League Announces Women Composers Grant Recipients

Composers Stacy Garrop, Robin Holcomb, and Andrea Reinkemeyer will each receive orchestral commissions of $15,000 as part of the League of American Orchestras' 2017 Women Composers Readings and Commissions program, which is administered by American Composers Orchestra (ACO) and supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

Reinkemeyer's work will be premiered by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and music director Carlos Miguel Prieto on January 10, 2019, with an additional performance on January 12, 2019. Garrop's work will be premiered by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Holcomb's by the Portland Symphony Orchestra (Maine) (details to be announced).

The League's Women Composers program has been renewed for 2018, with three additional composers to be awarded commissions next year. Additionally, Championing Women Composers, a session on June 15 at the League's National Conference in Chicago, will feature several of the past and present commission recipients, as well as leading Chicago-area women composers, discussing how the orchestra field can provide more opportunities, resources, and equity for women composers.

"Thanks in large part to our Women Composers program, for the past four years audiences across America have been introduced to an array of significant new works composed by women," said Jesse Rosen, the League's President and CEO. "The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation's support has been instrumental in bringing this important work to the forefront, more pertinent now than ever in this moment of cultural reckoning."

ACO President Ed Yim added, "We are delighted to continue our partnership with the League, the Toulmin Foundation, and the three partner orchestras to provide this opportunity. ACO is committed to the belief that parity and quality are complementary values. It is terrific that these composers will start and build relationships with these fine orchestras around the country.

The Women Composers Readings and Commissions program is embedded in EarShot, an initiative of American Composers Orchestra in collaboration with American Composers Forum, the League of American Orchestras, and New Music USA. EarShot is the nation's first ongoing, systematic program for identifying emerging orchestral composers, offering participants career development in the form of mentorships, counsel, and industry exposure with partner orchestras across the country. ACO's artistic and administrative staff works with participating orchestras, assisting with planning and identifying composers through its extensive nationwide calls, as well as with program design and execution.

2016-17 EartShot readings took place with Buffalo Philharmonic (with composers from ACO's Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute), Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and ACO's Underwood New Music Readings. 2017-2018 readings just concluded with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Charlotte Symphony, and the Jacksonville Symphony. All women who participated in past EarShot readings were considered for the commissions.

Since its inception in 2014, the League's Women Composers Readings and Commissions program has shown impressive results: twenty-seven women composers benefitted from career development via the EarShot Readings and ten composers have now received commissions, with four (premieres by Julia Adolphe, Melody Eötvös, Chen-Hui Jen, and Andreia Pinto-Correia) completed.

2014 commission recipient Julia Adolphe's Unearth, Release (Concerto for Viola and Orchestra) received its New York premiere November 17-19, 2016 by the New York Philharmonic, conductor Jaap van Zweden, and Prinicipal Viola Cynthia Phelps as soloist. Melody Eötvös's Red Dirt | Silver Rain was premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2015 by American Composers Orchestra as part of the orchestra's SONiC: Sounds of a New Century, a festival devoted to new music written in the 21st century by composers age 40 and under.

The recipients of the 2015 Women Composers Readings and Commissions were composers Andreia Pinto-Correia and Xi Wang. Andreia Pinto-Correia's Ciprés was premiered on April 6 and 7, 2018 by the Columbus Symphony. Xi Wang is working on a piece for the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra to be premiered in a future season. 2016 program recipients were Chen-Hui Jen, whose work in eternal dusk was premiered by the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra on January 27, 2018, as well as Wang Jie and Hannah Lash (premieres tbd).