As a woman and as a musician I stand fully behind Women's History Month. First, women fought to be taught music. Once music was considered a worthwhile pursuit for well-off ladies (in the parlour only, of course), they had to fight to perform, fight for the stage in the opera and the concert hall. And you would hope or maybe even expect that women would be much more welcomed as composers in this day and age. While there are many more being performed (especially in the new music/alt-classical/contemporary classical movement), the reality remains that female composers still fight for exposure, performance, and Aretha's most coveted commodity: R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Furthermore, it's amazing how many people, classical music devotees included, can't name a female composer other than perhaps Joan Tower.
So here are a few of my favorite living composers who happen to be women (and their works). Movers, shakers, wave-makers, iconoclasts, creators. Listen up.
(I'm getting a little minimalist on you here--just names and music. I don't want to color your expectations too much. I hope all with rococo tendencies can forgive me.)
Sofia Gubaidulina - Bassoon Concerto - CHAN9717
Emma Lou Diemer - Piano Quartet - LAN0328
Joan Tower - Wild Purple - 8.559215
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich - Fantasy for Harpsichord - TROY457
Tania Leon - Bailarin - BCD9239
Hilary Tann - Gardens of Anna Maria Lusia de'Medici - PH05019
Libby Larsen - Black Birds, Red Hills - INNOVA512
Julia Wolfe - Cruel Sister - CA-21069
Jennifer Higdon - On a Wire - ASO1001
Gabriela Ortiz - Altar de Neon - DOR-90245
Liza Lim - Weaver-of-Fictions - ABC4766439
Gabriela Lena Frank - HILOS - 8.559645
Lera Auerbach - Ballet for a Lonely Violinist - BIS-CD-1592
Augusta Read Thomas - Silhouettes - TROY855
Pro musica,
Mo
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