‘Legends of American Band,” last fall’s concert by the Southwest Washington Wind Symphony, featured the usual legendary suspects: Alfred Reed’s “The Hounds of Spring;” John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
After that concert, conductor Patrick Murphy decided to change directions. The upcoming concert by the Wind Symphony features all women composers. He said he was inspired — and a bit embarrassed — by some research done by the Wind Symphony’s publicist, Colleen Chun, who crunched the numbers and found that a whopping 2 percent of the group’s material over the past 12 seasons was composed by women.
Murphy, who teaches music and directs bands at the University of Portland, reviewed his own track record there and found it similarly skewed. “I’m on a campus that’s 65 percent female and I’m close to 6 percent” in terms of selecting music by women. “Oh my goodness, I’m not promoting what I need to be promoting,” he realized.
He added that he’s got plenty of female flute students and conducting students — and yet, professional flautists and conductors in the classical music world are mostly men.
If You Go
• What: “Women of Note,” music by contemporary women composers featuring the Southwest Washington Wind Symphony.
• When: 3 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: Union High School Performing Arts Center, 6201 N.W. Friberg-Strunk St., Camas.
• Cost: Free.
• What: “Coming Home,” Clark College winter choral concert, featuring the Clark College Women’s Choral Ensemble and Clark College Chorale.
• When: 7:30 p.m. March 15.
• Where: Gaiser Student Center at Clark College, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way.
• Cost: Free.
“For whatever reason, there’s still a big gender gap in classical music,” said Murphy. “Who are the famous women composers? They’re hard to name.”
The good news, Murphy said, is that the younger world of “wind bands” is “more accessible to women composers” than the older, stuffier one of symphony orchestras. “We’re always on the lookout for new repertoire, new stuff by living composers. We’re much more in the now,” he said — even if concert programming hasn’t yet reflected that.
Murphy went hunting for quality music by women and discovered “a wealth of great material, a lot of stuff I never heard before,” he said.
Fresh voices
You’ve heard of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven — all “dead white German men,” Murphy said. Now, meet Giroux, Nishimura and Szymko.
Julie Giroux “is the big name in terms of female composers” right now, Murphy said. “She’s written a ton of great stuff,” including symphonic and piano works as well as many soundtracks for movies and television.
“Kahn,” one of two Giroux pieces in this concert, isn’t a soundtrack but sure sounds like one, Murphy said; it’s a dramatic and visual portrayal of the life of Mongolian warlord Gengis Kahn. “It really grabs you,” he said.
“The most compelling” female composer Murphy knows is the youngest, he said: 25-year-old Cait Nishimura, based in Toronto and the recent winner of a prestigious national competition with her piece “Chasing Sunlight.”
“It’s a cross section of urban and natural themes,” said Murphy. “It’s about driving west toward British Columbia and following the sun as you go. It’s a beautiful piece.”
Nishimura “writes with a fresh voice that doesn’t sound like anybody else writing now,” he said. “She’s going to make it. I want her to meet my college students. I think they’ll be very inspired by this young, minority woman writing music that is getting played.”
Coming and going
More musical women — and men — will perform a traveling-themed concert at Clark College the following week. The Clark College Women’s Choral Ensemble is getting ready to head for northern climes, while the Clark College Chorale is “Coming Home.” That’s the name of the concert scheduled for March 15.
“The Women’s Choral Ensemble is going on tour to Canada in April, so this really is a pre-tour concert for them,” said Jacob Funk, director of choirs at the college. “It’s nice to know that we get to sing this repertoire here first, at home, before we take it on the road.”
The upbeat, powerful material on the women’s ensemble program is both contemporary and historical, with some pieces harkening all the way back to the 16th century. You’ll hear Rolo Dilworth’s “Travelin’ Train” and his adaptation of “I Sing Because I’m Happy,” as well as the classic “Spirit of Life” by Christopher Aspaas.
Also featured will be “It Takes a Village” by Joan Szymko, a leading American composer of choral music who happens to be a woman — and who is based in Portland.
Meanwhile, the Clark College Chorale will take “The Road Home” by Stephen Paulus and “The Road Not Taken” by Randall Thompson — among many other traveling pieces. Three of its selections will feature choir members as soloists.
