only because certain ideas are present in many of their compositions, but because that composer has made compelling artistic choices deliberately and repeatedly across...
I'd urge any other composer contemplating a full-time composing career to ask the same questions I considered: What work do you most enjoy doing? What work of yours have others...
The time at a residency feels sacred, and for that brief period, your life is centered around the pursuit of creativity.
We don’t need to imagine that one big performance or one big award will be responsible for making our entire career. Instead, we can ask ourselves what we’ll try to...
When she graduated with her master's degree, Dale Trumbore give herself three years to try composing as a full-on career before considering any more schooling. She hasn't returned to the...
I've finally figured out how to break through the filter of self-doubt on a fairly reliable basis. For me, what works is a series of mantras—nuggets of wisdom from people...
There may be no greater way to make yourself feel like a bad composer—the worst composer, really—than watching the fluffiest of all fluffy shows in the house of one of...
“What are you working on now?” Few—if any—composers are willing to admit when we're not writing anything. It's time to acknowledge that in a creative practice, a period of rest...