Laura Sedgwick Collins

Laura Sedgwick Collins was an American musician, composer, lyricist, and actress. Born in Poughkeepsie, she was active as a music educator and composer in New York. While she composed a wide range of works, she was most productive in creating music for the stage and as a composer of art songs. She is remembered for being the first American woman to study music composition with Antonín Dvořák. In 1993, her music was revived in several concerts in the New York City region to mark the centennial of Dvořák's arrival in New York where he was a prominent music teacher.