Bunita Marcus, born in Madison, Wisconsin, began studying composition at the age of sixteen and worked in both electronic and instrumental mediums while at the University of Wisconsin. In 1981 she received a Ph.D. in Composition from the State University of New York at Buffalo where she held the Edgard Varese Fellowship in Composition and studied with Morton Feldman. Ms. Marcus’ music has been consistently praised for its beauty and rare sensitivity. Kyle Gann of the Village Voice has called her one of his favorite women composers of all time. He applauds her piano work Julia for its "touching and unassuming depth," which had "the audience hushed under the impact of deeply communicated feeling." Los Angeles critic Alan Rich says her work Adam and Eve "states an eloquent case for the persistence of pure beauty in contemporary composition."
In the spring of 2000, Bunita Marcus was Composer-in-Residence at the California Institute of the Arts. Her seminars explored the great variety of subtle energies at work in music and new ways to use pitch. Dr. Marcus is continuing this exploration in New York City through a series of intonation workshops that examine the relationship between pitch, chanting, and healing subtle energies. She has over ten years experience with intonation, using her voice to unblock energies in the body. She has worked with a number of healers towards this goal, most notably the last two and a half years study of Nada Yoga (vocal techniques that work directly with the chakras and meridians) with Sri Shyamji Bhatnagar.
Ms. Marcus has written commissions for Bang on a Can All-Stars (Meet the Composers/Reader’s Digest Consortium Commission), the Kronos Quartet, Aki Takahashi, NYSCA & the Gageego Ensemble, Morton Feldman and Soloists, Tokyo’s "Sound-Space ARK" ensemble, and others. Her music has received awards from the National Endowment of the Arts (Composer’s Fellowship), International Society of Contemporary Music, the League of Composers’ National Competition, New York State Council on the Arts and the coveted Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at Darmstadt. From 1985-1990 Ms. Marcus produced the Salon Concert Series with painter Francesco Clemente in New York City. Today she is active as a composer and conductor, appearing in concerts and festivals around the world.