Trailblazing Women to Perform in Judith Lynn Stillman's WOMEN OF NOTE

"Women of Note" is a two-part event championing music by women composers, spanning 12 centuries, to honor Women's History Month. Judith Lynn Stillman's "Women Trailblazers in Music," a groundbreaking film, is followed by a multidisciplinary concert that includes two world premiere performance.

In the spotlight is Connecticut College faculty member, Shani Collins, as choreographer and dancer. She will perform the world premere of her newly-choreographed "Phoebe," to music by an underrepresented French woman composer, Melanie Bonis, that was arranged by Judith Lynn Stillman. Stillman will be at the piano for the performance with Collins, along with Michael De Quattro on glockenspiel.

Shani Collins, a Bessie award-winner, is crowned a "Contemporary Revolutionary" by Lax Thomas in The Studio Museum Harlem Summer Magazine and featured in Dance Magazine as "Warrior Woman" by Eva Yaa Assentawa who says: " It's a sure bet that when she takes the stage, she will deliver not only the movement but the core, the bedrock, the very meaning and spirit of a dance." She has been on the Connecticut College dance faculty since 2009. Stillman holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School and was named Honored Artist of The American Prize in both piano and composition. She is the artist-in-residence at Rhode Island College and her duet recording with Wynton Marsalis on Sony Music was on the Top Ten of the Billboard charts.

Another "Women of Note" premiere performance features Valerie Tutson, director of Rhode Island Black Storytellers (RIBS), in a composition by Stillman for spoken word interlaced with music. "Tutson and Collins are inspiring - I'm honored to be working with these remarkably talented artists," says Stillman.

Also performing with Stillman are Charles Dimmick, the concertmaster of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, and seven additional world-class musicians from the New England region, in rarely heard works by women composers.

The event takes place on Wednesday, March 16th from 12:30 to 2:30 pm in Sapinsley Hall in the Nazarian Center of the Performing Arts in Providence, RI.

"Women of Note" is free and open to the public, but attendees must register in advance per COVID-19 guidelines. For free tickets, click here.

Attendees must wear masks and present proof of full vaccination (two shots of Moderna or Pfizer vaccines and a booster if eligible) or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken in the previous 72 hours or a negative COVID-19 antigen test taken in the previous 6 hours (at-home tests are not accepted).

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