Monk is born
Monk is born in New York City. Mischievously, Monk once wrote in a program biography that she was born in Peru, and this has become embedded in her history. Read more about her early years here.
(Photo by Dylan Freedom on Unsplash)
Graduation and NYC
Monk graduates from Sarah Lawrence College and moves to New York City to begin working in mostly non-traditional performance spaces.
(Photo by Jose Labarthe on Unsplash)
16 Millimeter Earrings
Monk’s breakthrough work, 16 Millimeter Earrings is produced. It is both her first film and her first vocal score. Wins New York Dance Film Festival Merit Award in 1980.
Juice: A Pioneer in Site-Specific Work
Monk is the first artist to create a piece in the rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Juice.
(Photo by Leslie Holder on Unsplash)
House Foundation for the Arts
The House Foundation for the Arts is incorporated in 1971 with the mission of promoting, celebrating, and disseminating Monk’s works.
(Photo by Steven Pisano, Flickr, Creative Commons)
Vessel: An Opera Epic
Performed at 3 sites in New York: The House Loft, The Performing Garage, and Wooster Parking Lot, and at 3 sites in Berlin in 1980. OBIE Award for Outstanding Production, 1972.
Education of the Girlchild; an opera (Part 1)
First Prize in Musical Theater, The Venice Biennale 1975.
Performed in New York, France, Italy, and Japan.
Brandeis Creative Arts Award
Quarry
Opera for 40 Performers, OBIE Award for Outstanding Achievement 1976. Performed in New York, Italy, and Washington, D.C.
Creative Artist Program Service Award (CAPS)
Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble is Founded
Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble is founded in 1978 to “further expand Monk’s groundbreaking exploration of the human voice.” Worldwide performances, recordings, and multiple awards, including a 2008 GRAMMY nomination for impermanence.
Ellis Island
A film about the experience of immigrants entering America at the turn of the century. Designed to be screened during a performance of Monk’s Recent Ruins, it was filmed on location on Ellis Island. Awarded the CINE Golden Eagle, special Jury Prize from the Atlanta and San Francisco Film and Video Festivals.
(Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash)
Guggenheim & CAPS
Monk is awarded another Guggenheim fellowship and Creative Artists Program Service Award (CAPS).
(Photo by Meriç Dağlı on Unsplash)
Paris
Part of The Travelogue Series, “a musical theater piece on journeys imaginary and real, to places with a unique and formative role in history and our consciousness.” Honorable Mention in the 26th Annual American Film Festival, selected for screening at the International Public Television conference in Belgium. Wins First Place for Performance Programing, Corporation for Public Broadcasting CTCA-TV in 1983.
Turtle Dreams
Villager Award for Outstanding Composition. Performed in NYC, London, and Canada.
Bessie Award & More
Monk is awarded the Bessie Award for Sustained Creative Achievement, the
New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Award in Music Composition, and the Obie Award for Sustained Achievement.
Rockefeller & SAI
Monk is awarded the Rockefeller Foundation Distinguished Choreographer Award, and the Sigma Iota Fellowship, MacDowell Colony.
Named MacDowell Colony Fellow
Doctorate of Fine Arts, University of the Arts, Philadelphia
Atlas: An Opera in Three Parts
Performances in Texas, Ohio, New York, Germany, and France. Released on CD in 1992.
(Photo by Tatiana Rodriguez on Unsplash)
The Conlon Nancarrow and Yoko Siguira Fellowship
Dance Magazine Award
Fellowships & More
Awarded multiple fellowships and awards, including: MacDowell Colony Fellow (1993), Norton Stevens Fellow (1994), John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship Award (1995), Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award (1996), Sarah Lawrence College Distinguished Alumnae Award (1996), New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Award in Choreography (1996), MacDowell Colony Fellow (1996).
Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, The Juilliard School
Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Boston Conservatory
Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Cornish School of the Arts
MPA & Octavio
Monk is awarded the Music Publishers’ Association 2002 Paul Revere Award and the Octavio Sheet Music 1st Prize.
ASCAP Concert Music Award
(Photo by Larry Darling, Flickr, Creative Commons)
Fellowships
Monk is awarded the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellowship and the United States Artists Fellowship.
Demetrio Stratos International Award for Musical Experimentation
Songs of Ascension
8 Voices, String Quartet, Woodwinds, Percussion, Shrutis, Chorus.
American Music Center Letter of Distinction
NPR’s 50 Great Voices
Monk is named one of NPR’s 50 Great Voices in 2010-2011.
(Photo by Todd Huffman, Flickr, Creative Commons)
Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts
Doris Duke Performing Artist Award
Musical America’s 2012 Composer of the Year
On Behalf of Nature
Commissioned by The House Foundation for the Arts. Performances at UCLA, University of Maryland, Edinburgh International Festival.
(Photo by Steven Pisano, Flickr, Creative Commons)
Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, Republic of France
New Music USA Founders Award
Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall
(Photo by Brook Ward, Flickr, Creative Commons)
National Medal of the Arts from President Obama
Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize
Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Lafayette College
Cellular Songs
5 Voices, Keyboard, Piano, Violin, commissioned by BAM.
(Photo by Steven Pisano, Flickr, Creative Commons)
Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Concordia University
Revival, Atlas
The Los Angeles Philharmonic put on a production Monk’s Atlas in June of 2019, with new staging by Yuval Sharon.
The information for this timeline comes from the “Biography,” “Chronology,” and “Awards” pages at meredithmonk.org. Timeline is not comprehensive.
