News and music to start your week!
The Financial Times calls composer Anna Thorvaldsdottír “the most exciting force in Icelandic music since Björk” but clearly she is a dynamic artistic figure outside of Icelandic music! The article looks at her life, music, current projects, and future aspirations (although it’s behind a paywall, so we are just reporting what we’ve heard …)
Alondra de la Parra speaks to DW Akademie about her experiences as a conductor, and being on the receiving end of questions that “my male colleagues would never get asked.” The interview was in anticipation of a new documentary soon to be released, titled La Maestra: Alondra de la Parra.
Congratulations go to composer, singer, and actress Helga Davis who is the 2019 recipient of the Greenfield Prize. The Herald-Tribune (of Sarasota, Florida) has the story. Never heard of the Greenfield Prize? Neither had Davis ….
Don’t miss a fabulous blog post by The Daffodil Perspective on the challenges performers face in getting women composers noticed — highlighting the way new albums are heard, sold, promoted — or so easily swept out sight and out of mind.
The biggest news of the week – the one most tweeted and talked about, for sure – was the announcement that the NYPhil will commission 19 new works by women composers in honor of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Cheers (19 cheers?) to the new commissions! But how about also performing some historic works, too? The New York Times has the story.