Margaret Garwood (March 22, 1927, Haddonfield, New Jersey – May 3, 2015, Philadelphia) was an American composer who is best known for her operas.[1]
She turned into composition relatively late in her life, at age 35.[1] She stated that through composition, she had "found her fulfilment" in life.[1] 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."[2] Garwood became best known for her operatic adaptation of literary works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, including The Scarlet Letter and "Rappaccini's Daughter".[3] She also composed works for instrumental chamber ensembles, orchestras, and other vocal ensembles. Many of her works were commissioned by the Pennsylvania Opera Theater.[1]
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.[1] She taught at Muhlenberg College, where she taught students like composer Andrea Clearfield.[3]
Margaret Garwood died on May 3, 2015, in her home in Wyncote, at age 88, from acute heart failure.[1]