Linda Robbins Coleman is a composer, pianist, writer, and arts ambassador whose music is regularly performed and broadcast throughout North America and Europe. A native of Des Moines, she became the first Iowa woman to have music performed by a major symphony orchestra and to serve as Composer-in-Residence with any orchestra. Her residencies include Orchestra Iowa, the Wartburg Community Symphony, and Drake Theatre. Orchestra Iowa commissioned three and performed nine of her works, and the WCSO commissioned and premiered five compositions. Coleman also served on the Artistic Advisory Committee of Orchestra Iowa for twenty years. From 1977-97 she was resident composer and conductor for Drake Theatre and scored thirty-five plays ranging from the ancient Greeks to the moderns. 

      Coleman has been recipient of more than 75 commissions ranging from chamber and symphonic music to jazz, pop, theatre, and film. Her music has been performed and broadcast throughout North America and Europe by artists that include the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (WI), the Moravian Philharmonic (Czech Republic), Strings of St. Johns (Ottawa, Canada), the Dayton Philharmonic (OH), the Lexington Philharmonic (KY), the Chelsea Symphony (NY), the Annapolis Symphony (MD), Allegro Orchestra Lancaster (PA), Michigan Philharmonic, Altoona Symphony (PA), and the Grand Junction Symphony (CO). Iowa ensembles performing her music include Orchestra Iowa (formerly the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra), the Quad Cities Symphony, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, the Ames and Maya quartets, and the Center for New Music. Her music is listed in the international orchestra handbook, Daniels’ Orchestral Music, published by Rowman & Littlefield.

        In 2021 her symphonic poem For a Beautiful Land was included on the “American Discoveries” cd by Reuben Blundell and the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra (PA). In 2022, this cd won the prestigious American Prize for Orchestra Performance. Also in 2022, Diversions a concerto for one soloist, three flutes and orchestra, commissioned and premiered by Robert McConnell and the Southeast Iowa Symphony, was featured on flutist Rose Bishop’s cd, Diversions. In 2024, Bishop will perform Diversions at the 39th Annual International Festival of Flutists in Lima, Peru. 

      During the 2023-2024 season, ten different orchestra works by Coleman were performed and broadcast by orchestras throughout the world, including the Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra in Australia, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Paraguay.  In February 2024, her latest commissioned work, Suite for Strings, was premiered by the combined Drake Symphony and Valley Orchestras. In November 2024, music from The Celebration! A Symphonic Jubilee will be featured on a Des Moines Symphony Orchestra Masterworks concert. 

      Coleman’s awards and honors include Drake University’s Dignitas Society (2013), the distinguished Drake Alumni Achievement Award (2008), the Hoover High School Hall of Fame (2000), Member Laureate status by the Sigma Alpha Iota professional music fraternity (1999), The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts American College Theatre Festival (1997), the Music Teachers National Association (1994, 2000), Meet the Composer (1994), and WORLDFEST Houston International Film Festival (1990). She has served on committees and boards for various organizations including the International Conductors Guild. 

       In 1981 she and her husband founded the Friends of Drake Arts and worked with their promotion and community outreach for fifteen years. From 2010-2016 she worked with the Drake Alumni Association on four affinity reunions, including hosting receptions for more than 150 alumni. From 2015-18 she initiated and organized a campaign that drew from fifty years of Drake Theatre alumni and friends to raise money to renovate and rededicate the William S.E. Coleman Studio Theatre and to establish the William S.E. Coleman Guest Artist Series at Drake University.

      An accomplished pianist, she has been performing since the age of six and has worked professionally as a jazz and classical soloist and collaborative pianist. She graduated from Drake University, and later studied with the Greek National Theatre. In 1987, Coleman co-founded the Iowa Composers Forum and was its chief administrator for ten years, producing more than two dozen concerts and five state-wide festivals. Coleman was an adjunct in the theatre department at Drake University for twenty years, a visiting artist at a magnet elementary school in Des Moines’s inner city for six years, and on the Iowa Arts Council's Arts-to-Go performing and the Artist in the Schools and Communities rosters for fifteen years. For sixteen years she was the only independent woman piano tuner/technician in the greater Des Moines area. Her clients included Drake University, Grand View University, 24 churches, two hospitals, and numerous piano studios. 

      Coleman is a published poet and writer. For four decades she served as collaborator, research associate, and editor with Professor William S. E. Coleman, working on materials related to William F. (“Buffalo Bill”) Cody and the 19th century Lakota people, the escape of the Danish Jews from Nazi persecution in 1943, and modern productions of ancient Greek plays by the Greek National Theatre. From 1977-2000 she worked with her husband on their book, Voices of Wounded Knee. It details the events and attitudes leading to the 1890 Massacre and the end of the Plains Indian Wars. Published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2000, it is considered the definitive book on this topic, and remains available in bookstores and online. In 2016 she was interviewed and edited an article about Cody for the March-April issue of the Iowa History Journal magazine. 

      Boyhood’s End, Memories and a Memoir, a non-fiction book about the World War II era co-authored with her husband, was published in 2023 and can be ordered through Amazon, other online booksellers, and local and independent bookstores.

      As the owner of Coleman Creative Services, she works on music creation, performance, promotion, marketing and publicity, research, and consultation. She has worked as copy editor, historian, grant writer, educator, and coordinator for organizations in the USA and abroad. Additionally, she served as a caregiver to elderly relatives for three decades. When she is not working on music, she can often be found in her gardens or completing various home repair projects.  

    To listen to examples of her music please visit her YouTube channel: youtube.com/@Linda Robbins Coleman

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Photo: Linda Robbins Coleman conducts the SEISO Chamber Orchestra

at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

180 words:

Linda Robbins Coleman is a composer, pianist, writer, and arts ambassador whose music is regularly performed and broadcast throughout the world. She became the first Iowa woman to have music performed by a major symphony orchestra and to serve as Composer-in-Residence with any orchestra. Her residencies include Drake Theatre, the Wartburg Community Symphony, and Orchestra Iowa. Career highlights include more than 75 commissions, and honors from The American Prize, Drake University, Sigma Alpha Iota, the ACTF at the Kennedy Center, and the Houston International Film Festival. Her music is listed in Daniels' Orchestral Music, published by Rowman & Littlefield.

        In 1981, Coleman and her husband founded the Friends of Drake Arts. In 1987, she co-founded the Iowa Composers Forum and was its chief administrator for ten years. She spent fifteen years on the Iowa Arts Council performing artist and education rosters. For four decades she was a collaborator and research partner with Professor William S. E. Coleman. Their book, Boyhood’s End, Memoires and a Memoir was published in 2023. She has owned Coleman Creative Services since 1976.

    For more information, visit www.lindarobbinscoleman.com, and to listen to examples of her music please visit her YouTube channel: youtube.com/@Linda Robbins Coleman

 

380 words:

Linda Robbins Coleman is a composer, pianist, writer, and arts ambassador whose music is regularly performed and broadcast throughout the world. She became the first Iowa woman to have music performed by a major symphony orchestra and to serve as Composer-in-Residence with any orchestra. Her residencies include Drake Theatre, the Wartburg Community Symphony, and Orchestra Iowa. 

        Career highlights include more than 75 commissions, and honors from Drake University, Sigma Alpha Iota, the ACTF at the Kennedy Center, and the Houston International Film Festival. Her music is listed in Daniels' Orchestral Music, published by Rowman & Littlefield.

        In 2021 her symphonic poem For a Beautiful Land was included on the American Discoveries cd by Reuben Blundell and the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra. This recording was awarded the American Prize for Orchestra Performance. That year also saw the premiere of Diversions, a concerto for one soloist, three flutes and orchestra, commissioned by Robert McConnell and the Southeast Iowa Symphony. In September 2022, it was featured on flutist Rose Bishop's cd, Diversions. In May 2024, Bishop will perform Diversions at the 39th Annual International Festival of Flutists in Lima, Peru. In February 2024, her latest commissioned work, Suite for Strings was premiered by the Drake Symphony and Valley Orchestras.

        Coleman’s most recent writing project, Boyhood's End, Memories and a Memoir by William S.E. and Linda Robbins Coleman was published in 2023. This book is the culmination of William and Linda's forty-year-long personal and professional partnership. Over the years they collaborated on more than thirty theatre productions, dozens of scholarly articles, books, plays, and music. Their advocacy and contributions to non-profit arts organizations and individual artists have been celebrated here and abroad. Their book Voices of Wounded Knee (published by University of Nebraska Press) was the first to give equal weight to the testimony of Native Americans and is considered the definitive book on this topic. Both are available through Amazon and other online booksellers.

        Coleman co-founded the Friends of Drake Arts and the Iowa Composers Forum and has served on committees and boards for numerous organizations including the International Conductors Guild.  Since 1976, she has owned Coleman Creative Services, working in creation, performance, promotion, publicity, research, and consultation.       

        She is a published poet and writer and has worked as an editor, historian, educator, publicist, and coordinator for numerous organizations and groups throughout the USA and abroad. Additionally, she served as a caregiver to elderly relatives for more than three decades.

    For more information, visit www.lindarobbinscoleman.com, and to listen to examples of her music please visit her YouTube channel: youtube.com/@Linda Robbins Coleman

Linda’s corner garden.