“Dead white men still dominate classical music,” writes Jenna Ross in Friday’s (3/9) Star Tribune (Minneapolis). But increasingly, Minnesota arts groups are “funding, featuring and staging works penned by women. This week, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is putting on a festival bursting with female composers, historical and living…. In an interview, two people who help design the [Minnesota Orchestra’s] programming teased big progress in the coming season—set to be announced next week…. Its classical series will include five works by women, including a symphony by Florence Price [in photo]…. The inclusion of so many pieces by women is the result of a yearslong internal process,” said Kenneth Freed, who chairs the orchestra’s artistic advisory committee. For the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s “Beethoven/5 project, which pairs newly composed piano concertos with the Beethoven pieces that inspired them, two of the five composers are women. This Wednesday, flutist/composer Nathalie Joachim will perform a piece she composed with the voices of Haitian women, electronics and a string quartet…. Next comes four days of SPCO concerts featuring music by Nadia and Lili Boulanger…. Their audiences seem hungry for new work,” said SPCO artistic director Kyu-Young Kim. The article also covers upcoming works by Laura Kaminsky and Paola Prestini at Minnesota opera companies.
Posted March 12, 2018
