News and music to start the week!
There is a new organization, La Maestra, based in Paris and set out to encourage and promote more women conductors. Their first competition, held in September, drew more than 200 applicants, and 12 chosen contestants (including Jiajing Lai, pictured above) to compete for prizes including cash, mentoring, and concerts in France and abroad. Read more at NPR, or listen in below.
Speaking of conductors, ICYMI, the Women Conductors – International Symposium held their annual series on panels online last month. Videos of the array of panels (in English, Spanish, and Portuguese) are available on Facebook, here.
It’s been a year since the passing of Jessye Norman, and Tom Huizenga has a remembrance at NPR’s Deceptive Cadence.
Speaking of opera, The New York Times discusses the Met Opera’s reworked programming plans, which includes the first work by a Black composer ever presented by the Met,Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” which will begin the 2021 season in September. Sadly, no work by a woman composer is scheduled.
Alex Ross featured two works by women on his blog, The Rest is Noise, this past week. There was Fury by Rebecca Saunders (performed by Alexander Arai-Swale), and Bára Gísladóttir’s Gravis.
Also on NPR this week, an exploration of Sarah Kirkland Snyder’s Mass for the Endangered, which was released on September 25. Read on or listen in on All Things Considered:
What did we miss? What are you reading or listening to? Let us know at [email protected]