WPA News Digest – September 1, 2025

Lanzilotti describes herself as a composer, multimedia artist, and curator whose works often explore dramatic expanses of color and timbre. She aims to create social uplift and justice in her works by supporting local communities and economies, language sovereignty, water sovereignty, and land stewardship. One of her specialties in curatorship is non-traditional concert experiences and musical interventions; a number of her works take the form of sound installations where attendees can move throughout the space instead of traditional seated-in-place concerts. She was a 2022 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music for with eyes the color of time (string orchestra), inspired by works in The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu.

Below is a video of another of Lanzilotti’s world premiers: Photos from Helen (2023), performed by Peter Askim (conductor) and the Next Fest Performance Fellows at the Mannes School of Music during the American Composers Orchestra’s SONiC Festival. The piece was commissioned by Commissioned by Elizabeth and Justus Schlicting for The Next Festival of Emerging Artists.

On September 12th, 2025 at 7:00 pm EDT the American Symphony Orchestra will perform Julia Perry‘s A Short Piece for Orchestra (study) as part of the Bryant Park Picnic Performances series (Bryant Park, New York). It will be accompanied on the program by works from Ulysses Kay, Henry Cowell, Aaron Copland, and Norman Dello Joio. Her Study for Orchestra was the first work by a black woman to be recorded by a professional orchestra—she wrote it in 1952 and it was first recorded by the New York Philharmonic in 1965. A Festival Centenary Celebration for her in New York City in 2024 featuring concert performances and lectures brought renewed interest to this often-ignored American composer.

Perry wrote over 100 musical works during her lifetime, ranging from chamber music to opera; only 18 were published before her death, which was a contributing factor to her initial obscurity. To call Perry a decorated composer seems like an understatement. Her musical education reads like a who’s-who and where’s-where of early twentieth century musical teachers and institutions. She studied for bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Westminster Choir College (voice, piano composition; 1943–48), continued her graduate studies at the Berkshire Music center at Tanglewood studying with Luigi Dallapiccola, traveled to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger, and returned the United States to study at the Julliard School of Music. She was awarded the Boulanger Grand Prix for her Viola Sonata,  as well as two Guggenheim Fellowships in 1954 and 1956. During the summers of 1956 and 1957 she studied conducting at the Academia Chigiana in Siena and conducted a series of concerts in Europe, sponsored by the U.S. Information Service.  After over five years in Europe, she returned to the U.S. for work teaching at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College in Tallahassee (1967) and Atlanta College. In 1964 her opera/ballet The Selfish Giant won an American Academy of Arts and Letters Prize in music.

Below is a recording of Perry’s Short Piece for Orchestra, performed by Jader Bignamini (conductor) and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2024.

The Luna Composition Lab has opened its invitation for applications for their 2025-2026 Luna Lab Fellowship. From the applicant pool,  the committee will select six young composers from across the United States to participate. They will receive one-on-one mentorship with an acclaimed female, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming composer (no be named). The Fellowship will culminate in a week-long festival in New York City in early June 2026, which will feature a world premiere performance of a work by each of the fellows’ work in addition to performances, inspirational masterclasses, workshops, backstage tours, concerts, and networking events.

The LunART Festival has announced its 2026 annual Call for Scores. The competition is open to women composers of all ages and nationalities.

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Claudia Scheinbaum, President of Mexico, recently featured posts on her social media as part of a press conference about the great 19th c singer and composer Angela Peralta (1845-1883).  The wildly popular and internationally successful Peralta brought the country together at a time when it was politically deeply divided. The feature of Peralta complements Mexico’s celebration of 2025 as the Year of the Indigenous Woman.

Below is the video released on Scheinbaum’s YouTube channel, including options for subtitles. Other materials are available via Facebook and Instagram.

 

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