{"id":44977,"date":"2017-05-02T20:45:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T00:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=44977"},"modified":"2017-05-02T21:31:19","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T01:31:19","slug":"hot-take-female-composers-in-musical-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/05\/02\/hot-take-female-composers-in-musical-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"HOT TAKE | Female Composers In Musical Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The percent of music programmed by major U.S. orchestras composed by women.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Y<\/span>esterday American composer Mohammed Fairouz published an article on National Public Radio\u2019s website entitled, \u201cDon\u2019t Hire Me. Hire a Female Composer Instead<\/a>.\u201d In this article, Fairouz divulged the shocking statistic that only 1.8 percent of music programmed by major U.S. orchestras was written by women.<\/p>\n

Fairouz points out some obvious facts about the classical music world, saying that, \u201cWhen it comes to concert music, we may be engaging with the only profession that actively discriminates against the living in favor of the dead.\u201d The majority of classical music programmed by most major institutions was written over a hundred years in the past, when the most celebrated classical music was written by men.<\/p>\n

But even in the past, we have numerous talented female composers whose compositions have long been overshadowed by their male colleagues. In March, The Guardian revealed that \u201cEaster Sonata,\u201d a complex and masterful composition originally attributed to Felix Mendelssohn was in fact written by his sister<\/a>, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel. Along with Robert Schumann, we have Clara Schumann, an immensely talented composer, not to mention Alma Mahler, also a skilled composer, alongside Gustav. And of course, many of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century, including Aaron Copland, Astor Piazzola, Virgil Thomson and Philip Glass, were taught by Nadia Boulanger.<\/p>\n

But history aside, how is Toronto\u2019s musical community doing when it comes to presenting female composers?<\/p>\n

If we start with an examination of music of the past, earlier this year the Royal Conservatory of Music\u2019s Glenn Gould School presented Cendrillon<\/em> composed by the consummate artist Pauline Viardot, rather than offering the more famous versions of Cinderella<\/em> composed by Jules Massenet and Giaocchino Rossini.<\/p>\n

Although neither the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s 2016-2017 or 2017-2018 seasons offer compositions by female composers, the COC is actively pursuing gender equality in its new opera commissions. In 2019\/2020, audiences can look forward to a new commission for the COC by Ana Sokolovi\u0107, one of Canada\u2019s most celebrated composers.<\/p>\n

Earlier this season, Tapestry Opera presented Naomi\u2019s Road, <\/em>an opera composed by Ramona Luengen with a libretto by Ann Hodges, based on the Canadian children\u2019s novel by Joy Kogawa. A Canadian female trifecta.<\/p>\n

In the indie opera world, Bicycle Opera and Opera 5 both present works by female composers this season, with Opera 5\u2019s Suffragette<\/em>, a double bill by the largely forgotten Dame Ethel Smyth, and Bicycle Opera\u2019s premiere of the new opera Sweat<\/em> by Juliet Palmer.<\/p>\n

Despite controversy over a lack of gender equality<\/a> in last year’s TSO New Creations Festival, this season, the TSO has presented compositions by numerous female composers. These compositions include works by Cheryl L. Cooney, Jocelyn Morlock, celebrated throat singer and Canadian treasure Tanya Tagaq and composer Christine Duncan, new commissions from composers Nicole Liz\u00e9e and Cassandra Miller, and the list goes on.<\/p>\n

At the end of this month, new music lovers can look forward to Soundstreams\u2019 celebration of the music of South Korean female composer Unsuk Chin, as well as new works by female composers nurtured in its composer’s workshops at the 21C Festival.<\/p>\n

And just over a week ago, the Canadian Children\u2019s Opera Company presented a new opera by Canadian female composer Elizabeth Raum.<\/p>\n

Perhaps these numbers don\u2019t equate to total gender equality, but it\u2019s pretty encouraging to see how, at least in Toronto, the classical musical community is definitely on the right track.<\/p>\n

As our prime minister, Justin Trudeau would say; it is 2017, after all.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music news and reviews before anyone else finds out? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/u><\/a>\u00a0or <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/u><\/a> for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only 1.8 percent of music programmed by major U.S. orchestras is written by women. How does Toronto fare?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":44980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,14,18,9459,31,63],"tags":[1384,5973,5579],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/05\/1.8-PERCENT.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-bHr","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44977"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44994,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44977\/revisions\/44994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44977"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=44977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}