If you're a choir director who posts a photo of all the songs you are doing this spring and all the composers happen to be white men, please feel free to reach out. I know some excellent rep you could try and have a resource to help find rep to broaden your programs. Happy Women's Hostory month!
So honored that a radio station is including songs from the album of the chamber choir I direct on their Women's History Month special programming. They referred to Voices of Concinnity as a "musically-adventurous ensemble". What others might see as adventurous, I perceive as the expectation.
"Repertoire shapes identity and belonging" was an assertion by Dr. Edryn Coleman this past weekend at a choir conference. With this statement in mind, ask yourself:
Is the choral music you select for your choirs serving your singers or the heirarchy?
Pleased to see that the Hartford Symphony has chosen a candidate from CT as a finalist, but disappointed that out of 200 candidates not one conductor who also happens to be a woman was chosen.
In the end, we are the same.
Where is the line between imitation being considered flattering or simply copying another's idea? Especially as it relates to the intellectual work of women? Asking for a friend.
Yes, you would be! Someone mentioned "Gilmore Girls" who gave away the writers weren't from NE each time they referenced a freeway. I am a CA native so I know the wrath my "the' brings in NE.
New England is lovely. Just don't insert "the" before the interstate name (like "the 84") or call it the freeway or they know you are an outsider
The music almost lost to history is some of my favorite to share.
Florence B. Price was first noted Black female composer to gain national status having composed over 300 works, many of which were only discovered in 2009.
Did you mean awesome composers who also happen to be women?
You should have seen their enthralled, beautiful faces as we sang. It will be really hard to have professional choirs without children's choirs. Arts are essential.
Sometimes, the most beneficial thing we can do as conductors is conduct less and trust the singers more.
Can't wait for this concert.
The human voice is just rad. While leading a conducting presentation yesterday, I was reminded how the timbre of a choir changes under a different conductor. Sometimes, the shift is minute, and other times, it is drastic, but it always seems subconscious on behalf of the singers.
Last night, I was asked where I direct choirs. After I responded, the singer said, "I hear great things coming out of NE Connecticut. Ever heard of 'Concinnity'?"
"Yes, yes I have. It is the choir I founded and serve as artistic director."
So glad we are being mentioned!
We celebrate the birth of Florence B. Price, who was a prolific composer whose music was never entered into the canon and was almost lost to history even though she was the first composer who was a Black woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra.
youtu.be/3qhS07P1tW4?...
A choir member just expressed that our choir rehearsal is the only place where folks are not on their phones.
Thanks, but it doesn't feel like enough right now. Many thanks to you for your incredible work amplifying composers that have been virtually unheard.
I made the decision in 2017 to start a women's choir because it was becoming apparent that women needed a space to be, sing, and grow. Never did I think it would be needed MORE.
If you sing and you're frustrated with the gender diversity of your group's rep, show this to your director. @conductor-sarah.bsky.social has done so much of the work for them already!
Thank you for your great work amplifying the voices of women.
Happy to share the wealth! There is so much good music to discover.
BREAKING: In response to our lawsuit, the National Endowment for the Arts will no longer force grant applicants to certify that they won't promote "gender ideology."
This is a big step toward defeating the NEA's unconstitutional censorship.
Happy IWD for those who celebrate. We should be marking it everyday, but alas.
BREAKING: We're suing to block the Trump administration from requiring artists who apply to the National Endowment for the Arts for funding to have to attest they won't use any funds to "promote” what the government deems to be “gender ideology."
This is a violation of the First Amendment.
This multi sectional work was composed by Marianna von Martines, who was an accomplished composer. For a context of when she composed, she was a contemporary of W.A. Mozart and a student of J. Haydn.
youtu.be/LEf6FNuQ7xU?...
For Women's History Month, we would like to introduce you a child prodigy who later fought for her music to be taken seriously, Maria Rosa Coccia (1759-1833) was a composer, teacher, and harpsichordist. She worked to convince everyone that women can write just as well as men
youtu.be/BhVWdajgvq4?...
Given the "Grow" scene with Milchik, perhaps that is the point they are trying to convey. I suppose we will find out.
Are you referring to the book "The death of Ivan Iylich"? I haven't read this book by Tolstoy, but did a quick search and the story represents a split between one's artifical life and an authentic life. I am sure this book was referenced twice in episode 7 for a reason.
I perform and share music composed by women all the time but sometimes folks listen more in March. This work was written my Matianna Martines, a contemporary of W.A. Mozart and student of J. Haydn..
youtu.be/LEf6FNuQ7xU?...