The concert season is in full swing!
It’s no secret we adore Amy Beach and her music, but especially her monumental and passionate Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, Op. 45. Was it “A Virtual Autobiography,” as has been suggested? If so, what a richly emotional life she had! Saturday, Oct. 19, hear it performed by soloist Anne-Marie McDermott, with the Springfield (MA) Symphony, led by Mei Ann Chen. This is certain to be a thrilling concert!
On October 17, Al-Nour Wal Amal Orchestra will give a concert at the Royal Opera House of Musical Arts in Muscat, Oman. Al-Nour Wal Amal Orchestra is an ensemble of blind and visually impaired women musicians, and is part of the Al-Nour Wal Amal Association—an NGO founded in 1954 with the mission of creating educational and social opportunities for Egyptian girls with blindness or visual impairments. The orchestra made its professional concert debut in Cairo in 1971, and began international tours at Vienna’s Town Hall in 1988. Since then, the group has performed programs that combine Western classical music, music from traditions across the Middle East, and celebratory pieces from the countries they visit on five continents and over 30 countries. Above is a video from their YouTube channel that includes rehearsal footage and audio from various performances.
The Music Institute of which the orchestra is a part was established in 1961 by Samha El-Kholy, the former dean of the Cairo Conservatory. Members of the orchestra train with musicians from the Cairo Conservatory and Cairo Symphony; they study music theory, harmony, solfege, and ear training, and learn to read music in Braille.
Below, the orchestra plays the “Farandole” from Bizet’s L’arlésienne Suite No. 2.
There are eighteen days remaining to apply for LunART‘s Call for Scores Competition (deadline Friday Nov. 1, 2024, 11:59pm Central Time). The competition is open to women of all ages and
nationalities. LunART celebrates women in the arts across disciplines, but takes a special interest in promoting living women composers. They believe that promoting all women in the arts enriches our communities and makes learning and creativity possible.
To be considered, prospective participants should submit pieces shorter than 15 minutes, written after January 1, 2020, and scored for up to six performers. Available voice types, instruments, and ensemble configurations are listed on LunART’s website. Single-movement and multi-movement works are permitted, but the organization reserves the right to play selections from multi-movement works. Winning composers will receive: a cash prize of $300, a live performance of their winning composition at the LunArt Festival Gala Concert, and a professional live audio & visual recording of their composition. If the piece has never been commercially recorded before the festival, then it will be included on the annual festival album.
Juliana Soltis, cello
Cellist Juliana Soltis has released her third album, American Woman, featuring work by American female composers. She credits Interlochen Arts Camp with sparking her passion for making life playing cello and with providing some of the inspiration for the album, but she also wanted to produce something that elaborated her heritage as an American cellist. The album was released on October 4 from Navona (a division of PARMA Recording Group) and features works for cello an piano by six American women composers: Mary Howe, Amy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Helen Crane, Dorothy Rudd Moore, and Florence Price. Soltis chose these composers because in all six cases their work was highly celebrated during their lifetimes, but fell into obscurity after they died.
Below is Soltis playing the arrangement of Florence Price’s Adoration that appears on the album.
On October 27, Dr. Gail Archer will present Music by Women Composers at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Riverside, Connecticut. (4 Riverside Ave.) This organ concert is free and open to the public, though free will offerings will be accepted. Following the concert will be a lecture by Dr. Archer on women composers from Europe and the United States from the 19th century. To RSVP, please contact Liya Petrides at [email protected]. Flier here on Facebook.
Dr. Veronica Salinas, director
On November 2, 2024 the Austin Civic Orchestra will present The Artistry of the “Woman Composer”—a concert featuring all women composers—at the Leander ISD South Performing Arts Center at Cedar Park High School. Dr. Veronica Salinas will lead the orchestra in a program featuring the Overture from The Wreckers by Dame Ethel Smyth, Reena Esmail‘s Concerto for You for Violin and Orchestra featuring soloist Dr. Jose Flores, and the Symphony No. 1 in E Minor by Florence Price. This is one of Salina’s first concerts with the ensemble since the beginning of her directorship in June of this year.
Let us know what you’re listening to! Email us at [email protected]