Voices of Women

Spring 2005 concert featuring music composed and sung by women throughout the centuries and from many musical styles and cultural traditions

Giesala Collins, Artistic Director
Anthony Haubert, Accompanist (Piano)
Renee Bartholomew, Percussion
Lynn Gumert, Guest Composer and Soloist
Catharine Roth, Guest Piano Soloist

April 23, Lancaster Unitarian Universalist Church
May 14, Harrisburg Unitarian Universalist Church

Link to Program Notes

Archival Promotional Material (Link to anchor at bottom of page)

Program

Reflections on Women Composers

Talk by Lynn Gumert

Today, this Spring and She Piped for Us

by Libby Larsen

Two of three pieces comprising a work entitled Today, This Spring, which was commissioned by David L. Cooper and Thomas Scott in remembrance of David's wife and Tom's sister, both of whom succumbed to breast cancer. She Piped For Us is based on the text of a sermon at Kathryn Scott Peterson's memorial service: “She would have us dance and sing."

O Mama Bakudala Babethandasa

Traditional song at gatherings of the South African Xhosa women, invoking the spirits of their maternal ancestors
Collected, arranged and taught by Ysaye Maria Barnwell
“Our mothers and grandmothers used to pray”

A Visit with our Foremothers

Cynthia S. as Kassia; Joanne N. as Hildegard of Bingen; Lucy T. as Clara Schumann; Linda N. as Amy Beach; Suzanne N. as Cecile Chaminade; Sandy B. as Ethel Smyth

Ideo

by Naomi Stephan
on text of Hildegard of Bingen
“Thus the highest blessing is found in the female form, beyond any creature”

Prelude and Fugue No. 2

by Clara Schumann
Special guest Catharine Roth

Through the House Give Glimmering Light

by Amy Beach
on text from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Amy Beach’s Three Shakespeare Songs, Op. 39, first published in 1897, all use verses in which fairies’ beguiling and alarming magic makes nonsense of human reason.

Ronde du Crepuscule (Round Dance at Twilight)

by Cecile Chaminade, on text by Ludovic Fortolis
Soloist: Lynn Gumert

The fairy Queen Mab (inspirer of men’s dreams--a kind of landlocked Siren), tells a saucy little story of twilight kissing and dancing: “At the hour when the breezes blow, Queen Mab and her sprites, we dance at dusk the dance of the wayward elves. Dresses in gauze and linen, by the pool which falls asleep, pale statues, let’s frolic in the course of the golden beams. Once upon a time there was a queen with a sweet face. She met her love at the edge of the pretty woods. They loved each other so very much beneath an oak tree that their hearts are there still. With the day’s farewell salute, in the meadow, you can hear them kissing. Hush! Listen: The sun sets by the big golden trees. Perhaps we’ll hear again the queen and her love in the shadows.”

March of the Women

by Ethel Smythe, text by Cicely Hamilton

Mahk Jchi

by Ulali

“Our hearts are full, our minds are good. Ancestors come.
They give us strength. They tell us to stand tall, sing, and dance.
Never forget who you are and where you come from.”

Butterfly

by Nancy Telfer

A Cat’s a Teacher

by Ruth Huber

La Andina

by Libby Harding

Guitarist: Joanne N.
Duet: Jan D. & Lee M.
Ensemble: Kim H., Adele J., Linda M., Suzanne N., Cathy N., Beth S., Susan S., Florence T,

“Daughter of the Andes, sister of the sun,
Women of wealth and culture, they have destroyed your castle of silver.
How will your children grow up?
Cry, my comrade, and remember that from here to far we cry with you.
Suffering sister who is surrounded in chains,
Prisoner in your own country, they have censured your poem and your song.
How will you express your sadness?
Sing, my comrade, and remember that from here to far we sing with you.
Although they have taken away all your rights, you have the respect of your peers
You were the flower of the resistance that sprouted in the oppression.
Struggle, my comrade, and remember that from here to far we struggle with you.
Struggle, my comrade, and remember that we are struggling for your liberty.”

Stepping Westward

by Lynn Gumert
on a poem by Denise Levertov
Conducted by the composer

Malolo

by Annea Lockwood

What was the very first song? Quite possibly a lullab--sung by a woman.

The composer says, “In many cultures, lull words, used for soothing and calming children, are made from repeating sounds, for instance lullaby (English). I grew up in New Zealand, loving the mellifluous languages of the Pacific Island cultures. The soft, repetitive syllables of Samoan seem made for lullubies, so ‘Malolo’ uses Samoan words.”

Imani

by Rachel Hazen

Woman Am I

by Joan Szymko

Archival Material

These are printed materials in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format. (If they don't open for you, see here.)

Press release

Order form and rate chart for program book ads

Printed ads

"Insert-size" (3 to a sheet) both front and back (ticket order form)

8 and 1/2 by 11 inches