Faye-Ellen Silverman

Faye-Ellen Silverman, born in New York City, holds a BA from Barnard College (cum laude and honors in music), an MA from Harvard University, and a DMA from Columbia University.

She began studying at the Dalcroze School of Music shortly before her fourth birthday. At age 13, she won the Parents’ League Composition contest, judged by Leopold Stokowski, resulting in her Carnegie Hall debut. Her more than 100 compositions are published by Seesaw Music and recorded on several music labels including MSR Records, Albany, New World Records, Capstone, Crystal, and Finnadar Records.

She has received awards from UNESCO, the National League of American Pen Women and ASCAP, and been awarded residencies at the Fundación Valparaíso (Spain), Villa Serbelloni (Italy), VCCA, VCCA Le Moulin à Nef (France), the Macdowell Colony, and Yaddo. She has received numerous commissions including ones from the Greater Lansing (Mich.) Symphony and the American Brass Quintet. Silverman is a founding and current board member of the International Women’s Brass Conference and Secretary of the Board of Directors of New York Women Composers. She has taught at Columbia, various branches of City University, Goucher College, the Peabody Institute, the Aspen Music Festival, Eugene Lang College, and Mannes College of Music. Silverman has lectured in Poland (sponsored by the Maestro Foundation), Lithuania (sponsored by the U.S. State Department) and throughout the U.S. She is on the faculty of NYU (Steinhardt School) as well as the Juilliard Evening Division and teaches privately. Silverman is the author of several articles, record reviews for The Baltimore Sun, and the 20th century section of the Schirmer History of Music. An accomplished pianist as well—a former student of Irma Wolpe and Russell Sherman—she has recorded for Radio Cologne (WDR), and has performed at the International Festival of Experimental Music in Bourges, the Library of Congress, and as soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.