Pittsburgh Opera explores 900 years of work by women composers

Pittsburgh Opera will explore 900 years of music by women composers in an upcoming free concert.

Called “Women’s March,” the 55-minute program will stream on the opera’s YouTube channel at 7 p.m. March 26.

“Certainly, the opera has performed music by women composers before, but this is the first time for this kind of program, with all works by women,” said Chris Cox, the opera’s director of marketing and communications.

The theme was developed to coincide with Women’s History Month in March. The opera’s six resident artists, both women and men, will perform.

“The works were composed for a number of voice types — for example, one piece might be written for a baritone,” Cox said. “They’re not just to be performed or listened to by women.

“The concert will trace the arc of music over time, from the 1100s to the present time,” he said. “Some of these composers are still alive. They’re all fantastic composers who wrote beautiful music.

“The music is varied but all top-shelf, and the singing is amazing.”

Resident artist performers include Maire Therese Carmack, Madeline Ehlinger, Veronique Filloux, Jeremy Harr, Yazid Gray and Angel Romero. The program also will feature Pittsburgh Opera music staff associate coach and pianist James Lesniak and Head of Music Glenn Lewis.

The concert is directed by resident artist stage director Kaley Karis Smith.

The program includes works by these composers:

• Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179) — A mystic, healer, artist, scholar and composer. Opera traces its origin to her “dramma per musica,” Ordo Virtutum, the earliest surviving liturgical drama set to music.

• Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677) — Born in Venice, she was a popular performer who self-published eight volumes of her own compositions, more than any other musician of her time, all without the assistance of the church or a noble patron.

• Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805–1847), Alma Mahler (1879 -1964) and Clara Schumann (1819-1896) — All talented musicians and composers who were often overshadowed by their famous husbands.

• Pauline Viardot (1821–1910) — An opera singer and composer, she was one of the strongest musical presences in 19th-century France.

• Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857–1930) — A Scottish musician and scholar whose passion for preserving the traditional songs from the Gaelic-speaking islands of Scotland became her life’s work.

• Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) — A British-American composer and viola virtuoso, she was one of the first women to be a professional member of an orchestra.

• Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) and Lili Boulanger (1893–1918) — The sisters were both composers, performers and teachers in Paris during the early 20th century.

• Margaret Bonds (1913–1972) — Chicago-born African American composer who graduated from Northwestern University at a time when it was almost impossible for Black students to attend. An advocate for other Black artists, she is best known for her arrangements of traditional spirituals and frequent collaborations with Langston Hughes, and as the first Black artist to perform as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony in 1933.

• Libby Larsen (b. 1950) — One of today’s most prolific composers, who has already created more than 500 works including opera, chamber work and song cycles.

• Lori Laitman (b. 1955) — A contemporary American composer who has produced hundreds of pieces, including opera, choral work and art song, and who set the poetry of Pulitzer Prize-winner Mary Oliver to music.

“These composers have given us more than just beautiful music — they have used their talent and tenacity to ensure women have a place in the world of classical music,” said Rebekah Diaz, Pittsburgh Opera manager of community engagement and IDEA Initiatives. “They’ve had to navigate an industry and a world where women were not always respected as much as their male colleagues, but they chose to raise up their voices so that others could be heard.”

To receive email reminders with links to “Women’s March,” register at pittsburghopera.org.