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....
I recently wrote about the representation of women’s works at the Cabrillo Festival. But, that is far from the only festival where you can hear music by women this summer. In fact, one of the themes for the Oregon Bach Festival is In Praise of Women. Unfortunately...
The annual Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, held in Santa Cruz, California, has a history of highlighting music by women. This is due in part to the festival focusing on living composers – however, I suspect that it is in part a happy consequence of the...
I’m late in posting this, but the Spring For Music series (which I mentioned earlier), teamed with NPR to make the performance the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra available to stream online. One of the pieces heard in this performance is a relatively newly commissioned...
John von Rhein of The Chicago Tribune recently reported on the passing of the baton from Paul Freeman to Mei-Ann Chen, which I first discussed here. Of the significance of Chen’s placement, von Rhein said: The emergence of women conductors in the symphonic mainstream...
Last year conductor Rachael Worby left her position at the Pasadena Pops after 11 seasons with the ensemble. The announcement was in the LA Times last August. Though she never completely receded into the background, fans have been waiting for word of a new project for...
