Born on October 10, 1938 in Wausau, WI, Gloria Coates began composing at an early age, winning a national composition contest at the age of 14. She studied at Louisiana State University and Columbia University in New York, earning a number of degrees, including a Master’s of Music in Composition with post graduate studies.
While maintaining a residence in the United States, Coates has lived in Europe since 1969, devoting her time primarily to composition. She organized the German-American Music Series in Munich from 1971-1984, presented the results of her experiments with multiphonic vocal technique at the Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music in 1972, and founded the music program for the University of Wisconsin's Semester Abroad in 1975. She has lectured on American music, written musicological articles, and wrote and broadcast radio programs on American music for the German radio.
Coates’s breakthrough as a composer came with the premier of Music on Open Strings (1973) at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1978. She was invited to the First Festival for New Music-Moscow in 1981, and lectured on her music at Harvard in 1984. Gloria Coates has composed works for orchestra (including 14 symphonies), vocal music with piano and orchestral accompaniment, numerous chamber music works for two to nine instruments (including eight string quartets), solo instrumental pieces, choral works, electronic, and music for the theatre.
