International Women’s Day Concert

International Women’s Day is March 8, 2019, and I am celebrating some great music written by women in a concert of works by female composers at Coastal Carolina Community College. An all-woman composers concert program is not without controversy. I did a lot of research and thought a lot about the message I wanted to promote. In some ways I agree with Amy Beth Kirsten that we should “let the ‘woman composer’ rest in peace,” as she stated in her NewMusicBox article, “The ‘Woman Composer’ is Dead.” Female composers are not a sub-group of composers. We are composers. I also agree with Kristin Kuster in her New York Times Opinionator blog post, “Taking Off My Pants” that, “We all have a responsibility to pave a more gender-balanced road for the younger generations who will sustain our culture of music writing as a living form of art.”

I write music because I love creating, and I have something to say. I do not write because I am a woman, but my experiences as a woman shape what I write. Being a woman is a part of my identity. I cannot speak for the other performers on the concert, but I can say I am performing Lori Laitman’s song cycle, Living in the Body, because it is great music (and because I finally convinced by colleague, Ayumi Nakamae, that we could and should perform this work). It is important that the students I teach in the classroom see themselves in the department’s concert programming. Of course one concert of works by female composers will not change the imbalance traditionally seen on the concert stage, but it is one small step. I will continue to perform great works by female composers (and composer with diverse backgrounds) and continue to write my best music.

With all that said, come celebrate music written by women at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 8 in Bodenhamer Auditorium.

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