Florence Price on NPR

Florence Price on NPR

I am always delighted to stumble upon the name of a historic woman composer in the daily news—and kudos to NPR for making my day! Their classical music blog, Deceptive Cadence, highlighted new recordings of works by composer Florence Price —the first African American...
Rebecca Clarke Celebrated by North State Symphony

Rebecca Clarke Celebrated by North State Symphony

Two performances this past weekend, titled “Treasures Beloved and Unknown,” exposed audiences of the North State Symphony in Chico and Redding, California to the work of Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979). The piece performed was Clarke’s most remembered composition, the...

Mel Bonis and Honoring History

When studying the history of women in music, it is all too common to read about the difficulties that women faced from their own families in pursing music seriously. Cases can be found in all time periods, in all levels of society, and in countries far and wide. The...

Happy Birthday, Nadia Boulanger!

Today is the 124th birthday of composer, conductor, and educator Nadia Boulanger. I was actually reminded of this on my morning commute by my local independent radio station, WDIY, who did a birthday tribute to Nadia by playing works of some of her most famous pupils....

Happy Birthday, Alma Mahler

Today is the 132nd birthday of Alma Mahler. Though she is often remembered as the wife of Gustav, her own career as a musician and composer is neglected.  Alma studied piano from an early age and took composition lessons with Josef Labor and Alexander von Zemlinsky....

New Film About Mozart’s Sister

I just saw the new trailer for the film, titled Mozart’s Sister, yesterday – and today NPR’s classical music blog Deceptive Cadence discussed the film and the how little is really known about the life and music of the “other” Mozart. Here’s the official trailer for...