LUKE VILLAVICENCIO
Special to The Leader
If someone asked you about classical music and composers, chances are you’ll likely think of “the greats”: Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn — the list goes on.
But how many of those who come to mind are women?
Many people will feel an immense sense of guilt when they fail to name even one.
This is completely common and makes sense when you delve into why these wildly talented women composers have had so little fame in the past.
This was one of the many topics that was touched on by the Claudette Sorel Visiting Artist Valerie Coleman, Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic JoAnn Faletta and our very own Dr. Emily Schaad in the recent Sorel Artist Roundtable Panel: Women in Music this past Thursday, Oct. 12.
“You just don’t have what it takes.”
This was how Valerie Coleman’s very first composition lesson went during her first semester at Boston University.
The statement’s harsh rhythm and dismissive certainty sounds like a line straight out of a movie.
She had been self-taught up to that point and was simply looking for any professional guidance, only to be met by a stiff professor who she later found out, “was going after all the women composers in the composition program.”
Injustice similar to this is precisely the kind that has persisted throughout the generations and ties a ball and chain on the legs of any wide-eyed young girl looking to create and express herself to the world.
JoAnne Faletta recalls looking into performing the music of Fanny Mendelssohn at a library only to be told, “the Mendolssohn family had given the directive that Fanny’s music was never to be shared because Felix was the composer and she wasn’t.”
Shock came over everyone’s faces in tandem after this was said.
“It was just so sad to me to think that she probably never thought of herself as a composer,” Faletta said. “We can’t let that happen.”
These stories given by the members of the roundtable are heartbreaking, but times have changed and things are looking up.
More and more conductors are open to adding female and minority composers on concert programs.
Just take a look at concerts around our very own campus; the Fredonia concert band, conducted by Carrie Pawelski and assistant conductor Devin Banning just recently put on a concert called “The Speed of Heat” with works by Nicole Piunno, Dana Wilson and Julie Giroux.
There will be multiple chamber and orchestral works by Coleman scattered across concert programs for this entire academic year.
“I think it’s an amazing time of opportunity to put women in the spotlight,” said Dr. Emily Shaad. “Young people are expecting to see some more diversity out of the composers they play [and] the performers they watch, and I love it.”
Some female composers to explore the works of (in addition to those previously mentioned) include Florence Price, Ashley Lucero, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Clara Schumann, Amy Beach and Barbara Strozzi.
Upcoming Fredonia School of Music Events (all available on the Fredonia School of Music Youtube channel after their concert date):
Video Game Orchestra – Wednesday, Oct. 18, 8 p.m. in King Concert Hall
Guest Artist Recital: Tony Caramia, piano – Thursday, Oct. 19, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall
Fredonia Jazz Orchestra – Friday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall
Fredonia String Chamber Ensembles – Monday, Oct. 23, 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall
Fredonia Clarinet Ensemble – Wednesday, Oct. 25, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall