Erin Gee

Erin Elizabeth Gee (born San Luis Obispo, California 1974) is an award-winning American performer and composer. Among the fellowships she has held are the Guggenheim and the Radcliffe Institute Fellow, and among the awards she was won for her compositions are the Rome Prize and the first prize of the International Rostrum of Composers. She is currently on the faculty of the University of Illinois in Urbana.

Gee was raised in Fairfield, Iowa from the age of eight. In 1997 she received her B.M. with honors and highest distinction in Piano Performance from the University of Iowa; there she also earned an M.A. in composition in 2002. In 2007, she earned her Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Music and Dramatic Arts, Graz, Austria.

With her brother Colin Gee, she performed at the Whitney Museum of Art and was a resident at the Montalvo Arts Center. She won the 2008 Rome Prize and was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2009. From 2009-2011, she was a Senior Lecturer in theory and composition at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart. She is now an Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a position she began in the fall semester of 2012. In 2015, she received the Charles Ives Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

A reviewer from the Harvard Gazette described a performance of Gee's work as "a young woman with a microphone in each hand performing a curious and captivating symphony of sound and song".

• 2009 SLEEP, premiered Zürich Opera House
• 2009 "Mouthpiece XIII: Mathilde of Loci Part 1 (voice and orchestra) 8 min.
• 2009 "Mouthpiece XII" (voice and electric chamber ensemble) 7 min.
• 2009 "Mouthpiece XI" (voice and large ensemble) 10 min.
• 2008 "Mouthpiece X" (voice and large ensemble) 17 min.
• 2008 "Sawari Mouthpiece" (koto) 10 min.
• 2008 "Sawari Guchi - the Spinning Mouthpiece" (koto) 7 min.
• 2007 "4 Variations on a Mouthpiece" (piano) 7 min.
• 2007 "Mouthpiece: Segment of the 4th Letter" (Bass Fl, Clar, Viola, Contrabass, Perc) 9 min.
• 2006 "Mouthpiece IX" (voice and orchestra) 16 min.
• 2006 "Mouthpiece IV for Choir" (choir) 6 min.
• 2006 "Mouthpiece VII for Choir" (choir) 4 min.
• 2006 "Yamaguchi Mouthpieces for Choir" (choir) 7 min.
• 2006 "Mouthpiece Topology" (vocal ensemble) 9 min.
• 2005 "Akiguchi Mouthpieces" (solo voice) 15 min.
• 2005 "Yamaguchi Mouthpieces" (solo voice) 9 min.
• 2005 "Mouthpiece VIII" (voice and chamber ensemble) 15 min.
• 2005 "Kunst der Fuge" (Bach/Gee) (chamber orchestra) 4 min.
• 2004 "Mouthpiece VII" (voice and chamber ensemble] 8 min.
• 2004 music for "Dakota" (voice and elec.) 40 min.
• 2004 "Inside the forest, heights become wide" [acc., organ] 4 min.
• 2004 "Mouthpiece VI" (voice and chamber ensemble) 6 min.
• 2004 "Mouthpiece V" (voice and chamber ensemble) 6 min.
• 2004 "Mouthpiece IV" (voice solo) 3 min.
• 2003 "Take a little in a water and put the In on the inside bit" (player piano) 4 min.
• 2003 "Mouthpiece III" (ensemble) 15 min.
• 2002 "Mouthpiece remix" (elect. acoustic) 3.5 min.
• 2002 "Quill.h." (vln,vla) 13 min
• 2002 "Mouthpiece II" (voice solo) 5.5 min.
• 2001 "Das fliegende Untertasse und der sterbende Baum" (percussion solo) 7.5 min.
• 2001 "formmask" (amplified fl, cello) 8 min.
• 2001 "Crim" (elec. acoustic) 3 min.
• 2000 "The left wing of inhale no. 37" (tpt, perc) 6 min.
• 2000 "Mouthpiece I" (voice solo) 2 min.
• 1999/2003 "Sift" (a) (cl., alt. sax., cell) 4 min; (b) (clar, piano, cello) 4 min

• "Erin Gee", American Composer's Forum

• 2015 American Academy of Arts and Letters, Charles Ives Fellowship Recipient ( Charles Ives Prize )
• 2010 Residency, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany.
• 2009 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, New York City.
• 2009 Grant, Austrian Ministry for Culture.
• 2009 Fellowship, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• 2009 Residency, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, California.
• 2008 Composition Prize, City of Graz, Austria.
• 2008 Featured Composer, 4020 Festival, Linz, Austria.
• 2007 Rome Prize, The American Academy in Rome, Italy.
• 2007 International Rostrum of Composers “Selected Piece” (First Prize), Paris, France.
• 2007 Gianni Bergamo Prize, Tage für Neue Musik, Zurich, Switzerland.
• 2007 Teatro Minimo Prize (First Round), Zurich Opera House, Switzerland.
• 2006 Meet the Composer Grant.
• 2006 SCI/ASCAP National Student Competition, 3rd Prize.
• 2005 Look & Listen Festival Prize, New York, New York.
• 2005 Jerome Foundation Commissioning Grant.
• 2005 Publicity Prize 2005 for composition, SKE Fond, Vienna, Austria.
• 2005 Astral Career Grant, NFAA.
• 2005 Resident Composer, Akiyoshidai International Art Village, Yamaguchi, Japan.
• 2004 Impuls Composition Prize, Graz, Austria.