Author: Nicholas Smolenski

“Let It Go” Receives Oscar Nomination for Best Original Song!

Kristen Anderson-LopezKristen Anderson-Lopez and her partner Robert Lopez learned yesterday morning that “Let it Go”, a song they wrote together for the hit animation FROZEN, received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song!

Kristen Anderson-Lopez is an American actress and songwriter. She composed music for a Walt Disney World production of Finding Nemo: The Musical, and wrote and produced music with Robert Lopez and Henry Jackman for the 2011 film Winnie the Pooh for which the three composers were nominated for an Annie Award for Best Music in a Feature Production.

Anderson-Lopez is also co-creator of the musical “In Transit” that has received Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel recognition. In addition, she has worked on countless short and full-length musical adaptations for Theatreworks/USA, including Diary Of A Worm, Fancy Nancy, and Condensed Classics. She has written several songs for TV and was a staff writer for the award-winning children’s show, The Wonder Pets, on Nick Jr.

Congratulations to the married songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for their great success! Read more about the composer-duo.

Don’t forget to listen to their Oscar-nominated tune “Let it Go”!

 

 

Cheers to the 2014 Women Composers Festival of Hartford! Glad to be serving.

Hello!

Mitra Sadigh writing here, the new publicist intern at the Women Composers Festival of Hartford. I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the 2014 Festival!

As a pianist, music teacher, and women’s rights advocate, I was surprisingly unaware of the gross absence of women composers and their works in classrooms, practice rooms, and concert halls until I sang in a choir in the 2010 Festival, taking part in a showcase of wonderful music by women composers I had never heard of. Soon after, I was fortunate enough to sing Gwyneth Walker’s music as part of a choir with the composer herself in the audience!

I’ll be posting quite a lot these next few weeks on an assortment of topics, sharing stories of women composers and their achievements in the news, sending happy birthday shout-outs to composers on their birthdays, and reminiscing on past festivals on throwback Photo Fridays. I hope that through my work here, I can help share music with the community, advocate for women in the arts, and encourage girls in music to pursue composition.

I am passionate about sharing music and promoting the creative contributions of women, as is the rest of the Women Composers Festival team. This year’s festival is a riveting line up of performances from vocal music to string ensembles, featuring women composers both present and historic, as well as a a series of forum discussions covering various music and composition topics.

Please join us in sharing music and supporting women in the arts. Like our Facebook page, read our posts, check out the festival’s concerts and discussions, tell your friends.

Cheers to the 2014 Women Composers Festival of Hartford! Glad to be serving.

 

Friday Photo Throwback

Happy Friday Photo Throwback!

As we excitedly prepare for the 2014 Festival coming up in just a few weeks, we reminisce on last year’s festival:

Sydney WeiserSydney Weiser, mezzo-belter, performs selections from Secret Garden at the Women in Song concert.

 

Mary Matthews and Melissa Wertheimer

Mary Matthews and Melissa Wertheimer perform Consulting the Oracle at the 2013 Dahlia Duo concert. What an artistic pose!

 

 

Full house last year at the ICAM forum!

 

Looking forward to making more great memories next month at this year’s festival!

 

2014 WCF Competition Results

Jenni BrandonThe Women Composers Festival of Hartford is pleased to announce Jenni Brandon (Long Beach, CA) as the winner of its 2014 International Composition Competition along with Eun Sook Baek (Hartford, CT) and Sookyung Sul (Pittsburgh, PA) as competition finalists. Charles Huang of Oboe Duo Agosto is performing Ms. Brandon’s winning work, In the City at Night, on Friday, March 7th. Oboe Duo Agosto will program the work, along with Ocean with Covered Cloud (Baek) and Mool, Baram (Sul), on additional concerts over the next three years. Ms. Brandon joins resident composer Andrea Clearfield on Friday’s program as part of the festival’s four day event schedule – Thursday, March 6, to Sunday, March 9, at the historic Charter Oak Cultural Center. Information on concert tickets and festival events is available at www.womencomposersfestivalhartford.com.

Jenni Brandon is an award-winning composer whose music has been commissioned by ensembles and performed in venues across the world. Among the ensembles that have performed her works are the Musical Arts Quintet, Yale Glee Club, The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists, UT Arlington Wind Symphony, Conundrum, the Young New Yorkers Chorus, Vox Femina, the Sundance Trio, and Voices of Ascension. Ms. Brandon also makes guest composer appearances across the country, frequently giving talks on the business of music and musician collaboration. She is the music director of The Concert Singers, the oldest independent choir in Los Angeles, and often makes guest appearances to conduct her works with other ensembles. Active also as a mezzo-soprano, she has appeared with the Boston Pops, Pacific Chorale, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and at the Hollywood Bowl. Information on her music and a complete bio can be found at www.jennibrandon.com.

The festival was pleasantly overwhelmed by the volume of submissions to both its International Composition Competition and regional score calls. Results for the remaining New England and NYWC score calls shall be announced shortly.