Music Meets Drama

The 19 th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified 96 years ago today, August 18, 1920.  This is the amendment that guarantees the rights for all Americans to vote regardless of their sex.  YES! Celebrate ladies and gentlemen, yet, keep in mind this Constitutional amendment did not happen overnight.  Strong men and women believed in and fought for the suffragette movement.  They never lost sight of their ultimate goal, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” During the mid 1700s women were allowed to vote in certain states.  Slowly from the 1770s through to the 1790s, states began to rescind those rights.  The United States Constitutional Convention of 1787 allowed that women’s voting rights would be left to the individual states. In 1848 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony convened the first convention for women’s rig...

This summer has brought us an abundance of political news I am sure most of us would rather ignore.  Our wish may have been that we could escape all of it for the joys and freedom of vacation time.  During the hot, humid days of July and now early August, announcements and news about women in the arts have lit up my computer screen.  Creativity, digging in with determination and bold, daring decisions initiated new opportunities for performances of women’s music!  From Vancouver, British Columbia came the announcement that the Allegra Chamber Orchestra , an all female group, will be showcasing women composers. Five women conductors will be leading the  Sao Paulo Symphonic Orchestra in Brazil.  In England, the  London Festival of American Music featured all women composers.  There is an all female electronic music festival in San Francisco .   Dr. Julia Mortyakova , pianist, of the Mississippi University for Women,...