by SMBrown | Mar 31, 2014
By Susan M. Brown Though now hailed as one of the greatest Finnish composers of her generation, Kaija Saariaho readily recalls a time at the Sibelius Academy when male teachers balked at teaching a “pretty girl,” claiming it was a waste of their time. But...
by SMBrown | Mar 28, 2014
In a relatively short time Wang Jie has made quite an impression on the classical music establishment. Last June the Orchestra of the League of Composers premiered Wang’s Oboe Concerto for the Genuine Hearts of Sadness, a work it had commissioned with funding in...
by SMBrown | Mar 25, 2014
Maria Schneider has a knack for choosing to work in musical genres where women have traditionally been least represented and recognized—and then flipping the script to win all kinds of renown and accolade. As a jazz composer and big-band leader, Schneider has been...
by SMBrown | Mar 10, 2014
If a work by a female composer is actually programmed by a major metropolitan orchestra, but that city’s most respected and widely-circulated newspaper fails to mention it, do we have progress? The Boston Symphony Orchestra will perform Sofia Gubaidulina’s...
by SMBrown | Sep 27, 2013
Women scored top honors in two of the coveted orchestral categories recently awarded by the American Prize. Leading the way, Michigan Philharmonic maestro Nan Harrison Washburn, formerly the co-founder and artistic director of the Women’s Philharmonic, was named...
