Uncategorized

Bravo, Brava, Bravi to The Concordia Chamber Players!  Founder and cellist Michelle Djokic has always assembled a stellar array of first-class musicians from all over the country, but on Sunday February 17th, they outdid themselves. Programming unfamiliar pieces all written by virtually unknown women composers from different periods of time, I was frankly not expecting to like the music at all, but au contraire, was blown away not only by the superb quality of the musicians’ performance, but by the beautifully unusual music. The two older composers dealt with society’s disapproval of women learning to perform and to compose music, but bravely followed their dreams despite opposition and obstacles in their way. Amy Beach composed and published under her husband’s name until he died, and after one of her successful performances was told “You’re one of the boys now, Amy!” as if that were the highest form of recognition. Contemporary Ellen Taafe Zwilich’s Quintet uses exactly the same instrumentation as Schubert’s famous “Trout” Quintet 191 years earlier, as does Louise Farrenc’s grand finale, but Zwilich, unlike Farrenc and Beach, has already been deservedly well-recognized and acclaimed in the world of music.  Louise Farrenc, earliest of the three composers, was on