The New York Philharmonic has announced details of activities related to Project 19, its multi-season initiative marking the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Project 19’s core is the commissioning of works by 19 women composers, with six world premieres this February. On January 15, the Philharmonic and the nonprofit Catalyst will co-present a free webinar, Strategies for Career Advancement: The Importance of Sponsorship. With the New-York Historical Society, the orchestra is commissioning nineteen poems by women poets, with a free March 27 reading and discussion at the Society. In February, the Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s MetLiveArts series, and the Juilliard School will present a new site-specific staging of The Mother of Us All—the Virgil Thompson-Gertrude Stein opera about women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony—in the Museum’s American Wing. In February at David Geffen Hall, the New York Philharmonic Archives will present a multimedia installation examining the challenges women faced during the suffrage movement, focusing on harpist Stephanie “Steffy” Goldner, the first woman to join the Philharmonic. Seven Project 19 composers are mentoring seven female students in the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers Program, and students at Kaufman Music Center’s Special Music School High School are studying the music of the 19 composers. At Project 19 performances, members of the League of Women Voters of the City of New York provide voter registration services. Learn more at nyphil.org/project19.
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