Linda Dusman’s compositions and sonic art explore the richness of contemporary life, from the personal to the political. Her work has been awarded by the International Alliance for Women in Music, Meet the Composer, the Swiss Women’s Music Forum, the American Composers Forum, the International Electroacoustic Music Festival of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Ucross Foundation, and the State of Maryland in 2004, 2006, and 2011 (in both the Music: Composition and the Visual Arts: Media categories). In 2009 she was honored as a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Fellow for a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She was invited to serve as the first composer in residence at the New England Conservatory’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Piano in 2003. In the fall of 2006 Dr. Dusman was a Visiting Professor at the Conservatorio di musica “G. Nicolini” in Piacenza, Italy, and while there lectured at the Conservatorio di musica “G. Verdi” in Milano.
Dusman’s recent works have been inspired by the ever-changing political landscape coupled with the natural landscape of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, where she composes each summer. Dream Prayer Lullaby (2018) and Mother of Exiles (2019) both reflect on the global refugee crisis and Corona Bagatelles (2021) on the global pandemic. Her frequent collaborations with the Trio des Alpes have resulted in multiple commissions, including Thundersnow and Dancing Universe for piano trio. Lake, Thunder was premiered at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 2015. Her work for piccolo and alto flute An Unsubstantial Territory was recorded by the inHale Duo and has received many performances throughout the United States and Europe. Piano Interiors was Dusman’s response to the 2012 Cape Ann Museum’s “Soliloquy in Dogtown” exhibition of works by Marsden Hartley. Her works are published by I Resound Press, and are recorded on the NEUMA, Capstone, and New Albany labels.
As a sound artist, Dusman began experimenting with spatialized texts in the 1980s. Recent collaborative works include Dream Prayer Observatory with photographer Dan Bailey and audio engineer Alan Wonneberger, and Raaz with bioartist Foad Hamidi and Alan Wonneberger. Originally designed for quadraphonic tape, Becoming Becoming Gertrude (1988) explored the rhythms of Stein’s simple language from The Making of Americans in a dynamic evolution. Becoming Becoming Gertrude 2, available on Capstone Records, presents a stereo re-mix of the piece. Additional works include an interactive installation inspired by environmental decline using bird distress calls (and a voice was heard in Rama), and Mixed Messages, which uses telephone answering machine messages and an antique telephone switchboard as an interactive device. Mixed Messages was premiered at the University of New Mexico Museum of Art in 2005, and locations for other installations include Pierogi Gallery in New York, the alternative alternative exhibition on Wall Street, Dartmouth College, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Magnificat 4: Ida Ida was released on the Sounding Out! DVD in 5.1 surround by Everglade Records in 2010.