News to start your week!

Continuing the conversation about women an opera that began last week with the announcement that Saariaho’s work will be heard next season (and is only the second work by a woman to ever be performed), Shawn Milnes of The Daily Beast asks Can Opera Cure Its Sexism Problem?”  It’s a must read!

 

And beyond the topic of composers, Charlotte Higgins explores the way women characters are used – and abused – throughout traditional opera (a question that has been asked since the beginning of Feminist Musicology with Opera: or the Undoing of Women).  

 

The Minnesota Star Tribune speaks with Minnesota Orchestra concertmaster Erin Keefe about her work and music – and what it’s like being married to the conductor.

 

To round out the top headlines, The Guardian profiles composer Anna Meredith, who is crossing genres and turning heads.  After having works commissioned by the BBC Proms, Meredith is now also pursing projects involving pop music.  NPR has a taste of this new work – read more here or listen below: