News and music to start your week!
The exciting conference Women, Feminists, and Music: Transforming Tomorrow Today kicks off on Thursday, at Berklee College of Music in Boston. The conference brings together the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) and the academic meeting Feminist Theory and Music, as well as Berklee’s recently formed Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. This promises to be a truly stellar convention, with lots of amazing concerts and mine-expanding and celebratory speakers. The entire program book is here (PDF). Our beloved Board Members Dr. Tammy Kernodle and Dr. Beth Denisch are featured speakers, and Beth is also the Conference Director!
Shocking and sad news this week as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra cancelled their summer season – which was to feature new music, and a concert entirely of works by women. Read more in the New York Times.
CBC news shares that Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha, which was never performed during his lifetime, is seeing a revival – and being rewritten and expanded with the help of Jessie Montgomery and Jannina Norpoth, and Volcano Theatre of Toronto. The premiere is scheduled for 2020 and the the entire creative team and orchestra is composed of Black women. Learn more here, and don’t miss the video about creating this new version, and bringing it to life! Performances will start in April 2020 in California, before moving to Toronto.
Listening to Ladies has a new episode! This week Elizabeth Blair speaks with composer Mara Gibson. Check out the website for more links and musical examples, and listen in below:
The Library of Congress blog, In the Muse, celebrated Julia Ward Howe’s 200th birthday by sharing some examples of her works – not just her famous titles as a lyricist, but also as a composer! Who knew??
Congratulations go to Lucia Lucas – the first known trans woman to sing a principal role on an American opera stage! Lucas sang the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Read the story at NPR, and listen in below:
Melissa Dunphy
New Music Box spoke to composer Melissa Dunphy about her works, creative process, and coming premieres.
What did we miss? What are you reading? Let us know! [email protected]