Composer | Pianist | Storyteller
Adrienne Torf
Creating music, theater, and public art that give voice to justice, community, and human connection.
Adrienne’s piece “Opening,” from her new album Here I Am, now opens Tara Brach’s podcasts — introducing the widely loved meditation and mindfulness teacher on her website and podcast apps.
BIOGRAPHY
About Adrienne
Adrienne Torf is a composer, pianist, and performing artist whose work bridges music, theater, poetry, and social justice.
Her three solo albums—Here I Am (2025), Two Hands Open (2003), and Brooklyn from the Roof (1986)—are released on her label, A Bongo Music.
For nineteen years, Torf collaborated with poet and activist June Jordan, creating music, performance works, and the documentary opera Bang Bang Über Alles. Their work is collected on Collaboration: Selected Works, 1983–2000.
Torf co-created Poetry for the People: The June Jordan Experience with playwright and director Raymond O. Caldwell and recently composed For Women Serving Time, an opera commissioned by IN Series Opera. Her other theater work includes The Awesome Difficult Work of Love.
A longtime favorite in the women’s music community, Torf has performed and recorded with artists including Holly Near, Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, Ferron, and Kay Gardner. Across her work as a composer, collaborator, and performer, she creates music that connects art, activism, and community.
Work in Progress
Legends, Myths & DNA
Collaborators Raymond O. Caldwell and Adrienne Torf re-unite to tell the story of a decades-long adoptee’s search for birth family in a classic American musical form. Following on the multi-run success of their Poetry for the People: The June Jordan Experience, Torf and Caldwell draw on singular and universal experiences of adoptees, birth mothers, adoptive families and “search angels” as they navigate the legal, societal and emotional obstacles that they hope will ultimately lead to finding each other.
Past Events
Poetry for the People: The June Jordan Experience
January 2026
- Fountain Theatre — Los Angeles, CA · Jan 30 – Mar 29
- The Freight — Berkeley, CA · Feb 24, one night only
- Co-devised by Raymond O. Caldwell and Adrienne Torf
For Women Serving Time
March 2026
IN Series world premiere — opera-theater. Music by Adrienne Torf · libretto by Fatemeh Keshavarz · directed by Timothy Nelson.
- Washington, DC · Mar 20–22
- Baltimore, MD · Apr 10–12
The Awesome Difficult Work of Love
May 2026
Flint, Michigan – A community-participation performance weaving spoken word, music, movement, and visual art. Previously produced in Madison, San Francisco, and Sedona
GET IN TOUCH
Contact
For bookings, press, licensing, or anything else — send a note and Adrienne’s team will get back to you.