News and music to start your week!

I Care if You Listen posed five questions to Canadian composer Alexina Louie (pictured above) and Evie Mark, who is a throat singer.  They talk about Louie’s Take The Dog Sled – a Inuit-Western musical collaboration that by all accounts is equitable and equal.  Links in the article to listen to the work!

Composer Caroline Shaw spoke with The Guardian about her wide range of successes, as well as her future projects – including a forthcoming opera!

WQXR (in NYC)highlighted the life and music of Margaret Bonds on their blog this week.  Read more about her life and work, with plenty of musical examples shared throughout.

Congratulations go to Tania León and Betsy Pérez who were named to the ASCAP Foundation Board of Directors!  Read the press release here.

The Berlin Philharmonic spoke with composer Anna Thorvalsdottir about her work that they premiered last month!  Listen in to the five-minute conversation here.  The work, Catamorphosis, was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic, and the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.  The Berlin premiere can be heard here on the Digital Concerthall

NewMusicUSA breaks down composer commission pay in the United States.  The data-heavy reporting includes not only the amount paid but also wide reaching factors including genre, instrumentation, the music degree held by the composer, and (of course) gender.  The results are fascinating to explore – and not surprising.  White, heterosexual men still make up the primary group of composers being actively commissioned.

Let us know what we missed!  [email protected]