< PreviousJOURNAL OF THE IAWM37 sound whether they are dovetailing melody, swimming in polyphony, or suffusing the fixed media. The work has five sections, which describe three tree species separated by two interludes with strikingly seamless transitions between the sections. The first section, “white birch,” features a sampled gallery of miscellaneous wind chimes. The strings appear sparsely as soloists with brief trills fluttering among the chimes. Warm, neoromantic counterpoint follows until a chord arrives abruptly. Melodic phrases become shorter and shorter, cut off by chords, and the section ends in a brief chorale. The ensuing interlude features running water and bell-like sounds accompanying a slow, poignant, extended viola solo that spans from the instrument’s lowest to highest pitches. In “weeping willow,” sounds of moving air remain in the background while the strings, in simultaneous passage- work, resemble the trills and rhythms of “white birch.” Scalar flourishes in this central section progress from mostly descending motion to a balance of ascending and descending motions, concluding with all parts ascending into a strident, climactic chorale. The sec- tion closes like the first interlude, with a slowly ascending melancholy melody. This time it begins in the viola and continues to the violin’s stratosphere. The last interlude begins with whirs and flutters, similar to those in Gaia, before becoming playful with sparkling sweeps of pitched tones. Col legno and leggiero string iterations meld into these sound- scapes. In the closing section, “coast redwood,” the fixed media punctuates, makes halos, or extends the string parts with shimmers and sweeps of bells, air, or rustling leaves. The strings begin the section with buoyant layers of pizzi- cato. The cello is the first to break into a vibrant arco melody, which becomes contrapuntal, reminiscent of the first interlude, as the other instruments leave one by one playing pizzicato. A brief arrival of all parts transition to a serene concluding chorale. The next two works, desangramiento (2016) and River Rising (2014), respond vividly to the global shock of violence and disaster that Volness discusses in the program notes. The four primary sounds in desangramiento are a heli- copter rumbling, a bird call, chords on the accordion, and metallic keyboard percussion. At the beginning and end of the piece, the viola sings mourn- fully. In the middle, one section has dissonant double-stops and another features brassy, percussive, sharp articulation. River Rising has ethereal synthesizer chords throughout, while the violin creates a cloud of sacred resonance. The violin part includes waves of high sustained notes, middle register col legno, rapid high and low articulated double-stops, and a disso- nant low register melody. Nocturne (2012) for piano and Alone Together (2014) for violin evoke the loneliness that many have experienced during the pandemic. Volness’ perfor- mance of Nocturne reflects being at home with her piano, and the video for Alone Together features violinist Hartunian smiling while playing lake- side, where she often walks. 1 Beyond 1Kirsten Volness, Alone Together, Kirsten Volness, YouTube, 2020, Lilit Hartunian, violin; Scott Quade, video. https://youtu.be/DCJ4NnW72EI contorting the piano’s tuning and res- onance, the electronics in Nocturne frequently serve as a drum kit and otherwise tinge each section with the non-silence of throbbing crea- tures and elements inside and outside at night. The piano’s styles span from lively, jazzy bass lines to an adagio in Scriabinesque counterpoint, and from flowing Gershwin-like treble chords and melodies to gentle, simple lines, like the accompaniments of sing- er-songwriter Norah Jones. The piece ends with articulated ascending clus- ters that are pedaled together, and then released one note at a time, creating an exquisite entrance for silence. Throughout Alone Together, a decades-old pop synthesizer sound bobs as an undercurrent to multiple looping violin layers. The peaceful- ness of the opening loop’s three long notes pervades the piece as disso- nance and rhythmic intensity ebb and flow. Toward the end of the piece, the number of layers decreases and an additional synthesizer joins the mix as it plays the violin’s opening motive a couple of octaves lower. The synthesizer becomes the lone final sound. Listening to this album’s emotional breadth alone at home can feel cathartic, but the mettle of the players and the complexity of Volness’ acoustic and modified sounds make one wish for the opportunity to hear this music again in the way much of it was orig- inally presented: live, in person, in a larger space with speakers several feet apart. Krystal J. Folkestad, nee Grant, is a pianist, composer, and writer. She holds a Ph.D. in composition from Stony Brook University. She has taught composition and music theory in Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia. From lecture-recitals in elementary schools of her hometown, Birmingham, Alabama, to a musical theater club at a senior center in Brooklyn, New York, she creates an oasis of inclusivity within classical music. She collaborates with performers and teachers to curate repertoire by underrepre- sented composers. https://arsarvole.com Volness’ performance of Nocturne reflects being at home with her piano, and the video for Alone Together features violinist Hartunian smiling while playing lakeside, where she often walks. —KRYSTAL J. FOLKESTAD, nee GRANT38VOLUME 28, NO. 2 • 2022 Dorothy Chang: Flight, in Soaring Spirits University of British Columbia Orchestra, Jonathan Girard, conductor; Paolo Bortolussi, flute. Redshift Records, TK492 (2021) ELLEN K. GROLMAN Soaring Spirits offers orchestral works by three Canadian composers: Stephen Chatman, Dorothy Chang, and Keith Hamel, performed by the University of British Columbia Orchestra and Choirs under the baton of Jonathan Girard. Chang’s Flight is the focus of this review. Born in Winfield, Illinois, Chang’s piano studies began early, and by age 16 she was composing. She holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan and the Indiana University School of Music and has taught at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver since 2003. Frequently finding inspiration for her compo- sitions in personal history and her Chinese heritage, Chang was also influ- enced as a youth by popular and folk music. Her catalog numbers over sev- enty works for soloists, chamber and large ensembles, theatre, dance, and video. Her music has been performed at concerts and festivals in North America and abroad. Several bring together Chinese and Western instru- ments and musical elements. Flight, a concerto for flute and orchestra, depicts the efforts of Chang’s grand- father, a lieutenant in the Chinese Nationalist air force, to protect his wife and children in 1949 during the Chinese Civil War. Desperate to escape to safety, and with the advancing army close behind, the family awaited rescue with thousands of other refugees at a remote airport, finally stowing away on a small cargo plane, with an unknown destina- tion. Flight encompasses the stories and memories the composer heard from her mother and grandparents, which come alive in the three-movement, evocative, and thrilling work. According to Chang, Flight chronicles the young family’s range of emotions, “from sorrow and despair to bittersweet nostalgia, uncer- tainty and triumph” (liner notes, 8-9). Appropriately, the work is dedicated to the composer’s grandfather. The first movement, “In Shadows,” opens with high unison violins and the timorous flute, which sets an eerie, uncertain atmosphere. The move- ment appears to develop organically from here, spinning out from the early shadowy anxiety as the flute is joined by the oboe. Their narrative slowly builds in intensity as the full ensemble depicts the enormity of the family’s sit- uation. The whirling, agitated middle section propels us through cymbals, harsh orchestral interjections, and the flute, at its shrillest sound, to the climax. The increased dissonance serves to underscore the family’s confusion and desperation, which continues in the cadenza—a frantic recitative. Chimes signal the movement’s conclusion. Chang indicates that the middle move- ment, “Remembrance,” incorporates “cultural identity and folk song.” 1 Although the entire folk song makes an appearance only in the closing bars of the movement, the liner notes 1“Flight: Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (2005-06),” Dorothy Chang, composer (website), accessed March 8, 2022. https://www. dorothychang.com/large-ensemble declare, “Fragments and variants of a traditional Chinese song are woven throughout.” An ascending minor third is featured in the winds and brass early in the movement and recurs fre- quently—placid and contemplative. The horn issues a solemn call, echoed by the winds, then accompanied by soft layers of strings. The flute is now less agitated, less restless, than in the pre- vious movement, questioning but not distraught. Nostalgia ushers in more lyrical and gently articulated melodies while impressionistic gestures underlay much of the flute’s soliloquy until we hear, finally, the folksong. A gentle glissando signals the movement’s end. The final movement, “Sea and Sky,” opens with a blaring, brassy fanfare. Turbulence is depicted partially by the flute’s flutter-tonguing and increas- ingly frenzied intervallic gymnastics; the ensemble responds with dramatic leaps and soaring lines. A timpani strikes, then silence. From nowhere, the flute and snare drum share a brief moment. The movement is powerful, dramatic, changeable, and non-metric. A frenzied flute figuration provides the climax, powerfully underscored by percussion. The free-wheeling cadenza closes as the flute meets the trumpet on a high unison pitch. Strings accom- pany the soloist for its final dramatic, triumphant statement. Jonathan Girard leads the University of British Columbia Symphony Orchestra in a performance marked by highly effec- tive dynamic contrasts, precise cut-offs, and fine balance. The audio engineering is clean and clear of extraneous noises. The recording also includes Stephen Chatman’s A Song of Joys and his arrange- ment of Calixa Lavalee’s O Canada! as well as Overdrive by Keith Hamel. Ellen Grolman is Professor Emerita at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, MD, where she taught for 30 years in the Department of Music. She has authored bio-bibliographies of Emma Lou Diemer (Greenwood Press) and Joan Tower (Scarecrow Press) and edited a two-volume set of Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen’s string trios (Hildegard Press). Upon retirement in 2013, she relocated to St. Augustine, FL, producing and hosting for WFCF FM (Flagler College Radio) the two-hour weekly live radio program Music of our Mothers (www.musicofourmothers.com), which airs exclusively classical music by women composers. Soaring Spirits Flight encompasses the stories and memories the composer heard from her mother and grandparents, which come alive in the three-movement, evocative, and thrilling work. —ELLEN K. GROLMANJOURNAL OF THE IAWM39 Grainne Mulvey: Great Women Four works for voice and electronics by Grainne Mulvey, featuring Elizabeth Hilliard, soprano. Metier Records mds 29007 (2021) CATHERINE LEE Commissioned by the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival (with support from the Arts Council) to mark its 50th anniversary in 2020, Great Women is a powerful new work for voice and electronics by Grainne Mulvey, featuring Irish soprano Elizabeth Hilliard. The text is based on the words of four women who shaped the history of Ireland in the past and continue to shape it today. Constance Georgine Markievicz (1868–1927) was an Irish politician, suf- fragette, and revolutionary who worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor and underprivileged. Markievicz helped plan the Easter Rebellion in 1916 and was the first woman to be elected to the Westminster Parliament. She also worked directly with people running soup kitchens and delivering fuel and turf to the poorest families in Dublin. Born an aristocrat, Markievicz used her power, privilege, and position to help others as she fought for women’s rights and Irish nationalism. Rosie Hackett (1893–1976) was an activist for the trade unions in Ireland. Unlike Markievicz, Hackett was born into a working-class family and was raised by a single mother after the early death of her father. She was a founding member of the Irish Women Workers Union, was present at the printing of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, participated in the Easter Rebellion, and served as an active member of the Irish Citizen Army. Hackett worked tirelessly for better and safer working conditions and for pay raises by organizing walkouts and other activities in support of strikers. Professor Mary Robinson (b. 1944) was the first woman president of Ireland (1990–1997). She also served as the United Nations Commissioner of Human Rights (1997–2002) and Chancellor of the University of Dublin (2002–2019); in addition, she worked with her own foundations. Robinson transformed Ireland by decriminalizing homosexuality, legalizing contracep- tion and divorce, enabling women to sit on juries, and securing the right to legal aid in civil legal cases. Mary McAleese (b. 1951) succeeded Robinson as president (1997–2011), and she was the first person from Northern Ireland to hold that posi- tion. McAleese is currently Professor of Children, Law and Religion at the University of Glasgow and Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin. Throughout her fourteen years in office, she has focused on building bridges both within differing groups in Ireland and between Ireland and Britain. The tape for Great Women, created by Mulvey, draws on poems, letters, and speeches of the four above-mentioned remarkable women. Some of the texts are read by Elizabeth Hilliard and are treated in a manner similar to musique concrete, where they are modified and manipulated to form a sound col- lage, and others are direct recordings of the women themselves speaking. Mulvey also makes use of elec- tronic sounds to fill out the tape, but the focus remains on the words of the women. The live voice part, real- ized by Elizabeth Hilliard, includes many extended vocal techniques such as overtone singing, speech, text fragmentation, and so forth, as well as beautifully-sung melodic lines. The tape part and the live vocal part are so closely interwoven that it is, at times, difficult to tell which is which. Together, they create a shared vision of the women who have helped build and continue to shape modern Ireland. Great Women begins with a sense of urgency, as layered vocalizations gradually unfurl to reveal the opening statement by Markievicz: “We have got to get rid of the last vestige of the Harem before woman is free as her dream of the future would have her” (liner notes, 4). This call to action is followed by a new dimension with a delicate texture. There is a sense of timelessness as drones provide the accompaniment to the virtuosic vocal part, which leaps from one reg- ister to another. As we move through the piece, we are met with moments of urgency, repose, timelessness, and elegance. We are reminded of the fra- gility of human nature and the strength of flexibility. We hear Mary Robinson evoke the fifth province, a place within each of us that allows reconciliation and healing. Mary McAleese speaks of a nation that has been transformed. As the piece closed, I felt as though I had been on a journey and that I had met, in one way or another, these great women and had been transformed by their actions and work. The performances on Great Women are outstanding, with a stunning, virtuosic performance by Dublin-based soprano Elizabeth Hilliard. She brings the words of the four women to life with clear conviction, and she switches between different vocal techniques with ease, ranging from a guttural speaking voice to the most delicate filigree. Her high singing range is superb, as her voice blends into the electronics to create new textures. Hilliard and Mulvey have collaborated on numerous projects, and their close relationship is apparent in this recording. Dr. Catherine Lee actively commissions evoc- ative new music and has extensive experience in classical, contemporary, interdisciplinary col- laborations, and free improvisation setting on the oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn. Lee’s most recent solo CD, Remote Together (Redshift Records, 2021), is nominated for the 2022 JUNO Award Classical Album of the Year (Solo Artist). Lee holds a Doctor of Music in oboe performance from McGill University (Montreal, Quebec) and a certification from the Deep Listening Institute (New York). Great Women40VOLUME 28, NO. 2 • 2022 RECENT RELEASES: COMPACT DISC AND DIGITAL RECORDINGS Samantha Ege: Black Renaissance Woman LORELT LNT 145 (MARCH 2022) Samantha Ege, with pianist Thomas Graff, has recorded an album of for- gotten piano music by five trailblazing yet overshadowed women compos- er-pianists of the 20th-century Black Chicago Renaissance. The project was the recipient of the American Musicological Society’s prestigious Noah Greenberg Award. Spiritual Suite (first recording) by Margaret Bonds draws on the spirituals she heard per- formed by legendary singers such as Marian Anderson. Bonds was one of the first Black composers to gain rec- ognition in the United States. Helen Eugenia Hagan (1891-1964) is the first- known Black woman to earn a degree at Yale. Her Piano Concerto in C minor is presented in a two-piano arrange- ment (first recording). Nora Douglas Holt (1884-1974) composed more than 200 works, but only two have survived, including Negro Dance, op. 25, no. 1. Four Seasonal Sketches by Betty Jackson King (1928-1994) begins with the joys of spring and ends forcefully with the darkness of winter. Piano Concerto in One Movement (first recording) by Florence Price is per- formed in a two-piano arrangement. The work combines virtuosic harmony with a traditional African-American juba dance. Filtering ALBANY RECORDS TROY1891 (2022) The album includes Janice Macaulay’s Kaleidoscope for wind symphony, which won IAWM’s Alex Shapiro prize in 2018, and Anna Rubin’s Chiaroscuro, along with pieces by Brad Ellis, Samuel Winnie, and Daniel Bernard Roumain. The works are per- formed by the University of Maryland Baltimore County Wind Ensemble, Brian Kaufman, conductor. Beyond 12: Reinventing the Piano, Vol. 2 MICROFEST RECORDS (JANUARY 2021) Grammy-nominated pianist Aron Kallay premieres new works by eight visionary composers: Jeffrey Harrington, Monroe Golden, Robert Carl, Nick Norton, Alexander Elliott Miller, Bill Alves, Eric Moe, and Veronika Krausas for his microtonal piano. Krausas’ Une Petite Bagatelle, a short work from 2013, is a reimagining in 2/7 comma meantone tuning that reflects the whimsy of the work. Her Terços (Catalan for thirds) uses Pythagorean tuning. Brass Tacks: Music for Brass NAVONA RECORDS NV6428 (MAY 2022) The album includes Janice Macaulay’s Tuba Contra Mundum for solo tuba, performed by Jobey Wilson, plus works by Brian Belet, Nathan Wilson Ball, L. Peter Deutsch, and Andrew Lewinter. Rhona Clarke: Sempiternam MÉTIER MSV 28614 (2021) Choral music has always been a constant thread throughout the compositional development of Rhona Clarke. The choral works on this album, both sacred and secular, written over a thirty-year period, demonstrate the increasing individuality of her work, though rooted in the choral tradition of Ireland and Britain. They range from the darkness of Ave Atque Vale to the sheer breathtaking beauty of Pie Jesu or Lullay, my Liking. The music is performed by the Latvian State Choir, under the direction of Māris Sirmais. The works on the disc are all first recordings, apart from The Old Woman and Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep. (https://divineartrecords. com/announcing-sempiternam-a-new- album-celebrating-the-choral-music- of-rhona-clark/) (https://youtu.be/ eP6O-gxXwmk) Stefania de Kenessey: In Her Words NEUMA RECORDS (APRIL 2022) The album is electronic, and all the works are composed, performed, and recorded by de Kenessey. The music is dancelike and is inspired by the Bulgarian and Hungarian folk songs that she enjoyed in her youth as well as the Western classical and popular music of her adulthood. In Her Words is the result of a fruitful four-year col- laboration with choreographer Ariel Grossman, the founder and director of the all-female Ariel Rivka Dance com- pany. The four movements are diverse in sound, outlook, and orientation, but they are unified in theme: they all con- front the difficulties faced by women everywhere, of all backgrounds, of all stations in life—themes that live close to the composer’s heart. Sarah Masterson: Seven Pillars of Wisdom CENTAUR RECORDS (APRIL 2022) The album presents the first recording of Philippa Schuyler’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom and gives new life to one of the last works of Schuyler, concert pianist, composer, and journalist. Her music has been largely unheard since her untimely death 55 years ago, while on a helicopter rescue mission in war-torn Vietnam as a correspondent. Written in 1964-65, the technically-complex, hour-long Seven Pillars of Wisdom was inspired by the book of the same title by T.E. Lawrence—more famously known as Lawrence of Arabia—about the British army officer’s participation in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. For details about Schuyler’s life and works, see the article in the Journal of the IAWM 28/1 (2021): 2-5.JOURNAL OF THE IAWM41 Jane O’Leary Four recordings that include music by Jane O’Leary have been released since October 2021. Incantations [Silenzio della Terra] DAD RECORDS (OCTOBER 2021) With Anna Lisa Pisanu, flute, and Filippo Lattanzi, percussion. It includes Silenzio della Terra by O’Leary. https://bfan.link/incantations a terrible beauty DIATRIBE RECORDS (OCTOBER 2021) With Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble, Sinead Hayes, conductor. It includes beneath the dark blue waves by O’Leary plus works by Rhona Clarke, Grainne Mulvey, Amy Rooney, and others. https://diatriberecords.bandcamp. com/album/a-terrible-beauty The Tiger and the Clover BLUE GRIFFIN RECORDING (FEBRUARY 2022) With Wendy Case, violin. It includes No.19 by O’Leary plus works by Judith Shatin, Judith Lang Zaimont, Sungji Hong, Diana Rotaru, and others. https://youtu.be/ypFRTknbIWo MEM PHASMA MUSIC, RELEASED BY NAXOS (APRIL 2022). The album presents the world pre- miere recording of 15 works by 13 contemporary composers of music for flute and/or saxophone. It includes echoing voices by O’Leary, performed by Iwona Glinka, alto flute solo. www. naxosdirect.com/items/mem-578175 Elena Ruehr: Icarus—and other music by Elena Ruehr AVIE RECORDS, AV2502 (APRIL 2022) The album includes String Quartet No. 7: “A Thousand Cranes,” which evokes experiences and resilience of children in wartime, including the internment of Japanese in American camps, and her own father’s escape from Nazi Germany (Delgani String Quartet with guest second violin Tom Stone). Insect Dances: Suite for String Quartet No. 8 depicts a diverse family of bugs engaged in an impish dinner party (Arneis Quartet). Inspired by T. S. Eliot’s The Worlds Revolve, the work conjures elements both ancient and prescient (Donald Berman, piano, Borromeo String Quartet). The title track, Icarus for clarinet and string quartet, centers on the Greek mythological charac- ter’s excitement as he builds his wings of wax and dares to fly, rather than his dark demise as he flies too close to the sun (Jon Manasse, clarinet; Borromeo String Quartet). L’Ombra Illuminata. Donne nella musica A research project titled L’Ombra Illuminata. Donne nella musica (Iluminating Shadows. Women in Music) was founded in 2015 by Professors Angela Annese and Orietta Caianiello of the Conservatorio “N. Piccinni” of Bari, Italy, to develop yearly playlists of music by women composers; this is the first of its kind in Italy. The project has successfully helped to shed light on the extraordinary and unrecognized contribution of women’s musical creations. Over the past seven years, L’Ombra Illuminata has presented works by 83 women composers, with the participation of 39 teachers, 76 students, and 30 guest artists and scholars. On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, as a symbolic con- tribution to the worldwide celebration of women, a set of 15 videos, entirely dedicated to music by women composers, was posted on the YouTube channel of the conservatory. 1 Thirteen videos were shot during the pandemic, when the public was not allowed in concert halls. The two orchestral performances are live recordings of the final concert given by students in the conducting class. The videos include works by Juliane Reichardt, Katharine Eggar, Elisabeth von Herzogenberg, Clara Kathleen Rogers, Susan Spain-Dunk, Louise Charpentier, Louise Talma, Sofia Gubaidulina, Kaija Saariaho, Grazyna Bacewicz, Grace Williams, Giulia Recli, Jeanne Behrend, Luise Adolpha Le Beau, and Lizabeth Lutyens. Many more composers will be added to the playlist for the perfor- mances to be presented from May to October 2022. For more information, consult the web pages of the “N. Piccinni” Conservatory. 2 1https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0vABf--Xjjou4pov0Jqvq_5ZuCxntzvP 2https://it-it.facebook.com/pg/conservatorio.piccinni.bari/posts/?ref=page_internal and https://www.consba.it/it/5997/l-ombra-illuminata-donne-nella-musica Rain Worthington: Passages Through Time NAVONA RECORDS NV6398, DIGITAL FORMAT (MARCH 2022) In Passages Through Time, composer Rain Worthington explores the mystery of instrumental music’s ability to com- municate the universality of human experiences. She invites the listener into the realm of the nonverbal to reveal our primal commonality, directly touching the heart and soul with music that is delicate and subtle, yet pow- erful and transporting. This collection of both chamber and orchestral music includes two new recording releases: Resolves for solo cello performed by Carmine Miranda and the premiere recording of Dreaming Through Fog for orchestra, written during the autumn of 2020 and recorded by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Stanislav Vavřínek, conductor. It also includes an encore release of Balancing on the Edge of Shadows from violinist Audrey Wright’s debut album Things in Pairs.42VOLUME 28, NO. 2 • 2022 Woven in Time: Contemporary Orchestral Works NAVONA NV6369, DIGITAL (OCTOBER 2021) The album includes Marilyn Bliss’s Veils, which was inspired by a group of paintings from the 1950s by the great American abstract painter Morris Louis, one of the leaders of the Color Field movement. Louis devised a tech- nique of staining the canvas, allowing the colors to mingle and to keep sep- arate their identities, achieving his goal of unifying figure and ground. The results are paintings of delicate, veil-like translucence. Bliss translated some of these techniques and images into music. Winds are in pairs and usu- ally appear together, purifying their colors; melodic lines in the strings are seamlessly passed from section to sec- tion; quasi-canonic passages create increasingly dense, but still translucent “veils” of sound. Throughout the piece, the principal oboe is the protagonist. It sometimes seems to stand aside, observing, reflecting, only to be swept back into the flow of the piece. Veils is performed by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, with Jiri Petrdlik, conducting. The recording also includes works by Richard E. Brown, Scott Brickman, Jay Anthony Gach, and Joseph T. Spaniola. CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR IAWM JOURNAL We are working on the summer and fall 2022 issues of the Journal of the IAWM, and we hope to hear from you. EVE R. MEYER Due Dates Major articles are due by June 15 and September 15 and should be submitted to me at evemeyer45@gmail.com. Short articles and other information: June 30 and September 30 (or sooner). Members News should be submitted to Anita Hanawalt: anita@hanawalthaus.net. The column is an excellent way to keep in touch, so please do not hesitate to inform us about your recent performances, publications and other musical activities. Since our space is limited, we prefer that you not send lengthy lists of performers. Reports ■ Women-in-music activities from our sister organizations ■ Women in music festivals ■ Women in music initiatives ■ IAWM committees and board members ■ IAWM information Reviews CD and book reviews should be submitted to our Review Editor, Laura Pita. If you would like to have your book or recording reviewed in the Journal, contact Laura: laurapita830@gmail.com Awards If you have received a major award, please send the information to me for the Journal’s “Award Winners” column. Advertisements: As a benefit of membership, you can place an ad at a reduced rate! And if you are a member of any organizations that would benefit from the exposure the Journal can provide, please encourage them to take advantage of our inexpensive rates. Ads should be camera-ready, in a graphic file. Graphic files should be 300 or higher resolution and saved at the highest quality; do not use rzw compression. Announcements Please send announcements to me of recently released recordings and publica- tions, and announcements about upcoming music festivals or other special events. Letters to the editor. Suggestions for future issues. IAWM Journal 2023 We are currently accepting proposals for articles for the 2023 journal issues. They will be judged by members of the Journal Board. Please note: If you have moved recently, be sure to change the address information on the IAWM website. Be sure your membership is up-to-date and invite your friends, colleagues and students to join. Women and Music Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture is an annual journal of scholarship about women, music, and culture. It is published for the International Alliance for Women in Music by the University of Nebraska Press. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines and approaches, the refereed journal seeks to further the understanding of the relationships among gender, music, and culture, with special attention being given to the con- cerns of women. The publication is not included as part of IAWM membership. For information, see the journal’s websiteJOURNAL OF THE IAWM43 REPORTS Diana Cotoman, who worked on ideas for arranging a flute trio con- sisting of two flutes and a bass flute; Jingchao Wang, who worked on a solo flute piece and discussed ideas for portraying narrative in solo instru- mental music; and Camille Kiku Belair, who workshopped a graphic score. The organizing team consisted of Sara Constance and Catherine Bevan, both ACWC/ACC members and Matthew Fava from the Canadian Music Centre. The workshop was held on Zoom and was open to the public; an audio technician was hired to record the pieces for the participants. It was a first for the organization and is felt to have been a real success. The association is looking to build on this in the future. The ACWC/ACC is looking forward to continuing to grow its membership, increase its activities and raise its pro- file in Canada and internationally. Join us on our very active Facebook page: Association of Canadian Women Composers (ACWC/ACC) or follow us on Twitter @ACWComposers 2. Association of Canadian Women Composers/ L’Association Compositrices Canadiennes DIANE BERRY Julia Mermelstein is the new chair of the ACWC/ACC. The organization had seen substantial growth in num- bers and activities during Carol Ann Weaver’s term, so Julia takes the reins of an active and vibrant organization, with a current membership of over one hundred composers. After cele- brating their 40th anniversary in 2021 with a number of activities new to the ACWC/ACC, such as online con- certs, panels, monthly playlists, and member interviews, there is a desire amongst the board and the member- ship to build on the past year. With the growth and changes over the past few years, the ACWC/ACC decided a new board position was needed. Emily Hiemstra is now the first Outreach Manager, a position that involves organizing a team to update and maintain the various social media platforms. It means she will be focusing on engaging with both the ACWC/ACC’s ever-growing membership, as well as connecting with the broader commu- nity, including other arts organizations, educational institutions, composers, and performers. In February 2022, the ACWC/ACC joined with the Canadian Music Centre and the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra to hold a workshop for composers of flute music, as part of the SPO’s online festival of flute music by women. Two composer/performers, Sophie Lang and Anh Phung, worked closely with four composers on their works for flute. The composers par- ticipating were Coreen Morsink, who workshopped a piece for bass flute; Black Identities on the Operatic Stage: A Symposium with Music TESSA LARSON On Saturday, March 26, 2022, the University of North Carolina-Greensboro hosted an all-day event on Black opera, organized by UNCG musicology pro- fessor Elizabeth L. Keathley and NC State University faculty Kristen Turner, as part of Keathley’s retirement celebration. The event included a sym- posium of scholarly papers held in the auditorium of UNCG’s Weatherspoon Art Museum, with a lunchtime oppor- tunity to view the Weatherspoon’s current exhibit of the Black American conceptual artist Lorraine O’Grady (b. 1934). After a festive reception at the local Oden Brewery (an event sponsor), the day concluded with a recital of excerpts from operas by Black composers at the Tew Recital Hall in UNCG’s School of Music. As Gayle Murchison (William and Mary) articulated in her paper (see below), operas by Black composers are not isolated accomplishments, but rather constitute a substantial tradition. While Murchison harked back only to the early twentieth century, the oldest opera represented in the eve- ning recital was composed in 1777 by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint- Georges (1745–1799). The symposium was distinguished by a keynote presentation from Naomi André (University of Michigan), America’s foremost scholar of Black opera, and a featured presentation by Paula Marie Seniors (Virginia Tech). Other presenters came from Michigan, Florida, Iowa, and the United Kingdom. Taken together, the research pre- sented in the symposium showed not only a history of Black excellence in opera, but also how Black composers, singers, dancers, managers, and insti- tutions have challenged the white supremacy that has dominated every aspect of our society, including our cultural institutions.44VOLUME 28, NO. 2 • 2022 both Anderson and Dunham were shut out of the Houston Grand Opera (1975) and future productions. The silencing of the Black creators in favor of white ones has enormous ramifications not only for the creators themselves, but also for communities they represent. Cody M. Jones’s (University of Michigan) presentation compared two tellings of the Amistad narrative—the rebellion of illegally enslaved Africans aboard the ship Amistad—both of which appeared in 1997. Analyzing both image and music, Jones argued that the oper- atic Amistad, composed by Anthony Davis on a libretto by Thulani Davis, represented the African mutineers as individual, complex characters, his- torical actors with a certain amount of agency, while Steven Spielberg’s Hollywood film represented them as largely inarticulate beneficiaries of white men’s heroism. Not only who gets to tell the narra- tives of Black experience, but how we classify those narratives was central to Gayle Murchison’s paper on “Topoi and Taxonomies of the African-American Opera Tradition.” In her thought-pro- voking presentation, Murchison traced a throughline from 1910 to the present that constitutes a Black opera tradi- tion, and recognized recurring topoi within that repertoire, such as social justice and Afrofuturism, which are distinct from white opera. Murchison’s call to unlearn exclusionary classifica- tions and relearn those that account for Black musical experience extended to music education. She noted (as had Cuyler earlier) that the Black church has served the role of a conservatory of Black music. Two remote presentations considered operas by Black women composers: Kendra Preston Leonard, who has cre- ated a working group to recover and edit the unpublished operas of Julia Perry (1924–1979), analyzed Perry’s 1964 opera The Selfish Giant with respect to the composer’s social posi- tion and international experience as a Black American during the Cold War. 1 1 See the article on Perry’s Stabat Mater else- where in this issue. Leonard highlighted Perry’s distinctive use of minimalism and serialism. Jane Forner (University of Aberdeen, Scotland) reported on the dramatic increase of digital opera during the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on the aesthetic and collaborative dimen- sions of two digital “opera shorts,” Blessed (Courtney Bryan and Tiona Nekkia McClodden, 2020) and Brown Sounds (Ayanna Witter-Johnson and Raehann Bryce-Davis, 2021). Forner analyzed these creators’ approaches to representing Black history and the events of 2020. Naomi André’s keynote, “Writing Opera, Singing Blackness,” drew together the threads of the various conference presentations, adding insights from her own scholarship to represent the current state of the field in Black opera composition, performance, and scholarship. The best-known American scholar on Black opera and first Scholar in Residence at the Seattle Opera, André has published a mono- graph based on her opera research in the U.S. and South Africa (Black Opera: History, Power Engagement, 2018) and co-edited a collection of essays (Blackness in Opera: How Race and Blackness Play Out in Opera, 2014), among other publications. The opening presentation by Antonio C. Cuyler (Florida State University) on Black managers in the United States revealed the importance of Black impresarios and administrators not only to the production of Black opera, but also to opera’s ability to engage Black audiences. Cuyler pointed to the dearth of research in this crucial part of the story of Black opera, but also the difference it makes to have African Americans in leadership roles in cultural institutions. He noted the distinction between “outreach” (come buy what we’re selling) and “commu- nity engagement,” which seeks to learn about community perspectives and how they intersect with opera’s artistic purpose. This principle could be ben- eficial to apply across the enterprise of opera more generally, especially for those institutions that wish to tran- scend their reputation as a preserve of white elites. Several other papers also took up the theme of Black excellence among administrative or creative teams behind the composers and singers of Black opera, what Naomi André has termed Black opera’s “Shadow Culture.” Cody Norling (University of Iowa) pre- sented his research on community networks of the short-lived South Side Opera Company of 1920s Chicago, and Lena Leson showed the Black creative contributions to opera by dancers and choreographers. Leson’s paper focused on Porgy and Bess and discussed dancer John Bubbles’s creation of the role of Sportin’ Life, and other dancers, including the universally admired poet Maya Angelou (1928-2014), who danced and played the role of Ruby in a 1950s tour of Porgy and Bess sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Paula Marie Seniors discussed the orig- inal interracial team that produced the 1972 world premiere of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha (1911) in Atlanta, including the Black composer and orchestrator T.J. Anderson and choreographer and stage director Katherine Dunham. However, Seniors argued, white musi- cologist Vera Brodsky Lawrence, who had co-edited Treemonisha, gained control of its performance rights, and Naomi André’s keynote, “Writing Opera, Singing Blackness,” drew together the threads of the various conference presentations, adding insights from her own scholarship to represent the current state of the field in Black opera composition, performance, and scholarship. —TESSA LARSONJOURNAL OF THE IAWM45 André highlighted milestones and figures in the history of Black opera in America, such as Marian Anderson, her performance at the Lincoln Memorial (1939), and her later role as Ulrica in Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera (1955), the first role sung by an African American at the Metropolitan Opera. Despite its historical elitism, exclusions, and offensive representations, André noted, opera’s emotional power has been harnessed by Black singers, com- posers, and others to dramatize the full humanity of the Black characters and narratives it represents. She noted that opera has “met the moment” fol- lowing a period of racist backlash and the rise of #BlackLivesMatter with three premieres of Black operas in 2019: Anthony Davis’s The Central Park Five; Jeanine Tesori’s Blue; and Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the first opera by a Black composer to be produced at the Met. There is nothing like a live performance to cap off a day of learning new musical knowledge: the evening Recital of Arias and Excerpts from Operas by Black Composers fulfilled a pedagogical as well as an artistic purpose. The concert repertoire spanned the period from Bologne’s eighteenth–century Scena from Ernestine (mentioned above) to an aria from Terence Blanchard’s 2013 opera Champion and included two compositions by women composers, Tania León (b. 1943) and Rosephanye Powell (b. 1962). More than half of the arias and duets performed were from five different operas composed by William Grant Still (1895-1978), most of them on texts written by his spouse, Verna Arvey (1910-1987). Several of the singers were out-of-town guests (soprano Dr. Allison Upshaw, Stillman College; tenor Namarea Randolph-Yosea, University of Houston; and soprano Sequina DuBose, Charlotte, NC), and others were graduate students in UNCG’s opera program (Detra Davis, Reginald Powell, and Zachary Taylor). All arias and duets were performed with a collab- orative pianist, all of them graduate students, alums, or staff accompanists at UNCG (Patricia García Gil, Rebecca Oden, Suzanne Polak, Jiawei Qu, and Tony Sanders). Professor Alexander Ezerman played the cello part for “Oh, Yemanja” from Tania León’s A Scourge of Hyacinths (1994). The beauty of the performances says much about the excellence and importance of the Black composers and librettists, but it also speaks well of the talent and professionalism of the performers, of the UNCG students’ musical education, and of Dennis Hopson’s excellent management of the Tew Recital Hall. The event was funded by a number of entities across the UNCG campus, including the Weatherspoon Art Museum, the School of Music, the African American and African Diaspora Studies Program, the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, The Lloyd International Honors College, the Office of Research and Engagement, and a grant from the Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, as well as in-kind donations by Oden Brewing Company. 46th Annual National Women’s Music Festival June 30-July3, 2022 Marriott Madison Hotel Middleton, Wisconsin National Women’s Music Festival Orchestra The celebration of women in classical music began with the 1983 Festival Chamber Orchestra and classical music series and was revived with the 2012 reprise performance of Kay Gardner’s A Rainbow Path. The NWMF Orchestra Women Composers Series has actively sought to collaborate with contempo- rary women composers and to bring them to the Festival. Recent examples include the commission and premiere of The Initiate by Mary Watkins, the presentation of The Journey of Phillis Wheatley by Nkeiru Okoye, the works and artistry of composer and flutist Valerie Coleman, and the wonderfully evocative compositions of Alice Gomez. We also perform works by earlier women composers whose personal stories, creativity, talent, and perse- verance are inspirational. Women composers, conductors, and performers continue to be vastly underrepresented within classical music, and we are thrilled to present their work to you as an important part of our musical and cultural herstory. Come hear the Festival Orchestra on July 2, 2022, as we return to Saturday evening’s SheRocks! stage with a very special program featuring music by renowned jazz guitarist Mimi Fox and the world premiere of Remember for orchestra and women’s voices by Cara Haxo, winner of the NWMF Emerging Composers Competition. Remember sets to music the haunting words of Joy Harjo, poet laureate of the United States. Led by award-winning music director and conductor Nan Washburn, the NWMF Orchestra celebrates the diversity of women’s musical expression through the presentation of works by women composers past and present. For information: https://www.nwmf.info/festival-info/ Join the IAWM Please encourage your colleagues and students to join the IAWM and invite them to visit our new website at iawm.org. Ask your university library to subscribe to the Journal of the IAWM. To meet the goals of our organization, we need to con- tinue to enlarge and strengthen our membership. 46VOLUME 28, NO. 2 • 2022 AWARDS AND HONORS The IAWM congratulates the following award winners! Chen Yi was the recipient of a 2022 World Choir Festival-WYCCAA 25th Anniversary Lifetime Achievement Award for Choral Music. The Award is presented to selected inter- national choral experts to honor their outstanding achievements and contributions to the choral field. Maria Guinand of Venezuela was also a recipient. Jennifer Higdon and Annea Lockwood were elected to join the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters and were inducted into the Academy during its annual ceremony on May 18, 2022. Membership is limited to 300 architects, visual artists, com- posers, and writers who are elected for life and pay no dues. The honor of election is considered the highest form of recognition of artistic merit in the United States. Menstrual Rosary, a video by Stefania de Kenessey, won four awards this year: a merit award in the experi- mental category in the 2022 Winter LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival, semi-finalist in the London Indie Short Festival, Semi-Finalist in the Rotterdam Independent Film Festival, and semi-finalist in the Paris Women’s Festival of Ontario. Menstrual Rosary is a theater-performance piece in which two women dress like nuns and recite the rosary, but they wear bright red lipstick. The piece veers off period- ically into bits and pieces of ads for feminine care products. The text was co-authored by feminist philosopher Chiara Bottici and poet provocateur Vanessa Place. The work was commis- sioned for the launch of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Institute (GSSI) at The New School. (https://youtu.be/ UZOIR4wLdFI) Catherine Lee’s CD Remote Together has been nominated for a 2022 Juno Award in the Classical Album of the Year—Solo category. The recording showcases her performances on the oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn. The disc was reviewed by Anna Rubin in the Journal of the IAWM 27/2 (2021): 36-37. María Eugenia León won the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra (OFGC) Composition Award for Female Composers, First Edition, this February. The winning work, titled Busca la alegría (Look for Joy), was premiered by the OFGC, under the direction of Karel Mark Chichon, on Friday, March 11 at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The jury members were conductor and com- poser Gloria Isabel Ramos Triano, composer Laura Vega, and Maestro Chichon. León received a prize of 2,000 euros and a diploma. Shao Suan Low won the annual UK Songwriting Contest 2021 in the Melody Only category for her song All This Time. On March 18, 2022, Marta Ptaszynska received a high award: the Commander Cross of the Republic of Poland for outstanding achievements in the field of music composition. The award was presented at the Polish Consulate in Chicago and was followed by the monographic concert of her music performed by the Zafa Collective, an excellent and energetic group of young musicians. The concert included six works: Red Rays, Graffito, White Shadows, Lullaby for Benjamin, The Gates of Light, and Sappho Songs. The link to the concert is on the webpage of The Zafa Collective, and it is available on YouTube. Leah Reid was awarded a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition. The University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition (CCCC) appointed composer and pianist Ania Vu as the 2022-23 Postdoctoral Researcher at the rank of Instructor in the Division of the Humanities. Vu will develop new works to be performed by the Grossman Ensemble and other guest artists during the upcoming season. She will also teach an under- graduate course, provide composition lessons, and participate in the Center’s workshops and events. Betty Wishart was awarded an Artist Support Grant from the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County. She was also selected as a semi-finalist in the Composition-Instrumental divi- sion of the American Prize. Danaë Xanthe Vlasse, Grammy Award Winner Danaë Xanthe Vlasse’s Mythologies won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Inspired by her father’s Greek heritage, Vlasse tells a story of ancient kings, heroes, and divinities, and of the destructive nature of seduc- tion and lust as well as the divine power of true love’s destiny. The album has seven songs for two soprano soloists and instrumental ensemble and was released by Cezanne in August 2021. Mary Dawood Catlin wrote an enthusi- astic review of the album in the Journal of the IAWM 27/2 (2021): 38-39. Danaë Xanthe Vlasse (center) and soprano soloists Sangeeta Kaur and Hila Plitmann. Next >