NPR Music and Q2 (part of NYC’s WQXR) recently collaborated to question readers and listeners on their favorite composers under 40 years old. The open appeal was an invitation to a broad conversation on how to define what a composer looks like in the 21st century,...
The BBC Proms, founded in 1895 by Henry Wood, have always been designed to invite and encourage the masses to engage with a wide variety of music. Though the inclusion of women in the yearly Proms programming has not always been a priority for the organizers, there...
When discussing the recent history of American music, it would be remiss to not mention the name Ruth Crawford Seeger. Her contributions as an educator to budding composers, as well as her contemporary compositions and research in folk traditions, are hugely...
As part of their on-going Classics in Concert series, NPR is hosting five nights of chamber music videocast live from WQXR’s Greene Space in New York. You can read about the series at NPR here. The series, which started April 4th, and is titled “Trout Week” in honor...
I will finish the WPA tribute to historic female composers by remembering the life and music of Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940). Though she lived a tragically short life, she made a dramatic impact as a composer and conductor. Czech by birth, Kaprálová studied at the...
Marion Bauer (1882-1955) was born in Walla Walla, Washington to immigrant French Jewish parents. She studied piano from a young age, later refining her talent in piano and composition at the Paris Conservatory. While in France she was the first American student of...
