The Women Composers Concert of Hartford continues its annual tradition of featuring Concert Pro Femina, a demonstration of the variety and depth of music by women composers over a span of several centuries. In former years this concert encompassed vocal solos, digital electronics, prepared piano, chorus, even dance. This year’s Concert Pro Femina focuses on chamber music, with strings, winds, voices and the piano displaying diversity of timbres and styles. Of the numerous and varied events of the Festival, the Concert Pro Femina will be the most roundedly diverse array of compositional genres. A featured work is “Orpheus Singing” for alto saxophone and piano, inspired by sonnets by Rainer Maria Rilke. The performers are Carrie Koffman, alto saxophone, and pianist Julianna Hall, the composer of the piece. A well-known pianist in this area, Pi-Hsun Shih, will pair separately with both violinist Katalin Viszmeg and cellist Carlynn Savot in very different chamber pieces.
PROGRAM
Four Little Pieces for Wood (Shih-Hui Chen)
Pi-Hsun Shih, piano
Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen, Mein Stern, Die Lorelei (Clara Schumann)
Patrice Fitzgerald, mezzo-soprano; Pi-Hsun Shih, piano
Chanson et Passepied (Jeanine Rueff) Tony Gibbs, alto saxophone; Benita Rose, piano
Fisherman’s Song (Chen Yi)
Katalin Viszmeg, violin; Pi-Hsun Shih, piano
Red Dragonflies (arr. Ruth E. Dwyer and Vicki S. Nurre)
Alleluia,
Bee I’m Expecting You (Emma Lou Diemer)
Festival Choir: Mattie Banzhaf, director; Carolyn Halsted, piano
Grito del Corazón (Judith Shatin)
Jordan Jacobson, trombone
INTERMISSION
Suite for Unaccompanied Trumpet (Cherilee Wadsworth-Walker)
Richard Leslie, trumpet
Five Songs for contralto and piano (Ruth Crawford)
Steven Serpa, countertenor; Grace Smith, piano
Antechamber (Chris Lastovicka)
Steven Serpa, countertenor; Mary Matthews, alto flute; Grace Smith, piano
Passacaglia (Rebecca Clarke)
Carlynn Savot, cello; Pi-Hsun Shih, piano
Orpheus Singing (Juliana Hall)
Carrie Koffman, alto saxophone; Juliana Hall, piano
Concert Pro Femina will take place on Saturday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Meeting House, 50 Bloomfield Avenue, Hartford. Tickets are $15, or $30 for premium seating. Reservations may be made via USH at 860 233-9897.