News and Music to start your week!

Last week saw the New York Premiere of Unsuk Chin’s “Su,” concerto for sheng, which had its world premiere in 2009.  The New York Times spoke to Ms. Chin (pictured above) in advance of the Philharmonic’s performance, led by Susanna Mälkki.

.Listen on Soundcloud to Melissa Dunphy’s conversation with New Music Box about her calling to be a composer :

Thrilled to learn about a new recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D, on the Chandos label, in a performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra led by Sakari Oramo! Also included is the Overture to Smyth’s opera “The Wreckers.” Erica Jea at The Guardian describes it as “sumptuous”: “this recording should win the Mass many new fans.” Cheers to that!  Read their full review here.

Radio KYW features an interview with composer Erin Busch about her work with the Young Women Composer’s Camp —  Listen to the Podcast here (start at 39:00)

And what better way to start your week than with a radio program dedicated to equal representation!  Listen in to the October 18 broadcast from The Daffodil Perspective!  This show features several works by Peggy Glanville Hicks, including her Etruscan Concerto, which we never get tired of!

Speaking of The Daffodil Perspective, the show and its producer, Elizabeth de Brito, are diligent activists on behalf of women composers.  Tired of pointing out the awards, features and polls that continue to exclude women’s work, and works by minority composers, they are announcing The Daffodil Perspective Awards.  “The awards will champion recordings of music written and brought to life by marginalised voices in classical music. Specifically women composers and conductors, BAME [​Black, Asian and minority ethnic] composers, conductors and musicians.”  So take a look and nominate your favorites!  Some awards to really look forward to!

We’re sorry we missed a whole weekend of music by the brilliant Grażyna Bacewicz, performed at Bard Festival West in San Francisco.  Joshua Kosman fills us in at the SFChronicle.  So when do we get to hear some orchestral music?  Like the pieces performed by The Women’s Philharmonic already in the 1980s and ’90s?  Or, Symphony no. 3?

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