Two Important Festivals:
The Women Composers Festival of Tübingen begins on Friday Sept. 29. With a focus on the 19th Century: Tübingen composer Josephine Lang and three contemporaries (Emilie Mayer, Luise Adolpha Le Beau and Ethel Smyth), it continues 10 days and includes more than 50 events, including concerts and a musicological symposium. We are very excited that Luise Adolpha Le Beau’s
Symphony in F mj. op. 41/1 and the Oratorio “Ruth“, for soloists, chorus and orchestra, op. 27 will receive their first performances since the composer’s lifetime! While the festival materials are in German, Google Chrome has a translate feature.
October 3 begins “Florence Price: A Celebration,” hosted by Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. Description of the events of the month long festival here, and calendar listing here.
And, a THE FIRST EVER recording of Ethel Smyth’s opera, Der Wald has recently been released on Resonus Classics — just in time to celebrate its 120th anniversary as the first opera by a woman to be performed by the Met Opera of New York (and still the first of only two!) Dr. Amy Zigler was there at the recording session in January, more background information is provided by Opera Today, and the new disc has already received praise from The Guardian. The recording …
argues its case persuasively. … highlights include a harmonically adventurous chorus of spirits to open and close the work, and a scene for the central couple blossoming into a love duet that culminates in a heartfelt ode to the forest itself.