Women in Music Blog

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/123907-womens-conducting-masterclass-marin-alsop-2018

A recording of her Viola Concerto and Oboe Concerto won in the Best Classical Compendium category!  Another notable woman in music who won a Grammy award was Barbara Hannigan, a soprano who won for her album entitle "Crazy Girl Crazy" in the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album category.  Women musicians were also represented in the results of the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance catagory, Conductor Patricia Kopatchinskaja conducted the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and they won with their album entitled Death & The Maiden .  Just in case you didn't catch the classical results at the awards ceremony, here is a great link that seperates out all of the awards given for classical music at the 2018 Grammy awards: https://www.wqxr.org/story/get-know-2018-grammy-awards-classical-nominees/?sf83548243=1

I doubt I'm the only person in the world who laments the death of the fantastic female author, Ursula K Le Guin.  One interesting fact I learned just recently is that she participated in writing an opera!  That intrigued me and even though the composer of the work is not female, I thought we should also recognize that some women in music are librettists!  So here's a link to the article where I learned about one of my literary heroes entering into the world of music by being an opera librettist: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ursula-le-guin-forgotten-space-opera-david-bedford

Today we celebrate the talents and contributions of Marin Alsop!!    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jan/29/exclusive-marin-alsop-appointed-first-female-artistic-director-of-orf-orchestra

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/musical-genius-how-a-violinist-cuts-up-the-career-template/2018/01/18/46c41b56-faea-11e7-8f66-2df0b94bb98a_story.html?utm_term=.0c4c77ebeafa

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1934, Deon Nielsen was living at Fort Clayton in the Panama Canal Zone around 1946, when her father was stationed there. She was already a pianist and, at age 12, had her first paying job as a ballet school accompanist. She and her family regularly attended concerts at the National Theater. At one, she heard pianist Arthur Rubinstein , and at another, pianist Gyorgy Sandor . "I even slipped backstage during intermission for their autographs," she remembers. Those great pianists inspired her to become a concert pianist herself. Nearly 60 years later, in June 2005 , Deon returned to Panama with her son, Dr. Berkeley Price, a clarinetist--this time to give a concert. "Returning to the site of my early ambition now completes a circle," she told the audience. Ironically, Gyorgy Sandor died later that year. Deon attended high school in San Francisco, and took lessons from C.W. Reid at the San Francisco Academy of Music. She accompa