Margaret Garwood

Margaret Garwood (March 22, 1927, Haddonfield, New Jersey – May 3, 2015, Philadelphia) was an American composer who is best known for her operas.

She turned into composition relatively late in her life, at age 35. She stated that through composition, she had "found her fulfilment" in life. About her late start in composition, she stated that before she was 35, she "...was totally absorbed in becoming a concert pianist at that time, and taught and coached singers, accompanied, played chamber music, played in cocktail lounges, worked with an opera company." Garwood became best known for her operatic adaptation of literary works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, including ''The Scarlet Letter'' and "Rappaccini's Daughter". She also composed works for instrumental chamber ensembles, orchestras, and other vocal ensembles. Many of her works were commissioned by the Pennsylvania Opera Theater.

Garwood received a master's degree in Composition from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where her husband Dr. Donald Chittum worked as a professor of world music and music theory. She taught at Muhlenberg College, where she taught students like composer Andrea Clearfield.

Margaret Garwood died on May 3, 2015, in her home in Wyncote, at age 88, from acute heart failure. Provided by Wikipedia