Part of the Pure Lucia project, “Lunch with Lucia” is a web series of lunchtime conversations exploring the music and legacy of composer Lucia Dlugoszewski. Hosted by curator Dustin Hurt, each live Zoom session features a guest artist or scholar delving into a different facet of Dlugoszewski’s work—from her groundbreaking timbre piano technique and invented percussion instruments to her radical approach to composition for brass, strings, and dance. These informal, accessible discussions offer a unique chance to rediscover one of the most visionary—and underrecognized—figures in 20th-century experimental music.

During this program, musicologist and author Amy C. Beal offers an in-depth look at Dlugoszewski’s remarkable life and creative trajectory. Beal is the author of Terrible Freedom: The Life and Work of Lucia Dlugoszewski, the first full-length biography of the composer, published in May 2022. Expertly researched and deeply insightful, the book provides a vivid and accessible portrait of Dlugoszewski’s journey—from her early years in Detroit to her emergence in New York’s postwar avant-garde, and her decades of artistic partnership with choreographer Erick Hawkins.

Drawing from the structure and themes of her book, Beal will discuss major chapters in Dlugoszewski’s life: her arrival in New York and early letters from the city; her philosophical approach to art-making; her pioneering work with invented instruments and timbre piano; and her unflinching pursuit of what she called “aesthetic immediacy.” The session will also touch on the personal challenges Dlugoszewski faced throughout her life—including marginalization, artistic loss, and grief—and how these shaped her creative output in profound ways.

The talk will be followed by a conversation with Dustin Hurt about Beal’s process of discovering Dlugoszewski and how she came to write the book. Amy C. Beal is Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the author of several books including New Music, New Allies, Carla Bley, and Johanna Beyer. As Anne C. Shreffler (Harvard University) wrote of Beal’s biography: “This remarkable book places [Dlugoszewski] front and center, where she belongs.”

This online program takes place from 12:00pm to 1:00pm Eastern US time (EDT) as a Zoom Webinar. Registration is required, but free. An archive of the program will be available on the page after the event.

This event is part of PURE LUCIA, a retrospective of the life and work of Lucia Dlugoszewski.

Major support for PURE LUCIA: THE MUSIC OF LUCIA DLUGOSZEWSKI has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage with additional support from the Amphion Foundation.