As the story from 1943 goes—composer Florence Price once wrote a letter to Maestro Serge Koussevitsky asking him to consider programming her music with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In introducing herself, she wrote: “To begin with, I have two handicaps, those of sex and race. Unfortunately, the work of a woman composer is preconceived by many to be light, froth, lacking in depth, logic, and virility. Add to that the incident of race—I have Colored blood in my veins—and you will understand some of the difficulties that confront one in such a position.”
More than likely, Koussevitsky never responded to her. Fortunately, times change and audiences are responding positively to changes in programming by American orchestras that feature past and current women composers. In Knoxville, Maestro Aram Demirjian has been introducing living women composers, such as Anna Clyne, Jessie Montgomery, and Caroline Shaw, to his programs, as well as composers from the 20th Century such as Price.
In what is certainly a major step forward in the expansion of the repertoire of composers and works, the League of American Orchestras, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, will commission works from six women composers and create a consortium of thirty orchestras spread over the U.S. to perform those works. Five orchestras will be paired with each composer. Performances will take place over the next two seasons starting in 2023. Lead orchestra pairings are as follows:
• Anna Clyne and The Philadelphia Orchestra
• Sarah Gibson and Sarasota Orchestra
• Angel Lam and Kansas City Symphony
• Gity Razaz and San Diego Symphony
• Arlene Sierra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• Wang Lu and New York Philharmonic
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra will be one of the thirty American orchestras in a pairing with Los Angeles-based Sarah Gibson and her work ‘to make this mountain taller’ with a performance in the 2023-24 KSO season. Other orchestras that will also be performing Gibson’s work will be Idaho State-Civic Symphony, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
“Championing the work of composers of our time has been at the core of the KSO’s artistic mission, and it brings all of us great pride to partner with the Toulmin Foundation in this laudable initiative,” KSO Music Director Aram Demirjian said. “I am so excited to be working with Sarah Gibson for the first time and eager to introduce her to audiences in East Tennessee.”
Click here for a complete list of the 30 participating orchestras.
