Coolidge, Peggy Stuart

Composer, pianist, and conductor, Coolidge (1913-1981) studied at Boston University and New England Conservatory of Music with Quincy Porter. In the late 1930s several of her works were performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler. Commissions have included American Mosaic for the American Wind Symphony, and The Blue Planet for the World Wildlife Fund. After a concert tour in Europe in 1963, and subsequent visits to Moscow, Warsaw, and Tokyo, she was invited by Aram Khachaturi︠a︡n to return to Moscow in 1970. A concert consisting only of her works was presented by the U.S.S.R. Union of Composers, an honor not previously accorded any other American composer. In 1976 an album entitled American Reflections was released by Vox, believed to be the first album devoted solely to symphonic works by an American woman. She was married to Joseph R. Coolidge, writer, editor, and lyricist.

Composer, pianist, and conductor, Coolidge (1913-1981) studied at Boston University and New England Conservatory of Music with Quincy Porter. In the late 1930s several of her works were performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler. Commissions have included American Mosaic for the American Wind Symphony, and The Blue Planet for the World Wildlife Fund. After a concert tour in Europe in 1963, and subsequent visits to Moscow, Warsaw, and Tokyo, she was invited by Aram Khachaturian to return to Moscow in 1970. A concert consisting only of her works was presented by the U.S.S.R. Union of Composers, an honor not previously accorded any other American composer. In 1976 an album entitled American Reflections was released by Vox, believed to be the first album devoted solely to symphonic works by an American woman. She was married to Joseph R. Coolidge, writer, editor, and lyricist.