Related performance
- Artist: Sean Fleming
- Date: 06/08/19
- Time: 7:30pm
- Venue: St. Patrick’s Church
- City: Newcastle
- Address: 32 Pond Road, PO Box 598, Newcastle, ME
- Venue phone: (207) 563-3240
- Country: United States
- Admission: $15, students free
- Age restrictions: All Ages
- More information
- Notes: The Tapestry Singers, directed by Beth Preston and accompanied by pianist Sean Fleming, present their spring concert on Saturday, June 8 at 7:30 and Sunday, June 9 at 5:00, at St. Patrick Church in Newcastle These concerts will feature songs from female composers. Learn more by reading some notes from the Tapestry Singers Director, Beth Preston: “Despite the symbolic role that Cecilia plays as patron saint of music, female composers are dramatically underrepresented on most choral programs and recordings.” John C. Hughes, December 3, 2014 Choral Director. I found an interesting statistical study that listed composers, titles, and conductors of All State Choirs in the Choral Journal. Hoping to glean titles for this program. I noticed a few things: 1. Outside of the fact that there are very few female composers on this list, there are barely a handful of titles for SATB. 2. Most of the compositions chosen for these festivals are for the SSAA choirs, which could give the impression that females only write for females. 3. The majority of conductors that programmed female composers were female conductors. So, I wondered if most American choral directors haven’t taken the time to discover the possibilities. And there are many! Two sources netted many ideas: the Hildegard Publishing Company, specializing in music of women composers, past and present and Orange County Women’s Chorus’ Choral Music by Women Composers database. I found that there is a wealth of SATB choral music by composers from the mid- twentieth centery forward. So, we will give a nod to early music (a chant by Hildegard von Bingen, and an Italian madrigal by Vittoria Aleotti) but most of the music is recent. It’s been a few-months’ journey of listening and culling to create a program of all female composers for Tapestry Singers that I hope will be appealing to the singers and their audiences.