Dahlia Flute Duo

Picture Post

Hello All!

We cannot thank you enough for all of your support in helping us to make this year’s Festival so wonderfully successful. One of the highlights of this year’s program of lectures and concerts was the WCForum. For the entire day, from 9am till 6pm, there were seminars and lectures. The variety of topics was astounding. From theoretical analysis to compositional techniques, there was something there to interest everyone. Here are a couple of pictures from that day for you to enjoy. More will be coming soon!

Pictured from left to right: Left “Penny Brandt speaking on Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo Respighi at the 2013 WCForum.” Center “Mary Matthews and Nicole Chamberlain discuss performer/composer relationships at the 2013 WCForum.” Right “Hilary Tann talks on the nature of composition at the 2013 WCForum.”

2013 Festival in Pictures

Another wonderful festival this year with so many incredible performances and events.

And so many PICTURES! We couldn’t wait to start sharing them (and there are so many great highlights) so enjoy these few. They’re just the tip of the iceberg!

Today’s photos are a few highlights from the festival’s first day-long conference presenting papers and research on various topics related to women composers, historical and living, and their music. The full list of presenters included Michele Aichele, Penny Brandt, Stephanie Lind, Katherine Eberle, David Pearson, Tatev Amiryan, Julia Mortyakova, Mary Matthews, Melissa Wertheimer, Nichole Chamberlain, Jessica Rudman, and guest-composer Hilary Tann.

Penny Brandt (piano) and Coralie Gallet (soprano)

Penny Brandt presented her paper, Listening for Elsa’s Voice: Influences and Styles of Three Songs by Elsa Olivieri-Sangiacomo (Respighi), which included research on Elsa’s music and her relationship with Ottorino Respighi. The talk included a performance of Elsa’s songs by Penny and Coralie Gallet.

Melissa Wertheimer, Mary Matthews, and Nicole Chamberlain (L to R)

The Dahlia Flute Duo and Nicole Chamberlain discussed building composer/performer relationships in the course of building respective careers.

David Pearson

David Pearson discussed the use of poetic form and other pitch and rhythm processes found in Crawford’s music in his talk The Poetic Sensibility of Ruth Crawford’s Diaphonic Suite No. 1. The talk included a performance of Crawford’s Diaphonic Suite No. 1 by David on saxophone.

2013 Guest Ensemble – The Dahlia Flute Duo

The Women Composers Festival of Hartford is pleased to announce the Dahlia Flute Duo as their guest ensemble for its 2013 festival. A celebration of the diversity of women’s music, the festival is scheduled March 6-10 at institutions across the Greater Hartford area, featuring the Baltimore-based duo in multiple programs, including an evening of flute music on Friday, March 8.

Praised as a “truly a great chamber music experience” and “consummate musicians,” the Dahlia Flute Duo is sought after as performers, lecturers, and clinicians. Flute, alto flute, and piccolo virtuosi, the Duo has two world premieres to their name and counting. Mary Matthews and Melissa Wertheimer formed the Duo at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.  The ensemble has been featured at the Avalon Theatre, Mannes’s International Festival for Contemporary Performance, Artscape, the Academy Art Museum Series, the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory, the Peabody Spotlight Series, the Harmony Hall Series, the Baltimore Book Festival, the Candlelight Concert Society Outreach Series, the Walters Art Museum, and First Night Dover. Additional performances include publicity events held by Baltimore’s Wide Angle Youth Media and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. For more information, be sure to check out www.dahliafluteduo.com.

The Women Composers Festival of Hartford has, for the last twelve years, provided an educational and entertaining platform for the promotion of women’s music. Recognized as a champion of women’s music by institutions such as Meet the Composer, the International Alliance for Women in Music, and the Women’s Education and Leadership Fund, the festival’s goals include informing audiences through performances of music that has been and still is being written by women in an effort to broaden people’s understanding of musical literature and women’s contributions to this field.

Picture of the Day – July 10, 2012

The Dahlia Flute Duo performs “Two Flutes and Tape” by Nomi Epstein at this year’s Electro-acoustic Concert. The composer provided the following notes about the piece: “Written for Australian flutist Janet McKay’s 2009 US Tour “Those Vanished Hands,” the work explores material as sonic block both as live player and prerecorded tape parts. Juxtaposition of blocks are presented through stratification and variation of durational properties.”