Boulanger Initiative Presents Sarah Cahill's THE FUTURE IS FEMALE: IN CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jul. 01, 2020
Sarah Cahill presents The Future is Female: In Conversation and Performance hosted by Boulanger Initiative, a nonprofit organization working for greater inclusivity in music. The Future is Female is Cahill's curation and performance project featuring more than sixty compositions by women around the globe, ranging from the 18th century to the present day.
On Thursday, July 9 and Friday, July 10, 2020 at 2pm ET, Cahill will present two unique hour-long programs, totaling 12 pre-recorded videos, including three video premieres. Cahill will give viewers background about each of the composers and these rarely performed works in conversation with Laura Colgate (July 9) and Joy-Leilani Garbutt (July 10) from Boulanger Initiative. Cahill will be available to answer questions from viewers during the broadcast, which will stream live on Facebook and YouTube. Register on Eventbrite to receive the streaming link: http://boulangerinitiative.eventbrite.com
Program for Thursday, July 9, 2020 at 2pm ET
Sofia Gubaidulina - Chaconne (1962) *
Margaret Bonds - Troubled Water (1967) *
Gabriela Ortiz - Etude No. 3 (2011)
Vítězslava Kaprálová - Dubnová Preludia "April Preludes" Nos. 1 and 3 (1937)
Johanna Beyer - Gebrauchs-Musik No. 1 (1934)
Annea Lockwood - RCSC (2001)
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh - Music for Piano (1989/1997)
Program for Friday, July 10 at 2pm ET
Julia Perry - Prelude (1946) *
Hélène de Montgeroult - Sonata No. 9 (1811)
Teresa Carreño - Un reve en mer (1868)
Žibuokl?- Martinaityt?- - Heights and Depths of Love, first mvt. (2009)
Theresa Wong - She Dances Naked Under Moonlight (2019)
* video premiere
Sarah Cahill describes The Future is Female as "a ritual installation and communal feminist immersive listening experience." In concert, it is often presented as a "marathon" performance ranging in length from three to six hours in an art gallery or other public space where guests can enter and exit at will, sit, stand, and explore the performance space.
With this physical manifestation of her lifetime dedication to supporting the artistic work of women, Cahill illuminates works by women composers worldwide - Chinese, Azerbaijani, Afro-Cuban, African American, Czech, Lithuanian, Polish, and Venezuelan, among others - some who are alive and prolific and others who have died but live on through their music. The San Diego Tribune describes Cahill as "a vessel through which musical ideas can pass, a communicator whose technique is put at the service of empathy and understanding." She was named a Champion of New Music by the American Composers Forum for 2018.
The compositions range greatly in style, aesthetic, and mood. According to Chatham Lifestyle, of her performance presented by Carolina Performing Arts in 2019, "Music for Piano, composed by Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, involved laying glass beaded necklaces across the piano strings to create an effect reminiscent of the tar, a traditional Iranian stringed instrument. At times the glass caused a resonating, crystalline echo; other times, vibrations from the piano's lowest notes created a harsh buzzing sound." Indy Week noted, "But she also brought passion and sincerity to more traditional fare like Hélène de Montgeroult's Sonata No. 9, Op. 5 No. 3, a gorgeous and spirited bit of virtuosity," and furthermore that "the program kept our ears fresh by modulating between the severe-Elizabeth A. Baker's mathematically recombined Four Planes was as cryptic as Webern's bagatelles-and the sumptuous, in the lushly tiered first movement of Žibuokl?- Martinaityt?-'s 2009 piece Heights and Depths of Love."
The videos presented on July 9 and 10, and many more, are available to view on demand on Cahill's YouTube channel at https://bit.ly/FutureIsFemaleCollection and the selections are listed below in chronological order.
Cahill is filming more videos in her home to be added to the collection, until live performances are possible again.
Hélène de Montgeroult - Sonata No. 9 (1811)
Fanny Mendelssohn - Songs for Piano, Op. 8, Nos. 1 and 3 (1846)
Teresa Carreño - Un reve en mer (1868)
Vítězslava Kaprálová - Dubnová Preludia "April Preludes" Nos. 1 and 3 (1937)
Johanna Beyer - Dissonant Counterpoint V
Johanna Beyer - Gebrauchs-Musik No. 1 (1934)
Julia Perry - Prelude (1946) **
Sofia Gubaidulina - Chaconne (1962) **
Margaret Bonds - Troubled Water (1967) **
Ann Southam - Rivers, Series II, No. 2 (1979)
Ann Southam - Glass Houses No. 7 (1981)
Ann Southam - selections from Rivers (1979)
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh - Music for Piano (1989/1997)
Pauline Oliveros - Quintuplets Playpen (2001)
Annea Lockwood - RCSC (2001)
Žibuokl?- Martinaityt?- - Heights and Depths of Love, first mvt. (2009)
Gabriela Ortiz - Prelude and Etude No. 3 (2011)
Elena Ruehr - In C Too (2015)
Christine Southworth - Sparkita and Her Kittens (2015)
Deirdre Gribbin - Unseen (2018)
Theresa Wong - She Dances Naked Under Moonlight (2019)
**available on-demand after the July 9-10 premieres
Recent and upcoming live performances of The Future is Female include BAMPFA, North Dakota Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Bowling Green New Music Festival, Carlsbad Music Festival, Carolina Performing Arts, the University of Iowa, and the Barbican Centre in London.
About Sarah Cahill
Sarah Cahill has commissioned and premiered over sixty compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to Cahill include John Adams, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Yoko Ono, Annea Lockwood, and Ingram Marshall.
Recent appearances include the Interlochen Arts Festival, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Boston Institute for Contemporary Art, a performance at Alice Tully Hall with the Silk Road Ensemble, Stanford Live, Le Poisson Rouge, and concerts at San Francisco Performances, Sacramento State's Festival of New American Music, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in the United Kingdom, and Toyusu Civic Center Hall in Tokyo.
Sarah Cahill's discography includes more than twenty albums on the New Albion, CRI, New World, Other Minds, Tzadik, Albany, Cold Blue, Other Minds, and Pinna labels. In September 2017, she released her latest album, Eighty Trips Around the Sun: Music by and for Terry Riley, a box set tribute to Terry Riley, on Irritable Hedgehog Records. The four-CD set includes solo works by Riley, four-hand works with pianist Regina Myers, and world premiere recordings of commissioned works composed in honor of Riley's 80th birthday.
Cahill's radio show, Revolutions Per Minute, can be heard every Sunday evening from 8 to 10 pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory. For more information, visit www.sarahcahill.com.
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