Music Meets Drama

An e-mail from Allison Charney arrived in my mailbox asking me how to pronounce Gena Branscombe’s first name.   She went on to explain that with her colleague and friend, Donna Weng Friedman, the two would be hosting four one-hour radio shows featuring women composers entitled -   Her/Music:Her/Story.   The shows were broadcast on WQXR on four consecutive Friday evenings at 9 PM starting on September 13 th .    The first show celebrated the 200 th birthday of pianist/composer Clara Schumann (October 13, 1819 – 1896).   Allison and Donna took us on a journey discussing Clara’s life as a piano prodigy, wife to composer Robert Schumann, mother of eight children and composer.   Interspersed with their informative discussion were examples of Clara’s music - piano, instrumental and vocal.   The second broadcast was the Three B’s: Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), Gena Branscombe (1881-1977) and Amy Beach (1867-1944).   How c...

The recent announcement that the opera,  Angel's Bone,  composed by Du Yun had won her the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music is cause for the continuing celebration of women's musical accomplishments. My sincere congratulations go to Du Yun and past Pulitzer Prize winning women composers, Jennifer Higdon (2010), Caroline Shaw (2013), Julia Wolfe (2015), Shulamit Ran (1991), Melinda Wagner (1999) and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (1983).  These composers' Pulitzer Prize winning compositions span the musical genres of Violin Concerto, Oratorio, Symphonies, Partita for 8 Voices , Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion and now an opera.  Our assignment as supporters of women composers is to listen to their music, celebrate their works and educate, educate and educate continuously that women composers be heard without gender barriers. Along with the Pulitzer Prize for Music announcement, there have been other articles recently written about and by women composers. ...