Amy Beach, one of many American composers featured in A Century of Women in Music
As part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the right of women to vote in the New York State, the “All Stars” from the studio of Eastman Professor of Piano Tony Caramia will be presenting a special concert of works by American-based women composers written over the past hundred years. A Century of Women in Music takes place Tuesday, March 7, at the Hochstein Performance Hall, 50 North Plymouth Avenue.
The concert will feature solo, four-hand, and two-piano works by the American composers Amy Beach, Dana Suesse, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Judith Lang Zaimont, Margaret Garwood, Libby Larsen, and Amanda Harberg. Many of these female composers were very prominent in their own time but forgotten soon after their deaths, and only recently rediscovered and re-explored. Others are prominent names in contemporary American music.
A Century of Women in Music also includes two newly-commissioned works by two Eastman women composers, Jessie Chang and Jon Lin Chua, as well as a fun rendition of Muriel Pollock’s “Rooster Rag” arranged for two pianos, twelve hands by Professor Caramia.
Florence Price
Here’s the complete program:
Rooster Rag (1917) by Muriel Pollock (1895-1971)
Improvisations, Op. 148 (1938) by Amy Beach (1867-1944)
110th Street Rhumba (1941) by Dana Suesse (1909-1987)
“Nimble Feet” from Dances in the Canebrakes (1953) by Florence Price (1887-1953)
Troubled Waters (1967) by Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)
“Lazy Beguine’ from Snazzy Sonata (1972) by Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945)
“March” from Suite (1995) by Margaret Garwood (1927-2015)
Gavel Patter (2004) by Libby Larsen (b. 1950)
“At Home” and “At Play” from Tenement Rhapsody (2005) by Amanda Harberg (b. 1973)
All the “All-Stars” reunite for the world premieres of The Maverick (2017) by Jon Lin Chua (b. 1986) and Revolutionary Attitude (2017) by Ching-Shan Jessie Chang (b. 1994)
Libby Larsen
The student musicians are:
Sean Calhoun (DMA, composition; Nashville, TN)
Megan Ring (Master’s, music education; Baltimore, MD)
Ching-Shan (Jessie) Chang (Senior, composition; Taipei, Taiwan)
Jon Lin Chua (Senior, composition; Singapore)
Sophia Koukoulas (Senior, music education; Wantagh, NY)
Tahlia Furman Cott (Senior, music education; Redding, CT)
Daniel Sawler (Junior, composition; Rochester, NY)
Rainamei Luna (Junior, music education; Orlando, FL)
Teresa Shyr (Junior, music education; Fort Lee, NJ)
Jing Tian (JT) Ngiaw (Sophomore, music education; Kemayan, Malaysia)
Lizhu (Carol) Lu (Sophomore, music education; Guangdong, China)
Haotian Yu (Freshman, composition; Ottawa, Canada)