ABOUT
The 2020 Collaborative Works Festival, The Women, commemorated the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which granted women the right to vote.
Featuring exclusively the works of women composers, the festival was held over four consecutive weekends in October 2020.
The festival spotlit music spanning over four and a half centuries, shedding light on the long history of musical pioneers who have been overlooked due to centuries of sexism. A wide range of composers were explored, from the first woman to have a book of her music published, Maddalena Casulana, to women composers of the Parisian Belle époque like Pauline Viardot, to 20th century composers such as Margaret Bonds and Florence Price, as well as some of the women composers of today, such as Stacy Garrop and Errollyn Wallen.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
“Those who doubt the power of music as a panacea in challenging times would have been convinced here…easily demonstrated why CAIC has emerged as one of the classiest vocal performance options in the city.”
PROGRAM I:
WOMEN OF THE BAROQue
The Festival’s first concert, Women of the Baroque, featured the works of the many overlooked women composers of the late Renaissance and Baroque period, including French composer Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre and Italian composer Maddalena Casaluna, who was the first woman in western music history to have an entire book of her musical compositions published.
ARTISTS
Amanda Majeski, soprano | Nicholas Phan, tenor | Anthony Reed, bass | Martin Davids & Ann Duggan, violins | Craig Trompeter, viola da gamba | Brandon J. Acker, lutes | Mark Shuldiner, harpsichord & organ
PROGRAM
MADDALENA CASULANA: Vagh’amorosi augelli
FRANCESCA CACCINI: O vive rose | Io mi distruggo | Chi desia di saper che cosa è Amore
ELISABETH JACQUET DE LA GUERRE: Nos veoux…Dormés, dormés from Le sommeil d’Ulisse
ANTONIA BEMBO: Passan veloci l’hore
BARBARA STROZZI: Un amante doglioso
ANTONIA BEMBO: Ha que l’absence
JULIE PINEL: Rossignol vous chantez
BARBARA STROZZI: Hor che Apollo, op. 8, no. 3
BARBARA STROZZI: Che si può fare, Op. 8, no. 6
PROGRAM II:
LES PARISIENNES
The Festival's second concert, Les Parisiennes, featured the works of the women composers trailblazing during the years of the Parisian Belle époque: songs which broke barriers, pushing past the domestic confines of Paris' salons to the city's grand, public concert halls.
ARTISTS
Janai Brugger, soprano | Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano | Nicholas Phan, tenor | Myra Huang, piano
PROGRAM
CÉCILE CHAMINADE: Ma première lettre
NADIA BOULANGER: selected songs
GERMAINE TAILLEFERRE: Six chansons françaises
PAULINE VIARDOT: selected songs
LILI BOULANGER: Clairières dans le ciel
PROGRAM III:
MODERN WOMEN
The Festival’s closing concert, Modern Women, showcased the work of some of today’s women composers, as well as the songs of American women composers of the 20th century.
ARTISTS
Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano | Nicholas Phan, tenor | Chris Kenney, baritone | Shannon McGinnis, piano
PROGRAM
MARGARET BONDS: Three Dream Portraits
IVA BITTOVÁ: Nezabudka (Midwestern Premiere)
RUTH CRAWFORD SEEGER: Home Thoughts
ERROLLYN WALLEN: Roundel (Midwestern Premiere)
SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER: How Graceful Things Are Falling Apart
STACY GARROP: In Eleanor’s Words
FLORENCE PRICE: Songs to a Dark Virgin