About Linda

Linda Woody  is a musician, composer and concert producer living in West Linn, Oregon. She enjoys writing music for a variety of ensembles including handbell choir, choral groups, piano trio, middle school band and mixed instrumental groups. Her works have been performed by members of:

 

Bio

Linda Woody is a lifelong musician but spent the first 25+ years of her career as a writer and editor. Direct mail pieces. Fashion catalogs. Press releases and website copy. Tech manuals for computer equipment and magazine articles for computer users associations. She received her degree in journalism from the University of Florida and worked on the client side, the agency side and as a freelancer while raising a couple of kids.  But when a wild hair struck in 2008 she decided to return to college and entered Marylhurst University to pursue her interest in music. Her family thought she was crazy when she told them she was going to write music from now on. They got over it, eventually, and after countless hours at the piano, bouts of paralyzing performance anxiety and many late nights spent eating popcorn in Finale Hell, she graduated with honors from Marylhurst University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Bachelor of Music in Composition.

Linda now enjoys writing music for a variety of local ensembles, and serves as producer and artistic director for Going Boldly in Lake Oswego, a concert of modern chamber music presented each spring.  Lake Oswego United Methodist Church has hosted these concerts in 2014 and 2015 and she's received  grant funding from the Oregon Community Foundation and the Clackamas County Arts Alliance. Going Boldly concerts include audience-accessible programs of works by familiar and lesser-know composers --  for choral ensemble, solo organ, string quartet, handbell choir and mixed instrumental groups.  The concerts also premier Linda's own compositions. 

Linda served from 2004-2010 as a board member of Music and Arts Partners, a fund raising organization that provides grants to schools in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District. She volunteered for many years in the local school band and orchestra programs.

Linda studied music composition with Dr. Bob Priest and Dr. John Paul. She has studied piano with Sally Harmon since 2008 and has also been a voice student of Polly Hancock-Moody. She is a member of Cascadia Composers, the local chapter of the National Association of Composers/USA. Her performance career includes numerous student recital appearances, and a regular lunch hour gig at Tigard Senior Center. She performs with two handbell choirs at Lake Oswego United Methodist Church and sings in the Marylhurst Choral Union under the direction of Dr. Justin Smith.  

Linda was born in Towson, MD and grew up in South Florida playing clarinet and alto saxophone. She started piano lessons on a hand-me-down spinet at age 25.  She and her family landed in Oregon in 1994 after stints in Salt Lake City, Milwaukee, WI, and Seattle. When Linda is not composing music, or at the bench of Fernando, her grand piano, you will likely find her with her family and dogs — experimenting in the kitchen or enjoying any number of outdoor pursuits requiring specialized footwear.