It’s August already! We hope your week and your month are off to a great start!
*News Flash* — NYTimes article on Marianne Martines highlights the work of The Women’s Philharmonic and its co-founder, conductor Nan H. Washburn
Sarah Brandwood-Spencer (left) and Zöe Beyers (right)
Credit: Northern Chamber Orchestra
The Northern Chamber Orchestra of the UK has announced two new directors: violinist Zöe Beyers will be its new Music Director, and violinist Sarah Brandwood-Spencer will be its Associate Director during the 2024/25 season. Byers has worked with both symphony and chamber orchestras, including the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hebrides Ensemble, the Nash Ensemble, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the London Sinfonietta. Brandwood-Spencer has appeared with the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, and has freelanced as a guest principal with some of the nation’s foremost ensembles. The orchestra’s board and CEO have great enthusiasm for both appointments, and describe the two as the orchestra’s “dream team.” While their 2024-25 season only includes works by 3 women composers (who are all still living) we can hope that the future seasons will feature more works by women, including historic ones.
Erin Freeman
Credit: erinfreeman.com
The St. Louis Symphony Chorus has announced that Erin Freeman will succeed Amy Kaiser as its director beginning during the 2024/25 season. Kaiser held the post for 27 years, and resigned in 2022. Freeman will come to the chorus after work with the City Choir of Washington, Wintergreen Music, the Richmond Ballet. She accepted the position after an audition in February 2024, combining her vision with Stéphane Denève’s to perform Fauré’s Requiem.
On Sunday August 11, the Bard Music Festival presents a concert titled “Women Musicians in Berlioz’s Time” at the Fischer Center in collaboration with Sing for Hope. The concert will feature music by Pauline Viardot, Louise Bertin, Clara Schumann, and three arias by Berlioz and Rossini made famous by Viardot and her sister Maria Malibran. Bertin’s chamber opera, La Esmeralda, and the other pieces will be presented in a semi-staged performance that imitates the salon atmosphere in which they would have been regularly performed in the nineteenth century. Tickets available here. — THE CONCERT WILL ALSO BE LIVESTREAMED HERE!!
Below, the inimitable Cecilia Bartoli performs a work by Viardot.
The turbulence continues at the NY Phil, as their incoming new Music Director/Conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, was condemned by the Human Rights Foundation for serving as a propaganda tool for the Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro, who is currently brutally surpressing the results of the recent election. Dudamel conducted the Venezuelan-government controlled National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela on Aug. 2 in Carnegie Hall. Read more here, and here on the Facebook page of self-exiled composer, pianist and activist Gabriela Montero.
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