New Choral Commissions!

In honor of their 25th anniversary season, the New York Virtuoso Singers have commissioned 25 new choral works from American composers. Thirteen of the new pieces will be premiered in NYC on March 3rd, including works by: Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Augusta Read Thomas Thea...

The Long, LONG Arc of History

With the debut of Margaret Ruthven Lang’s Dramatic Overture in 1893, the world changed: never before had an orchestral work composed by a woman been performed on the American stage.  The intervening 119 years have brought monumental social change, much of it due...

The 1.7 Percent: Distilling the 2008-2009 Repertoire Reports

Stories about “the 1%” abound in the media, but today I would like to shine a light on a far less reported, though far more relevant for this site’s purposes, statistic: the 1.7%. Our own Sarah Baer crunched the numbers (provided by the League of American...

More on Summer Festivals

I recently wrote about the representation of women’s works at the Cabrillo Festival. But, that is far from the only festival where you can hear music by women this summer. In fact, one of the themes for the Oregon Bach Festival is In Praise of Women. Unfortunately...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Announces Year of Celebrating Women

The BSO, led by Marin Alsop, just announced their 2011-2012 concert season which will be celebrating the music and achievements of women.  Season highlights include Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher (which will be semi-staged), James Lee III’s piece about...