About Betsy Jolas
Elizabeth MacDonald Jolas (born 5 August 1926) is a French and American composer. == Life and career == Jolas was born in Paris on 5 August 1926. Her mother, the American translator Maria McDonald, also studied singing. Together with Betsy's father, the poet and journalist Eugene Jolas, she founded and edited the magazine transition, which published over ten years many of the great writers of the interwar period. Her family settled in the United States in late 1940. While completing her general studies in New York, then specializing in music at Bennington College, she joined the Dessoff Choirs, discovering Renaissance music, which had a lasting influence on her work. After graduating from Bennington College, Jolas returned to Paris in 1946 to continue her studies at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique, notably with Darius Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen. From 1971 to 1974 she served as Messiaen's assistant at the Conservatoire, and in 1975 was appointed to the faculty. She has since then also taught in the U.S., at Yale, Harvard, Mills College, the University of California, Tanglewood, and the University of Michigan. Jolas is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.