I recently wrote about the representation of women’s works at the Cabrillo Festival. But, that is far from the only festival where you can hear music by women this summer.
In fact, one of the themes for the Oregon Bach Festival is In Praise of Women. Unfortunately enough, though there are several works that honor specific women, like a tribute to St. Cecilia, and Marin Alsop conducting Honegger’sJoan of Arc at the Stake, (which will also be performed by the Baltimore Symphony in their 2011-2012 concert season), there is only one concert that includes works composed by women. The free event will feature works by Fernande Decruck, Joan Tower, Marilyn Shrude, and Jeanine Rueff.
Libby Larsen’s Slang will be heard at the Aspen Music Festival, and Jennifer Higdon will celebrate a World Premiere at the Grand Teton Music Festival with her new commission, All Things Majestic.
Music at Menlo will present Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in g Minor, op. 17 (1846) – and wins for being the only representation I have found of work by a historic woman.
But I undoubtedly missed some – what Festivals are you attending that are including works composed by women? Leave a note in the Comments section!
For more on the Festival season you can visit NPR’s Deceptive Cadence, which has a run-down of their picks for this summer.
World-renowned composer Sofia Gubaidulina will be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Gubaidulina, who is of Russian and Tatar descent, is known for a prolific body of work that melds Russian, Central Asian and Western influences. Her symphonic works are “at turns ecstatic and apocalyptic, intense in their religiosity and uncompromising in their originality,” critic David Patrick Stearns wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Although her singular, haunting style was at odds with the Soviet musical establishment, Gubaidulina gained a devoted following in Russia. In 1985, she was allowed to travel to the West for the first time, where she soon found an equally appreciative audience.
She has received commissions from major ensembles worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She is perhaps best known for her 1980 violin concerto, the Offertorium and her 2002 Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ according to St. John.
She has received numerous honors for her work, including Japan’s Praemium Imperiale, the Russian State Prize, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize, and the Koussevitzky International Recording Award.
Shulamit Ran, the Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professor in Music and the College, will present Gubaidulina at the ceremony.
Here is a clip from Gubaidulina’s Saint John Passion, mentioned above:
Though this blog focuses primarily on “classical” music, I would be remiss in not noting the inclusion of electroacoustic musician and composer Wendy Carlos on the Bitch Magazine blog. Carlos was one of several women featured in their series on “Electro Feminism”, highlighting the work of women who work in electronic music, which included several pop musicians.
Wendy Carlos was, most notably, the genius behind Switched on Bach, one of the first classical albums to sell 500,000 copies, and popularized the use of the Moog synthesizer.
Here’s an example:
Carlos continues to be active and influential in the electroacoutstic field today. Her website provides a wealth of information to those interested in learning more about the development of electronic music and her career specifically.
It was just announced that the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas (POA) will be suspending operations due to finances. This is sad news, but (unfortunately) not surprising due to the continued financial difficulties facing all arts organizations.
Why I am particularly saddened by the difficulties of this organization is due to the work and achievements of its founder and conductor Alondra de la Parra. Though young, she has already made headlines numerous times for her innovative programming, creativity, and having been the first Mexican woman to conduct in New York City. Below is a video describing not only de la Parra’s achievements, but the truly inspired educational programming that she and the POA provide to school children:
You can click here to support the organization and help ensure further inspired and diverse programming.
NPR’s Classical Music blog, Deceptive Cadence, has been running a series on how to introduce and include children in classical music making and appreciating. The series has included many thoughtful comments by readers as well as guest-posts from some big names – including conductor Marin Alsop.
Not surprisingly, while the comments list a range of examples of composers or specific pieces, women’s work in music is not mentioned at all. (You can read some selected reader’s comments here).
It would seem to me that one simple way to invite children to participate with and become interested and invested in music making is to demonstrate that everybody has a right to become a music-maker, whether it is a composer, conductor, or performer. Part of appreciating music is learning how it was created, and by whom. Children are certainly getting enough of Bach, Beethoven and the other boys in the cursory music education provided in their school programs (at least the ones that haven’t been cut, or will be cut in the near future). It’s easy to forget that a mother’s lullaby is more likely than not the first music a child is exposed to.
Beyond Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, why not also discuss how Anna Magdalena worked with J.S. Bach to give a music education to all 20 children in their home? Or play Amy Beach’s Hermit Thrush at Morn and describe how she could listen to a bird’s song and transcribe it perfectly? Or give Ruth Crawford Seeger the credit that too-often is directly transferred to her husband for recording and sharing countless folk songs and rural music traditions, many of which are still sung routinely as part of early music education?
Children lead by example and are highly intuitive. If a young girl is never introduced to the idea that there are countless women who work, or have worked, as composers, what’s to say that she will ever entertain the notion for herself? The same can be said for children who are never exposed to women conducting orchestras.
I recently referred to an interview with Rachael Worby that ran in the New York Times. Worby, who has spoken openly about the resistances she has faced in pursuing a career in music due to her gender, spoke directly about the importance of such exposure:
Ms. Worby says she is thrilled that the children who see her on the podium know otherwise. “A teacher once came backstage at Carnegie Hall with a fifth-grade girl who spent the first 10 minutes of the concert asking, ‘When is the conductor coming out?’ ” Ms. Worby says. “Then the teacher realized that the girl was waiting for a man to appear, and she said, ‘That woman is the conductor.’ “
Introducing children to classical music, or any music, should also mean being vigilant about sharing and describing the diversity that exists but is all-too-easily ignored. Making sure that classical music traditions not only continue but thrive in future years depends on the excitement and eagerness of today’s young musicians. Is it not then vital to provide as complete a picture of what “classical music” looks and sounds like?
The annual Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, held in Santa Cruz, California, has a history of highlighting music by women. This is due in part to the festival focusing on living composers – however, I suspect that it is in part a happy consequence of the programming of music director and conductor Marin Alsop.
Here is a video where she describes the process of programming the Cabrillo Festival:
For the 2011 season, Cabrillo will have fifteen composers in residence – including six women.
