Beach’s Concerto Comes to Life!

by Liane Curtis | Nov 15, 2012

It’s one thing to know a piece from recordings and quite another to hear it come to life in performance. For a deepened understanding of Amy Beach’s Piano Concerto, it helps to be familiar with the three songs that she drew on for themes. These are her own...

Hilary Hahn and Gillian Whitehead

by sarah | Mar 3, 2012

As I mentioned last year, violinist Hilary Hahn has commissioned 27 new works to use as encore pieces. You can read about the project in an article from the Wall Street Journal here. Hilary has hand-picked 26 composers and is having a contest for the 27th piece(and...

Florence Price on NPR

by sarah | Feb 28, 2012

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

by sarah | Feb 21, 2012

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...

Thoughts on Beauty in Classical Music

by sarah | Aug 23, 2011

I had been trying to put together some thoughts about the way women who perform classical music are viewed/described by the media, long before Yuja Wang made her controversial Hollywood Bowl appearance. And after sifting through dozens of articles and critiques, I...

Sofja Gübadomova and the NMWA

by sarah | Apr 25, 2011

Today the blog for the National Museum of Women in the Arts posted an interview with pianist Sofja Gübadomova as a precursor to a performance that Gübadomova will be giving at NMWA tonight at 7:30. When asked, “What’s your best advice to girls who are considering a...