The point that many long-standing European music traditions exclude women is not news. Neither is the fact that blatantly sexist practices continue, in small or large ways, to this day. Anyone who has ever followed the Vienna Philharmonic can attest to that.
However, through all of the debates and conversations about the importance of upholding and/or breaking traditions, Italian news agencies reported that history was made this week when Susanna Mälkki led a performance at La Scala. It was reported as first time a woman has ever wielded a baton at the over 200 year-old theater.
That the honor would go to Susanna Mälkki is not surprising. The conductor, born in Finland, is an active opera conductor. At La Scala she led the world premiere of a La Scala commission, Quartett by Luca Francesconi. Past performances have included the Finnish premiere of Thomas Adès Powder her Face in 1999, and performances of Kaija Saariaho’sL’Amour de Loin and La Passion de Simone, and in February of this year she conducted the Boston Symphony in a performance of Unsuk Chin’s cello concerto.
Congratulations to the Susanna Mälkki! I look forward to hearing what is more to come.
The Spring for Music festival is a unique creation in that it’s mission is to foster innovative programming at affordable prices, and featuring a wide array of symphony and chamber orchestras. It is held annually at Carnegie Hall. More about the festival can be read in their Mission Statement.
In preperation for the 2011 Spring For Music festival, organizers will be hosting realtime conversations with composers who are having works featured in upcoming concerts.
The first conversation was held today at noon and was led by Melinda Wagner. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will be performing her Little Moonhead (inspired by Brandenburg No. 4) on May 6. Though the conversation is ended, you can read the transcript through the Spring For Music website.
And here is a video of Melinda Wagner discussing her experience in composing for The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra:
Other works by women that will be heard at this festival, which runs from May 6 to May 14, include:
Bun Ching Lam – “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”
Today the blog for the National Museum of Women in the Arts posted an interview with pianist Sofja Gübadomova as a precursor to a performance that Gübadomova will be giving at NMWA tonight at 7:30.
When asked, “What’s your best advice to girls who are considering a career in music?” she responded:
Choose another profession as long as it’s not too late! Seriously, believe in yourself and don’t let anyone, even someone whom you consider as the best teacher ever, bring you away from YOUR own way if you feel that it’s the right one. Fight for your ideas, even if later you realize that maybe you’ve been wrong. Learn to be strong and don’t let anyone frighten you with authority, traditions, etc…
You can follow the link to the full (though short) interview here.
NPR Music and Q2 (part of NYC’s WQXR) recently collaborated to question readers and listeners on their favorite composers under 40 years old. The open appeal was an invitation to a broad conversation on how to define what a composer looks like in the 21st century, including a wide array of genres. In the words of the NPR article:
We’re thrilled that this project has brought together singer-songwriters and bandleaders, experimental musicians and technophiles, jazz artists and composition students, composer collectives and one-man shows, and couldn’t be more excited to reclaim the terms “composer” and even “classical music” for a 21st-century vocabulary.
In total, over 800 names were submitted – the final list was whittled down to 100. They include:
The project’s intentions were to acknowledge the work of work of young, contemporary composers as well as to introduce their work to curious listeners. Tune in at either Q2’s website or through NPR Music to ear a playlist of works with examples of works by all 100 composers. And what better way to help introduce contemporary artistry to those who may still believe that the only great composers are now long-dead European men?
The BBC Proms, founded in 1895 by Henry Wood, have always been designed to invite and encourage the masses to engage with a wide variety of music. Though the inclusion of women in the yearly Proms programming has not always been a priority for the organizers, there have been some fairly impressive developments in recent years. In 2006 Jennifer Fowler reported in the IAWM Journal the current state of women and the Proms, which for that year included no works by women composers, or led by women conductors. However, last year’s Proms included numerous examples of the contributions of women in historical and contemporary music. (You can read more about the works included in last year’s Proms here.)
The programming for the 2011 Proms was just released, and I can report that while there are certainly fewer works by women performed than last year, it is not an entirely dismal year for women’s work at the Proms. There are five works being performed, including three World Premieres, two of which are BBC commissions. The composers include:
Sally Beamish – her Reed Stanzas (String Quartet No. 3), a BBC Commission and World Premiere, will be heard July 25
Judith Bingham – The Everlasting Crown (for organ), a World Premiere, will be heard July 17
When discussing the recent history of American music, it would be remiss to not mention the name Ruth Crawford Seeger. Her contributions as an educator to budding composers, as well as her contemporary compositions and research in folk traditions, are hugely significant not only in remembering the roots of American music, but also in moving forward in new directions. Her accomplishments include being the first woman to win a Guggenheim fellowship in 1930, and composing the piece representing the United States in the ISCM Festival in Amsterdam in 1933. Her career took her from being a composer of experimental and modernist works to a transcriber of folk tunes; however, it is more likely that she is remembered today as the wife of ethnomusicologist Charles Seeger and stepmother to folk singer Pete Seeger.
Thankfully, scholarship on the life and work of Crawford Seeger continues, thanks largely to the biography by Judith Tick. More information on the biography can be found here.
During Crawford Seeger’s lifetime she worked closely with the Library of Congress in documenting the folk music of the United States. It is only natural, then, that her papers were donated to the LOC by her family after her death. In a wonderful partnership with the American Musicological Association, scholars are invited to the LOC to present lectures twice a year on relevant holdings. In 2008 Tick was invited to give such a talk on Crawford Seeger which was filmed and is available to view online. Watching the program in its entirety is ideal – but there is also a transcript available if you prefer to read instead of watch.
As part of their on-going Classics in Concert series, NPR is hosting five nights of chamber music videocast live from WQXR’s Greene Space in New York. You can read about the series at NPR here.
The series, which started April 4th, and is titled “Trout Week” in honor of Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet, will feature several pieces composed by women. On Wednesday (April 6), ETHEL will perform Julia Wolfe’sEarly That Summer as well as works by Pamela Z, Anna Clyne, and Dohee Lee. And on Thursday (April 7) you an hear the JACK Quartet perform Missy Mazzoli’sDeath Valley Junction.
In addition to the live video stream, NPR is also hosing a nightly chat room to discuss the music with fellow listeners. I encourage you to tune in and enjoy what are bound to be fantastic live performances!
The New York Philharmonic has been in the news (if only briefly) about their noticeable lack of inclusion of anything other than dead, white, men in their 2011-2012 concert season. But as I mentioned then, the NY Phil is just continuing a long-standing and unfortunate precedent. This year Sofia Gubaidulina has the honor of being the only woman to have her work performed by the ensemble.
This past weekend saw the New York premiere of Gubaidulina’s In Tempus Praesens, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, featuring Anne-Sophie Mutter. Alex Ross, critic for The New Yorker, shared through his blog a video of the composer and soloist discussing the work and the creative process:
But more is yet to come. Gubaidulina’s Two Paths will be heard in New York the week of April 13th, featuring Cynthia Phelps and Rebecca young on viola. Below is a short interview with Kurt Masur and Cynthia Phelps about performing the work:
You can find out more information and buy tickets for the upcoming performances here.
