26 DECEMBER 2019

DINA APPELDOORN -  THE NETHERLANDS

BORN 26 DECEMBER

Christina Adriana Arendina (Dina) Koudijs-Appeldoorn was a Dutch composer and pianist whose works, such as her two symphonic poems Noordzee-symfonie and Volkfeest, were written in the Romantic style. She also had a predilection for programme music, as is evidenced by her four movement suite Woudsproke.

Her works for amateur singers and choruses have been described as energetic. In them, Appeldoorn used simple tonal melodies and set the texts predominantly syllabically. In contrast, her accompaniments show a spicy harmonic language filled with dissonances which illustrate the text, such as in Frissche bloemen.

Dina Appeldoorn attended the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she studied composition under F.E.A. Koeberg and later with Johan Wagenaar. The later would become a close friend whom she would continue to consult throughout her life. She graduated the conservatory in 1910, at which time twenty of her songs had already been published. Her early work met with mixed reviews from Dutch music critics with some pieces, like Frissche bloemen, getting better reviews than others. Appeldoorn would later become a piano teacher at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

After her studies, Appeldoorn began her career as a piano accompanist for various choirs in The Hague. Ultimately, though, she found herself drawn more toward her composition background. Many of her early songs were first performed by a quintet she founded with the soprano Lena van Diggelen. Other singers who have performed her work include Julie de Stuers, who gave several recitals outside of the Netherlands featuring Dutch composers. Appeldoorn dedicated her Vondel-liederen to Stuers.

The Utrecht City Orchestra debuted her first major work, the symphonic poem Pêcheurs d’Islande, in 1912. In 1923, one of her compositions was awarded a prize by the Nederlandsche Volkszang-bond in Utrecht. This was Jubileum-lied, which she wrote for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands’ 25th anniversary. In 1925, the Utrecht City Orchestra premiered another one of her works, her Noordzee-symfonie. Throughout the 1920s, Appeldoorn also wrote choral works for the popular community singing evenings in The Hague of the Nederlandse Vereniging voor den Volkszang, conducted by Arnold Spoel.

Source: Wikipedia

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Pastorale by Dina Appeldorn

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CAROLINE CHARRIÈRE - SWITZERLAND

BORN 26 DECEMBER

Caroline Charrière was a Swiss composer, conductor, flautist and educator. From 2000 on she concentrated on composing, creating chamber music, choral music and orchestral pieces. In 2001, she established her reputation as a composer with the oratorio Le livre de Job (The Book of Job) for mixed choir, bass, soprano and orchestra. Her works have since been performed widely in Switzerland and abroad.

Born in Fribourg on 26 December 1960, Charrière studied transverse flute at the Lausanne Conservatory under Pierre Wavre, earning diplomas in teaching (1982) and concert performance (1984). She also began studying orchestration and composition in Lausanne under Jean Balissat, followed by post-graduate study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. She received her orchestral conducting diploma from the Lausanne Conservatory in 1994.

Charrière taught the flute at the Fribourg Conservatory, established the "Choeur de Jade", a female choir, became the director of other Fribourg choirs and composed her own works. As a result of increasing interest in her compositions, in 2000 she decided to concentrate first and foremost on composing.

In August 2017, Charrière won the second prize in the "Aufbruch" contest for female composers for her composition Awakening for wind quintet (two trumpets, a horn, a trombone and a tuba). The contest is jointly organized by the publisher Furore Verlag and Zentrum Militärmusik der Bundeswehr (the German Army Military Music Centre).

Charrière died on October 1, 2018 at the age of 57.

Source: Wikipedia and Caroline Charriere Official Website

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Contrastes by Caroline Charrière

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25 DECEMBER 2019

MANA ZUCCA CASSEL -  USA

BORN 25 DECEMBER

Mana-Zucca was an American actress, singer, pianist and composer.

Mana-Zucca was interested in music when she was very young. As Mana-Zucca approached her early teens, she sailed to Europe with her elder sister Beatrice, better known as Bess. They settled in Berlin, Germany, and she soon became part of that city's busy and exciting cultural milieu. Mana-Zucca's debut in Berlin, at the Bechstein Saal, was highly acclaimed and opened doors for other engagements throughout Europe. Given the opportunity to play with famous Spanish violinist Juan Manén, she performed with him in several successful concerts before signing a contract to play sixty concerts with him over a three-year period; they appeared together throughout Germany and Russia.

While in Berlin, Mana-Zucca studied the works of Brahms with the eminent pedagogue Josef Weiss, and later she was accepted for study in the master classes of the great Ferruccio Busoni, which she attended for eight months. She received private instruction from Leopold Godowsky and also attended master classes that he conducted for selected students. In addition, while in Berlin she studied voice with a Fraülein van Gelder, and later, in London, she studied with Raimond von zur Mühlen, a famous singer of lieder and a much-sought-after voice teacher.

Mana-Zucca and her sister stayed in London for several years after leaving Berlin. In England and later in the United States, she was accepted as a singer in several musical comedies, including 'The Count of Luxembourg, The Rose Maid' and 'The Geisha.'

A new phase in Mana-Zucca's life began when she accepted the marriage proposal of Irwin M. Cassel, a gentleman she had known since her youth. The couple eloped on 21 September 1921. Cassel promised his new wife that they would spend seven months of each year in New York City and the remaining five months in Miami, Florida, where he made his home. Cassel supported Mana-Zucca's musical career and even wrote the lyrics to the then-famous song "I Love Life" (1923), which was performed by celebrated singers such as John Charles Thomas and Lawrence Tibbett. Ultimately, and especially after the birth of her only child, a son, in 1926, Miami became her permanent residence. She spent many happy hours there composing and presenting musicales in her home, "Mazica Hall." She was the teacher of pianist and pioneer Ruth W. Greenfield. She died in Miami.

Mana-Zucca had three distinct but interconnected careers: as a concert pianist of great renown, as a singer who performed leading roles in musical comedy, and as a prolific composer. Her brochure of published music totals more than four hundred works. These include music for piano, orchestra, and voice. In addition, she also composed music for young students.

The University of Miami awarded Mana-Zucca an honorary Doctor of Music on May 19, 1974.

Mana-Zucca died in Miami on March 8, 1981. Her papers including copies of her compositions are housed at Florida International University.

Mana-Zucca composed over 1,000 works, including two operas (Hypatia and Queue of Ki-Lu), orchestral works, a ballet, three choral works, more than 20 chamber works and solo works, including the piano concerto Op. 49, a collection of 366 piano pieces called “My Musical Calendar” and the violin concerto Op. 224 for the American violinist Joan Field. Her compositions are best known through popular songs, including "There's Joy in My Heart", "Big Brown Bear", "Honey Lamb" and "Time and Time Again", with the lyrics by her husband Irwin M. Cassel.

Source: Wikipedia and New York Times

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Sonata Op 27 by Mana Zucca Cassel

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FERNANDE DECRUCK - FRANCE

BORN 25 DECEMBER

Fernande Decruck (née Breilh) (25 December 1896 – 6 August 1954) was a French composer who composed over 40 works for the saxophone. Most well-known is her Sonata in C sharp minor for alto saxophone or viola, dedicated to Marcel Mule.

Her studies in improvisation on organ led her to travel to America where she gave her first organ recitals in New York. Her husband, Maurice Decruck, a clarinetist, saxophonist and double-bassist played both bass and saxophone with the New York Philharmonic. Maurice Decruck later became a music publisher, opening the company Les Editions de Paris. They married in 1924 and had three children, Jeannine Decruck (born 1925), Michel Decruck (born 1926) and Alain Decruck (born 1937). She moved to the United States with her family in 1928.

In 1932, Maurice Decruck returned to Paris and began a publishing company ‘’Les Editions de Paris’’ that would go on to publish Fernande Decruck’s compositions. Fernande Decruck later rejoined her husband in Paris in 1933. When Fernande returned to France, she began teaching harmony at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. Between 1937 and 1942 she lived in Toulouse with her children apart from her husband in Paris. During this period she continued to teach, compose and perform. In 1942 she moved back to Paris and many of her works were premiered between 1943 and 1947 including her Sonata in C# minor.

Fernande and Maurice Decruck divorced in 1950 after several years of separation. She died of a stroke on 6 August 1954.

Source: Fernande Decruck Official Website and Wikipedia

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Pieces Françaises by Fernande Decruck

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24 DECEMBER 2019

LIBBY LARSEN -  USA

BORN 23 DECEMBER

Elizabeth Brown Larsen is a contemporary American classical composer. Along with composer Stephen Paulus, she is a co-founder of the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composers Forum.

Larsen attended the University of Minnesota for both her undergraduate and graduate work. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theory and Composition in 1971, a Masters of Arts degree in Composition in 1975, and a PhD in Theory and Composition in 1978. Throughout her studies at university, she studied composition with Dominick Argento, Paul Fetler and Eric Stokes. In 1975, Larsen married her husband, James Reece, whom she met at university.

Her style and approach to music comes from her own philosophy on music. Her music comes from the sound she hears everyday around her in the world. It is noted for its "energy, optimism, rhythmic diversity, colourful orchestration, liberated tonality without harsh dissonance, and pervading lyricism."

The rhythms used are often taken directly from the American language: "our own American language has beautiful rhythms in it; it is this American vernacular and the rhythm of our American life that is the language of my music." Pieces such as Holy Roller (about a revivalist preacher’s speech) and Bid Call (about auctioneering patterns) showcase this style. Larsen composes without barlines, preferring to first discover the natural flow of a line and then refine it until she finds a common meter, giving many of her compositions a feeling of free internal rhythm.

In 1993, she won a Grammy Award for producer of Best Classical Vocal Performance for "The Art of Arlene Augér", featuring her song cycle Sonnets from the Portuguese. In 1996, she received Honorary Doctorates from both St. Mary's College/Notre Dame, and the University of Nebraska.

In addition to being known as a composer, Larsen is known as a musical philosopher and speaker. She has given keynote addresses at places such as the League of American Orchestras, American Choral Directors Association, American Orff-Schulwerk Association National Convention, Concert Band Directors National Association, Dominique de Menil Presidential Lecture Series at Rice University (2001), Music Educators National Convention, and National Association of Schools of Music. From 2003-04, she served as the first Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education and Technology at the Library of Congress.

In 2010, Larsen received a George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America.

Source: Wikipedia and Libby Larsen Official Website

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Chanting to Paradise by Libby Larsen

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CYNTHIA FOLIO - USA

BORN 24 DECEMBER

Cynthia Folio (b. 1954) is a composer, music theorist, and flutist. As a young flute player and army brat, her main inspiration came from her studies at the Panama Conservatory in the 1960’s; there she studied with Eduardo Charpentier (first flutist in the Panama Symphony) and had rigorous studies in solfege. She received her Ph.D. in music theory and Performers Certificate in flute from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied composition with Joseph Schwantner and flute with Bonita Boyd; Robert D. Morris advised her dissertation on the music of Schwantner. From 1980 to 1990, she taught music theory and flute at Texas Christian University and played in the Fort Worth Symphony. She now serves as Professor and Chair of Music Studies in the Boyer College at Temple University, where she was honored with the Creative Achievement Award in 2012 and the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1994.

The author of many music theory articles and chapters, Folio focuses on the topics of contemporary music and jazz, including a chapter on Sequenza No. 1 by Berio in Berio’s Sequenzas (Ashgate Publishers); a chapter on polyrhythm in jazz in Concert Music, Rock and Jazz Since 1945 (University of Rochester Press); and an article on Schwantner’s music for Perspectives of New Music. Folio’s compositions are recorded on many CD’s, including a 2014 release, Inverno Azul, featuring nine of her compositions (BCM+D label); a 2007 release by the Relâche Ensemble, Press Play (Meyer Music LLC); and a 2006 release of Flute Loops: Chamber Music for Flute (Centaur Records), featuring eight of her compositions. She also recorded a jazz flute CD, Portfolio (Centaur Records), which includes four original compositions.

Source: Cynthia Folio Official Website and Wikipedia

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One for Four by Cynthia Folio

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23 DECEMBER 2019

EDITH HEMENWAY -  USA

BORN 23 DECEMBER

Edith Hemenway is an American composer and pianist.

Edith Hemenway (nee Fitz) was born in 1926 in Brookline, Massachusetts, where she studied piano as a child with the talented French wife of E. Power Biggs. In 1946, she married Augustus L. Hemenway and together they graduated from McGill University, where she majored in English Literature. 

They moved to California, where her husband attended Divinity school and was made rector of the Good Samaritan Church in San Francisco. With a growing family (there would eventually be eight children), she started taking organ lessons with Harold Mueller, her first important musical influence, and immersed herself in the works especially of J.S. Bach. The organ was her principal instrument for several years until she discovered the joys of the art song.

The family moved to Providence, Rhode Island in 1962, and there she became studio accompanist to David Laurent, a well- known bassbaritone who was active at Brown University. Here she developed her love of the art-song literature, and soon began studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she received a Master’s degree in Vocal Accompaniment. Shortly thereafter, she earned an M.A. from Brown University in musical composition. Since then, her attention has been divided between performing, coaching, and composition.

While on a two-year stint in Savannah, Georgia, she became friendly with Nancy Braithwaite, and composed two works for her: Asian Figures and A Child’s Garden. Other widely performed works by Ms. Hemenway have been the works song-cycle Wonderings on poems by Kenneth Patchen, and the popular Four Duets on Poems by Langston Hughes. Several other song-cycles and chamber works have been premiered by Nancy Braithwaite and her ensembles in The Netherlands including ‘Questions of Travel’ and ‘Doors’.

Source: Etcetera Records and Classical CD Reviews

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To Paradise for Onions by Edith Hemenway

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AMY DUNKER - USA

BORN 23 DECEMBER

Amy Dunker is an American trumpeter, educator and composer.

Dr. Dunker received her bachelor’s degree (music education) from Morningside College, a master’s degree in trumpet performance from the University of South Dakota, a master’s degree in composition from Butler University and a doctorate in composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. Major influences in her musical education include Stanley DeRusha, Chen Yi, James Mobberley, and Michael Schelle.

Dr. Dunker’s music resists easy categorization. From avant-garde improvisation to minimalistic sound sculptures to neo-romantic echoings, Amy delves deeply into the nature of human experience. Her works have been performed throughout the United States, Czech-Republic, Italy, Ireland, the Ukraine, France, Thailand, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Great Britain, and Puerto Rico.

Amy Dunker is an associate professor of music at Clarke College where she teaches composition, theory, aural skills and trumpet.

Source: Windrep and Amy Dunker Official Website

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Ice by Amy Dunker

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22 DECEMBER 2019

TERESA CARRENO -  VENEZUELA

BORN 22 DECEMBER

María Teresa Gertrudis de Jesús Carreño García (December 22, 1853 – June 12, 1917) was a Venezuelan pianist, soprano, composer, and conductor. Over the course of her 54-year concert career, she became an internationally renowned virtuoso pianist and was often referred to as the "Valkyrie of the Piano." Carreño was an early adopter of the works of one of her students and friend, American composer and pianist Edward MacDowell (1860–1908) and premiered several of his compositions across the globe. She also frequently performed the works of Norwegian composer and pianist Edvard Grieg (1843–1907). Carreño composed approximately 75 works for solo piano, voice and piano, choir and orchestra, and instrumental ensemble. Several composers dedicated their compositions to Carreño, including Amy Beach (Piano Concerto, op. 45) and Edward MacDowell (Piano Concerto No. 2).

Teresa Carreño composed approximately 75 works for piano, voice and piano, choir and orchestra, chamber music, and several merengues, incorporating the form as an interlude in some of her pieces (for example, in her piece entitled Un Bal en Rêve). Her earliest compositions (in manuscript) date back to ca. 1860. One of her first pieces published the year after her debut in New York City was the "Gottschalk Waltz" (1863), dedicated to Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The majority of her works were composed before 1875 and were published by various publishers in locations including Paris (Heugel, Brandus & S. Darfur), London (Duff & Stewart), Madrid (Antonio Romero), New York (G. Schirmer, Edward Schuberth), Boston (Oliver Ditson & Co.), Philadelphia (Theodore Presser), Cincinnati (The John Church Company), Leipzig (Fr. Kistner & C. F. W. Siegel) Sydney and Melbourne (Allan & Co.).

In 1938 Carreño's ashes were repatriated to Caracas, Venezuela. They were later exhumed and interred at the Panteón Nacional in 1977.

Vassar College acquired Teresa Carreño's papers in the early 1930s and officially purchased them in 1941. In 1957 a portion of the (un-inventoried) collection was dispersed between Vassar and the National Library in Caracas, Venezuela. These materials are now housed in the Centro Documental Teatro Teresa Carreño. A finding aid is available for the extant Teresa Carreño Papers at Vassar College in the Archives & Special Collections Library.

Source: Wikipedia and Naxos

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Le Printemps by Teresa Carreno

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YFAT SOUL ZISSO - UK

BORN 22 DECEMBER

Ever since commencing on her music studies at the relatively late age of 15, Soul has been dedicated to her dream of becoming a composer. She graduated from Cardiff University, studying with Arlene Sierra and Robert Fokkens and for a brief time studying with Alison Kay, before commencing on a Masters and later a PhD in composition at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire under the tuition of Joe Cutler and Howard Skempton.

Her music, which has been described as "curiously original" (Wales Online) and having "real character and sensitivity" (Wales Arts Review), has been performed by the likes of BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra of the Swan, Xenia Pestova and the Fidelio Trio across the UK, Europe and Canada in a wide range of venues including Wells Cathedral, Hoddinott Hall and Stratford Town Hall, and festivals such as the Cheltenham Music Festival, Occupy the Pianos and Frontiers new music festival.

Her interests range from the use of different microtonal soundworlds and textures to children’s books and the exploration of various extended techniques. She is also interested in writing for dance and has composed music for Rambert Dance's Vintage Rambert project.

In addition to composing, Soul is also a singer, specialising in performing contemporary repertoire, including Berio's Sequenza III for female voice. She is a member of Via Nova chamber choir, has performed as both soloist and choral singer across the UK (including at the Wigmore Hall and at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival) and abroad and is committed to promoting new music, which includes premiering many new pieces, particularly ones for solo unaccompanied voice. Soul is also a soprano, specialising in the performance of contemporarty repertoire as both soloist and choral singer. She studies with Wendy Nieper.

Source: Yfat Soul Zisso Official Website and Non Classical

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Hi Sam by Yfat Soul Zisso

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