Allen Shawn

Allen Evan Shawn (born August 27, 1948)^[2] is an American composer, pianist, educator, and author based in Vermont.

Allen Shawn
Born	Allen Evan Shawn (1948-08-27) August 27, 1948 (age 76) New York City, U.S.[1]
Education	Harvard University (BA) Columbia University (MA)
Occupation(s)	Composer, pianist, educator, author
Spouses	Jamaica Kincaid ​ ​ (m. 1979; div. 2002)​ Yoshiko Sato ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	3
Parents	William Shawn Cecille Lyon
Relatives	Wallace Shawn (brother)

His music

Shawn began composing at the age of ten, but dates his mature work from 1977. He has written a dozen orchestral works, including a symphony, two piano concertos, a cello concerto, and a violin concerto; three chamber operas; five piano sonatas and many additional works for piano; and a large catalogue of chamber music, songs and choral music. Among Shawn's available recordings are several of chamber music, four CDs of piano music, including a CD devoted to his piano work by German pianist Julia Bartha, a piano concerto performed by Ursula Oppens with the Albany Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David Alan Miller, and the chamber opera The Music Teacher, with a libretto by his brother, Wallace Shawn.

As author

Shawn is the author of a book about Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, Arnold Schoenberg's Journey, and a book about Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician.

He is also the author of Wish I Could Be There: Notes from a Phobic Life, which examines his experiences with anxiety and panic disorder, as well as his relationship with his autistic twin sister Mary,^[3] and Twin: A Memoir, also about Mary and his relationship with her.^[4] He discussed Twin with Terry Gross on WHYY's Fresh Air on January 3, 2011.^[5]

Personal life

Shawn is a son of The New Yorker editor William Shawn, and the brother of the actor and playwright Wallace Shawn. His family is of Jewish background. He received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, a master's degree from Columbia University, and studied in France with Nadia Boulanger.^[6]

He teaches composition and music history at Bennington College and was formerly married to novelist Jamaica Kincaid, with whom he has a son, Harold, and a daughter, Annie.

He is married to pianist Yoshiko Sato, with whom he has a son, Noa.^[2]

Books

• Arnold Schoenberg's Journey (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002, ISBN 0374105901)
• Wish I Could Be There: Notes from a Phobic Life (New York: Viking, 2007, ISBN 9780670038428)
• Twin: A Memoir (New York: Viking, 2011, ISBN 9780670022373)
• Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780300144284)
• In the Realm of Tones: A Composer's Memoir (University of Rochester Press, 2025, ISBN 9781648251177)