24 JANUARY

VÍTĚZSLAVA KAPRÁLOVÁ - CZECH REPUBLIC
BORN 24 JANUARY 

Vítězslava Kaprálová is generally considered an important representative of inter-war Czech music. Regarded once as one of the most promising composers of her generation, her memory was almost obliterated by the end of the twentieth century before it began to infiltrate our awareness again in the twenty-first. Today, there is no doubt that Kapralova's music has withstood the test of time with admirable ease, proving its relevance for new generations of musicians and music listeners. Kapralova's legacy should not be considered only a mere torso of "what could have been," for her catalog includes about fifty compositions in all genres: piano, chamber, orchestral, and vocal music.

In her short life, Kapralova composed more than fifty works in a variety of genres. Particularly well represented in Kapralova's oeuvre are her art songs. Together with the composer’s sophisticated works for the keyboard, they have remained the most vital part of the Kapralova repertoire. Kapralova's orchestral works are also well represented but lesser known and, with a few notable exceptions, have yet to be discovered by performers. They include two orchestral songs, two piano concertos, a sinfonietta, an orchestral cantata, a concertino, a ballet-suite for large orchestra, and a couple of minor classics for chamber orchestra. Relatively the least represented in Kapralova's catalog is chamber music but the compositions she did create in this genre are often remarkable, particularly her last opus - the ritornel for violoncello and piano.

♫ LISTEN 

Dubnoviá Preludia Op. 19 by Vítězslava Kaprálová

► THE KAPRALOVA SOCIETY 

WENDY MAE CHAMBERS - USA

BORN 24 JANUARY 

Wendy Mae Chambers is an American composer, currently living in Harvey Cedars, New Jersey. Chambers studied at Barnard College from 1971 to 1975, where she received her B.A. in music, and where she studied with Kenneth Cooper, Nicholas Roussakis, Jack Beeson and Charles Wuorinen. She earned her M.A. in composition at Stony Brook University in New York, where she studied between 1975 and 1977.

Her large-scale music events were inspired by the work of Christo and Andy Warhol, and the desire to reach an audience beyond traditional new music audiences. In addition, she knew John Cage well and her work 12 squared for twelve percussionists (1994) is a voodoo tone poem written in his memory. By staging works outside the concert halls and into the public sphere, she has succeeded in bringing her music outside the domain of specialists and academics.

Chambers is also well known for her work writing for and performing with the toy piano. In 1994, the New York Times commented, "Ms. Chambers is not only a composer, but also possibly the world's foremost virtuoso on the toy piano."

Currently she is working on a musical system and set of compositions based on the I Ching (Book of Changes), an ancient Chinese text, which led Cage to the develop the technique of "chance operations" in the 1950s.

♫ LISTEN 

Mass: Gradual by Wendy Mae Chambers

►WENDY MAE CHAMBER'S WEBSITE