31 OCTOBER 2019

ODALINE DE LA MARTINEZ - CUBA

BORN 31 OCTOBER

Odaline de la Martinez (born 31 October 1949) is a Cuban-American composer and conductor, currently residing in the UK. She is the artistic director of Lontano, and was the first woman to conduct at the BBC Promenade Concerts (the Proms) in 1984. As well as frequent appearances as a guest conductor with leading orchestras throughout Great Britain, including all the BBC orchestras, she has conducted several leading ensembles around the world, including the Ensemble 2e2m in Paris; the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra; the Australian Youth Orchestra; the OFUNAM and the Camerata of the Americas in Mexico; and the Vancouver Chamber Orchestra. She is also known as a broadcaster for BBC Radio and Television and has recorded extensively for several labels.

Odaline de la Martinez was born in 1949 in Matanzas and grew up in Jovellanos, a cane-sugar manufacturing town in the same province. After the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 her parents decided to send her and her sister to live with their aunt and uncle in the U.S.A. 

In 1984 Martinez became the first woman to conduct at a BBC Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. In 1987 she was awarded the Villa Lobos medal from the Brazilian government for her championing of the music of Heitor Villa Lobos and other Brazilian composers. Her continuing commitment to showcase the music of Latin America for UK and European audiences led her in 1989 to co-direct with Eduardo Mata VIVA! - a festival of Latin-American music - at London's South Bank Centre. In 1990 she was made a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and in 1992 she founded LORELT (Lontano Records Limited) with the intent of promoting the work of living composers and women and Latin American composers from all periods. The label has since released over 30 CDs to critical acclaim.

In the autumn of 2006 together with Lontano Ensemble she founded the London Festival of American Music aiming to introduce UK audiences to a broader spectrum of works from contemporary American and US-based composers, and it has continued to be celebrated biennially since then. Several major works have received their UK premieres there, including works by John Harbison, Marjorie Merryman, Daniel Asia, Peter Child and Roberto Sierra.

Source: Wikipedia and Composer Edition

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Canciones by Odaline de la Martinez

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ANNA-LENA LAURIN - SWEDISH
BORN 31 OCTOBER

Anna-Lena Laurin (born 1962) is a classical Swedish composer and pianist whose music often involves jazz improvisation in her orchestral works. She was commissioned to write Iphigenia (2009) for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and was named Jazz Composer of the Year by Swedish Radio in 2013. She frequently writes music in which her partner, the trumpet soloist Anders Bergcrantz, is able to perform.

Born in Halmstad on 31 October 1962, Laurin began her career as a jazz pianist and singer. As a classical composer, she has worked with orchestras including the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and NorrlandsOperan's Symphony Orchestra. Commissioned by Camerata Nordica and Musik i Syd for the 100th anniversary of the city of Eslöv, her Concerto for flute, strings and harp (2009) was nominated one of Sweden's most successful compositions of 2011. In 2013, Swedish Radio offered her the Jazz Composer of the Year Award "for her ability to create a successful crossover between the jazz’s and classical music’s language and the courage to write music from her heart without leeking at prevailing musical trends".

Some of her selected works are: Persephone (2011), for symphony orchestra and hammond quartet, prem. 2012; Concerto in memoriam, (2012), for tr, str, prem. 2014; God is not mute, (2011), for Mzs, pf, lyrics Björn Ranelid, (lyrics are available in Swedish, German, English, French); Quest, (2013); and others.

Source: Wikipedia, FST and Anna Lena Laurin

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Ser Du by Anna Lena Laurin

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30 OCTOBER 2019

JULIE RIVÉ-KING - USA

BORN 30 OCTOBER

Julie Rivé-King (30 October 1854 – 28 July 1937) was an American pianist and composer.

Julie Rivé-King was born on October 30, 1854 in Cincinnati, Ohio, of parents Caroline Staub Rivé and Léon Rivé. Her mother was a singer, teacher and composer who studied with Manuel Garcia in France, and her father was an artist and teacher.

Jullie took music lessons from her mother and appeared in recitals at age eight. She studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory with Henry Andrès and in 1870 in New York with Sebastian Bach Mills, William Mason, Francis Korbay and Dionys Pruckner. She also studied in Europe with Franz Liszt and Carl Reinecke and made her debut in Leipzig in 1873. She began a concert tour of Europe, but returned to the US when her father was killed in a railroad accident.

She made a debut in Cincinnati in 1874, officially debuted the next year with the New York Philharmonic and then toured the Eastern and Midwestern US. In 1876 she married Frank H. King, her manager, and began a career as a composer and teacher, though still working as a concert pianist. To enhance her reputation, King persuaded her to publish his own works under her name. During her lifetime six companies published compositions by King but bearing Rivé-King’s name. She moved to Chicago in 1990 and took a position at the Bush Conservatory.

Rivé-King composed mostly for piano. Her works are: Chopin's Introduction and Variations on 'La ci darem la mano', Op.2 transcription (1878); Gems of Scotland (1878); Hand in Hand (1878); On Blooming Meadows (1878); Pensées dansantes (1878); Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in A major transcription (1879) and others.

Source: Wikipedia and Encyclopedia

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Bubbling Spring by Julie Rivé-King

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GRACE SLICK - USA
BORN 30 OCTOBER

Grace Barnett Wing Slick (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, artist and former model, widely known in rock and roll history for her role in San Francisco's burgeoning psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. Her music career spanned four decades. She performed with The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship. She also had a sporadic solo career. Slick provided vocals on a number of well-known songs, including "Somebody to Love," "White Rabbit," "We Built This City," and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now."

Slick, famous as a rock 'n roll diva, was one of the earliest female rock stars alongside her close contemporary Janis Joplin, and was an important figure in the development of rock music in the late 1960s. Her distinctive vocal style and striking stage presence exerted influence on other female performers, including Stevie Nicks, Patti Smith, and Terri Nunn (of "Berlin" fame).

Between 1985 and 1999, Slick was the oldest female vocalist on a Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single. "We Built This City" reached number one on November 16, 1985, shortly after her 46th birthday. The previous record was age 44 for Tina Turner, with 1984's number-one smash, "What's Love Got To Do With It". Turner (who is one month younger than Slick) turned 45 two months after the song topped the charts. Slick broke her own record in April 1987 at age 47 when "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" topped the US charts. Her record stood for 12 years, but was ultimately broken by Cher, who was 53 in 1999 when "Believe" hit number one.

She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Jefferson Airplane.

Source: Wikipedia and Steve Hoffmann

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Rejoyce by Grace Slick

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29 OCTOBER 2019

NATALIE SLEETH - USA

BORN 29 OCTOBER

Natalie Allyn Sleeth (née Wakeley; October 29, 1930 – March 21, 1992) was an American composer.

Sleeth was born in Evanston, Illinois. In 1934, she began to study the piano at the early age of four. In 1952, she received an Academic major in music theory and a BA in music theory at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She married the Rev. Ronald E. Sleeth, a professor of Homiletics.

In 1965, Ms. Sleeth became the director of the children's choirs at Highland Park Methodist Church. Encouraged by Lloyd Pfautsch (under whom she studied at Southern Methodist University) and Jane Marshall, Natalie began arranging music in 1968. As a musician and a poet, Natalie wrote both the words and music for all her songs. At the time of her death, Natalie had written over 180 published songs for church and school choirs, including the standards "Jazz Gloria" and "Gaudeamus Hodie."

In her later life she received an honorary doctorate from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1989 and from Nebraska Wesleyan College in 1990. An organist, she wrote over 180 highly successful selections for church and school. One of Sleeth's best-known anthems for choir is entitled "Joy in the Morning" and was written for the West Virginia Wesleyan College concert chorale on the occasion of her husband's inauguration as the president of West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1977.

Source: Wikipedia and Lorenz

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Joy in the morning by Natalie Sleeth

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KERSTIN JEPPSSON - SWEDEN
BORN 29 OCTOBER

Kerstin Jeppsson was born in Nyköping, Sweden, and graduated from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where she studied composition with Maurice Karkoff. She received a fellowship to continue her studies at the Cracow Conservatory, where she studied with Krzysztof Meyer and Krzysztof Penderecki for composition and Jozef Radwan for conducting. Jeppsson received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Stockholm in 1977, and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia in 1979, where she studied with Mel Powell for composition and Daniel Schulman for conducting.

Jeppsson has composed vocal compositions, instrumental works and chamber music, many of which have been recorded. Recorded works include: 4 småstycken En dröm; Percussione con forza; Prometheus; Embrio; Stråkkvartett no. 2; I förändring Lyrics: Ulla Olin; Impossibile Lyrics: Göran Sonnevi; I Till Dig Lyrics: Karin Boye; I Rosen Lyrics: Edith Södergran; and others.

Source: Wikipedia and Donne in Music

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Tre Visor by Kerstin Jeppsson

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28 OCTOBER 2019

HYO-SHIN NA - SOUTH KOREA

BORN 28 OCTOBER

Hyo-Shin Na (b. 1961) is a korean composer and pianist.

After studying piano and composition in her native Korea, Hyo-shin Na came to the U.S. in 1983 to do graduate work at the Manhattan School of Music and the University of Colorado, where she received her doctorate. After moving to San Francisco in 1988, she met Cage, Rzewski, Wolff and Takahashi, and encountered the music of Nancarrow. At the same time, she made return trips to Korea to hear and study traditional Korean music while also taking a broad interest in the music of other regions of Asia.

Hyo-shin Na has written for western instruments, for traditional Korean instruments and has written music that combines western and Asian (Korean and Japanese) instruments and ways of playing. Her music for traditional Korean instruments is recognized by both composers and performers in Korea (particularly by the younger generation) as being uniquely innovative. Her writing for combinations of western and eastern instruments is unusual in its refusal to compromise the integrity of differing sounds and ideas; she prefers to let them interact, coexist and conflict in the music.

In Korea, she has twice been awarded the Korean National Composers Prize, and in the west she has been commissioned by the Fromm and Koussevitzky Foundations among many others. Her music has been played worldwide.

Source: Hyo-Shin Na Official Website and New Music Works

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PIA by Hyo-Shin Na

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SOPHIE DUNÉR - SWEDEN
BORN 28 OCTOBER

Sophie Dunér is a singer, songwriter, composer and visual artist. Originally from Sweden, she travels and performs internationally as her blend of jazz, world music and contemporary classical writing receives demand worldwide – from the infamous CBGB´s in New York City to Buenos Aires Festival de Música Contemporánea de La Plata to Festival O/Modernt in Sweden. Her wild, risky, passionate and exhilarating music for vocals and string quartet as well as for cello is exemplified in her two most recent albums: The City of My Soul, produced by Michael Haas and released on PARMA Recordings in 2013 and The City of Dizzy (CD Baby 2016). The City of My Soul became PARMA’s biggest selling disc for download sales in February 2015. During spring 2016, the same disc got a great 3 page feature in the book `From Baroque to Bop and Beyond´(Lynn Réne Bayley, The Art Music Lounge). In 2019, it was recently featured on PARMAs “Visionary String Quartets” Spotify playlist. David Balakrishnan (violinist and founder of Turtle Island String Quartet) has said about Sophie and her music: “She is a seriously talented singer, and nicely set in string quartet, really beautiful original material.”

The music of Sophie may be described as a blend of the romantic and the spiritually elevated with a dissonant, bold and satirical edge. It plays with tense colours resolving into romantic harmony or vice versa. This applies to the music as well as the lyrics, which are mostly tragicomic. With her musical roots in jazz, Sophie has developed in a direction mainly created by herself or, as producer Michael Haas has it: “It’s not fusion – it’s Dúneresque – a newly created genre!” However, you may find a rich blend of influences from jazz, contemporary classical and world music. The bold lyrics are an essential element of the music, creating colours and rhythms that relate to the narrative, spiced with satire that is reminiscent of the 30s, but set in a contemporary arrangement. Sophie personally draws heavily on a variety of composers such as Weill, Monk, Mingus, Henze and Stravinsky. She perceives her music visually, and her songs are strongly connected to her paintings.

During spring 2018, Sophie was featured as a female composer on The Big List of Donne – Women in Music – Celebrating Women Composers which resulted in a video interview next to other female composers (Drama Musica, UK).

Source: Crossey Pianist and Sophie Dunér

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Hey Doctor by Sophie Dunér

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27 OCTOBER 2019

YÜKSEL KOPTAGEL - TURKEY

BORN 27 OCTOBER

Yüksel Koptagel (born 27 October 1931) is a Turkish composer and pianist. She was born in Istanbul, Turkey, granddaughter of General Osman Nuri Koptagel, a commander in the Turkish War of Independence. Her maternal great grandfather Abdul Karim Khan Tareen, a physician, had migrated from Multan (then in undivided India, now Pakistan) and had settled in Istanbul, adopting the name Abdul Karim Bey.

Koptagel studied music with the composer and conductor Cemal Resit Rey and later with Alexander Tansman, José Cubiles, Tony Aubin, Joaquin Rodrigo, and Lazare Levy in Paris and Madrid. After completing her studies, Koptagel took a position with the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra and worked as a pianist and composer.

In the 1960s (during the regime of Ayub Khan Tareen (no relation)) she visited Multan to trace her maternal roots and met the descendants of siblings of Abdul Karim Tareen.

Selected works include: Quand nous nous sommes séparés (André Viaud after George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron); Pastorale piano solo; Impression de Minorque piano solo; Epitafio de un muchacho muerto en abril for piano and others.

Source: Wikipedia, and Encyclopedia

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Deux chansons du pêcheur japonais by Yüksel Koptagel

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MISSY MAZZOLI  - USA
BORN 27 OCTOBER

Missy Mazzoli (born October 27, 1980) is an American composer and pianist who is a member of the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music. She has received critical acclaim for her chamber, orchestral and operatic work. In 2018 she became one of the first two women to receive a commission from the Metropolitan Opera House. 

She is the founder and keyboardist for Victoire, an electro-acoustic band dedicated to performing her music. From 2012-2015 she was composer-in-residence at the Opera Company of Philadelphia, in collaboration with Gotham Chamber Opera and Music-Theater Group. Her music is published by G. Schirmer. Mazzoli received a 2015 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, a Fulbright Grant to the Netherlands, and in 2018 was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Classical Composition. In 2018, Mazzoli was named for a two-season term as the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Mazzoli has released three full-length albums of her music to date: Cathedral City, written for her band Victoire (2010), Song from the Uproar, the original cast recording of her first opera (2012), and Vespers for a New Dark Age (2015), a work for her band Victoire in collaboration with percussionist Glenn Kotche (of Wilco) and vocalists Martha Cluver, Melissa Hughes and Virginia Kelsey.

Mazzoli was described by The New York Times as "one of the more consistently inventive and surprising composers now working in New York", and by Time Out New York as "Brooklyn's post-millennial Mozart". On November 23, 2012 and March 28, 2015, Mazzoli was a guest on NPR's All Things Considered.

Source: Wikipedia and Missy Mazzoli Official Website

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Fraction Quartet by Missy Mazzoli

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26 OCTOBER 2019

ERICA MUHL - USA

BORN 26 OCTOBER

Erica Muhl (born October 26, 1961) is an American composer and conductor who has been dean of the USC Iovine and Young Academy since July 2018.

When she was young, she trained as both a composer and a conductor, with much completed in Europe. At sixteen she was invited for private composition study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. She returned from Europe in order to complete a Bachelor of Music, but upon completion she once again traveled while undergoing graduate studies at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. She studied conducting in Los Angeles with Fritz Zweig. This was followed by the completion of a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Southern California in 1991.

She formerly served as dean of the University of Southern California Roski School of Art and Design in Los Angeles from 2012 to 2018, and prior to that was associate dean and professor of composition at the Thornton School of Music. She received an Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999.

Prior to her move into higher education administration, Muhl maintained a vibrant international practice as a composer of contemporary classical music. Her works have been commissioned, performed, and broadcast by leading organizations such as Minnesota Opera, The New World Symphony, Italy’s Orchestra della RAI, Venezuela’s National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York, and others, and also featured at national and international festivals and competitions. She has received grants and awards from such organizations as the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts and Opera America, and has held residencies and fellowships from Italy’s Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Charles Ives Center for American Music, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, among others.

Source: Wikipedia, and USC 

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Smoke and Mirrors by Erica Muhl

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EWELINA NOWICKA  - POLAND
BORN 26 OCTOBER

Ewelina Nowicka, born in Gdańsk, Poland in 1982, is a Polish violinist and composer. She has been playing the violin since she was six years old and started composing at the age of eight. Nowicka completed her studies in Germany. In 2007, she earned her Master’s degree with honours, in violin and music pedagogy, from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, in the class of Professor Petru Munteanu. In 2009 she completed her violin graduate studies at the Bremen University of the Arts and later passed her concert examination under Prof. Katrin Scholz.

Her repertoire includes concertos by Mozart, Paganini, Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Stravinsky, Saint-Säens, and many others. In 2001, she discovered a unique set of violin concertos by Ludomir Różycki and Ignacy Jan Paderewski. She then gave Polish premieres of these pieces and recorded them with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011 a CD with the violin concerto by Ludomir Różycki as well as some of her transcriptions of the ballet ´Pan Twardowski´ was published within the label Acte Préalable in Warsaw.

Ewelina Nowicka has been awarded scholarships from among the following institutions: The Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski Scholarship (1999), The Ministry of Culture Scholarship (1999–2001), Otto Stöterau–Stiftung Scholarship (2001–2005) and the Oskar und Vera Ritter Stiftung 2009–2010).

Apart from her achievements as a soloist and composer, Ewelina Nowicka also teaches violin, chamber music and orchestra at the Staatliche Jugendmusikschule in Hamburg. She is a member of of the German Composers Association, GEDOK Hamburg (Community for Artists and Art Patrons) and ESTA Germany.

Source: Ewelina Nowicka Official Website

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The Twiolins by Ewelina Nowicka

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