Women in Music Blog

She was born Marian Griswold Nevins on November 22, 1857, the feast day of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music.   Music was her gift.   Like many young women of her time and station, she traveled abroad to study piano.   In Frankfurt, Germany, she met a brilliant young American three years her junior, Edward MacDowell.   She became his student.   Love and marriage followed.   And Marian gave up any hope of a career in music to support her husband in his fledgling career as a composer.   In all likelihood, Marian MacDowell would have remained in the shadow of her celebrated husband.   But in 1905, Edward MacDowell fell ill, stricken with a debilitating nervous disease.   For some time the couple had considered how they could help the cause of young artists in America.   They had talked of turning their farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire, into a working retreat, a woodland sanctuary that offered inspiration and the peaceful seclusion so necessary for productivity.

I am writing a biography about composer, pianist, and pedagogue Louise Talma. The working title of this biography is “I am NOT a Woman Composer!” The Life and Music of Louise Talma (1906-1996) . I have an advance contract with the University of Illinois Press. Three more chapters, three more years (yes, my 12-month, full-time job takes lots of time). But now that I am about halfway through the book, the momentum is helping. Right now, I am writing Chapter IV which is built around the correspondence between Talma and Pulitzer Prize winner Thornton Wilder. Together they wrote a three-act grand opera, The Alcestiad . It was premiered in Germany in 1962 to twenty minutes of audience cheers, but has never been performed since or in the original language. Talma declared it "too expensive." I am writing this book because when I ask people how many twentieth century female composers they can name, I hear crickets. Talma is part of the fabric of twentieth century art musi

The International Alliance of Women in Music won the Champion of New Music Award!  About the Champion of New Music Award The Champion of New Music Award was established by the American Composers Forum (ACF) in 2005 as a national mark of recognition to honor individuals and ensembles that have made a significant and sustained contribution over time to the work and livelihoods of contemporary composers. It is made each year to individuals and/or organizations across a broad range of disciplines including, but not limited to, performance, commissioning, education, recording, and/or funding. Awardees are nominated and selected by the American Composers Forum Board of Directors. The award to the  International Alliance for Women in Music  was given at the IAWM Annual Concert on Saturday, October, 28, 2017 at the University of Kansas. YEAH!!  Let's celebrate a fellow group of Women interested in Music! for more information see: https://composersforum.org/about/champion-of-new-

Then you need to know about THIS opportunity for career development! Competition Overview National Sawdust (NS), with generous support from the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, is offering a $7,000 prize to two emerging female composers through its inaugural Hildegard Competition. In addition to the cash prize, winners will receive coaching from two critically acclaimed composers: NS Artistic Director Paola Prestini and NS Curator Angélica Negrón. Following this coaching, the works will be performed live and recorded in National Sawdust’s state of the art venue by Lidiya Yankovskya and the Refugee Orchestra at a public performance in Summer 2018. https://nationalsawdust.org/hildegard/

You need to know about this competition! Opera Grants for Female Composers Supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Opera Grants for Female Composers provide support for the development of new operas by women, both directly to individual composers and to OPERA America Professional Company Members, advancing the important objective of increasing diversity across the field.   https://operaamerica.org/content/about/grants.aspx?utm_source=OPERA+America+News&utm_campaign=414973a437-20171017_OGFC_Discovery&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a71a99cf69-414973a437-35621629#discovery

Susanna Mälkki brings more news to the Los Angeles Philharmonic http://beta.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-malkki-la-phil-review-20171030-story.html