Celebrating Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month, a celebration and recognition of women’s invaluable impact on American history, culture, and society. Women’s History Month has been observed annually during March in the United States since 1987. This month, let us take the opportunity to celebrate women’s past and present contributions and be intentional about empowering the next generation of history-making women.
Increase your cultural awareness by learning more about the rich history of women in America:
- Learn more about Women’s History Month aquí.
- Explore 10 women who changed the classical music world forever aquí.
- Descubra ways you can celebrate Women’s History Month aquí.
Join the DSO Women’s History Month Celebration:
- View the launch of the DSO’s virtual Women in Classical Music in Conversation series which provides a community forum and builds upon the relationships formed at the symposium. This conversation features leaders of the Dallas Symphony, including Ross Perot President & CEO Kim Noltemy; Dolores G. and Lawrence S. Barzune, M.D. Principal Guest Conductor Gemma New; Composer-in-Residence Angélica Negrón; and Wildenthal Families Vice President of Artistic Operations Katie McGuinness. View the inaugural session aquí.
- Apoyo our newly formed Women Community group’s social impact initiative throughout the month to help women and mothers in our community! The Women Community group is accepting donations of diapers and feminine hygiene products to donate to Owenwood Farm + Neighbor Space (DSO’s 6th and newest Young Musicians site with classes starting March 28). From March 1 through March 29, you can leave donations by the lower-level security desk in the Owenwood Donations box.
- Escuche to a Spotify playlist curated by our Women Community group that pays homage to female composers, musicians, and artists in classical music aquí.
REFLECTIONS | PLAYLIST | CELEBRATING WOMEN
Celebración del Mes de la Historia de la Mujer
Kim Noltemy
Ross Perot President & CEO, Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Why is Women’s History Month important?
It is a wonderful time to celebrate the importance of the achievements of today’s women, along with recognizing the female trailblazers who paved the way for today’s successes.
Jenna Barghouti
Violin, Dallas Symphony Orchestra
What modern-day female changemaker inspires you?
The late Jorja Fleezanis was a trailblazing violinist and educator who broke barriers and paved the way for women in classical music. She was the second-ever female concertmaster of a major American orchestra and served in that role at the Minnesota Orchestra for two decades. I was lucky to have her as my professor of violin at Indiana University. Her enduring work and valuable lessons in both music and life have changed the lives of so many, including her students, colleagues, and friends.
Dee Baker Amos
Board of Governors, Dallas Symphony Association
Who would you consider one of the most inspirational figures in Women’s history, and why?
I consider prisoner #7053 – Rosa Parks, as one of the most inspirational figures in Women’s History. Her notoriety was birthed from the feeling of “I am tired, and something has to change.” Her actions reflected courage in the face of a system of hate. When faced with difficulties, I am reminded of her strength, as I can’t imagine what it took for her to take the seat and stay. Her actions remind me that I deserve a seat, and if change is needed – why not start with me.
Ananya Desai
Soprano, Dallas Symphony Chorus
Why is Women’s History Month important?
With the historic marginalization and oppression of women being so extensive, a large amount of women’s history, art, music, and poetry has been lost, forgotten, or misattributed. Women’s History Month is an important time to bring light to this lost history, to empower those who were silenced, and to renew efforts to expand women’s rights on a national scale.
Jadzia James
Guest Services, Dallas Symphony Orchestra
What modern-day female changemaker inspires you?
Bozoma Saint John has had her hand in some of the most influential and well-known brands. What I love about her is that despite her notability, she is not a household name. I should like to call her a silent killer (epidemic) because she’s quick, she’s efficient and so very good at what she does. She’s the true definition of a boss. The black executive has been able to fight for the cause behind doors that were previously closed to her like-minded peers. She does and says what is uncomfortable but necessary to create change.
Jacqueline Hernandez
Soprano, Dallas Symphony Chorus
Why is Women’s History Month important?
Women’s History Month is important because it highlights unique voices from the past to inspire and influence the present and future. Women’s voices have brought forth ideas and achievements that have impacted humanity, which continue to affect the world. The past must be remembered so it can be surpassed in the future.
Lydia Umlauf
Violin, Dallas Symphony Orchestra
What modern-day female changemaker inspires you?
Our Dallas Symphony CEO Kim Noltemy inspires me greatly. She has vision for music and the arts in Dallas through great leadership of the symphony and fostering a spirit of collaboration, community engagement, and education. Kim manages all of these things with a strength and grace that is truly awesome to behold. She takes time to get to know and speak to each musician personally. And she’s just really cool! A combination that is truly inspiring.
Martha McCarty Wells
Board of Governors, Dallas Symphony Association
Who would you consider one of the most inspirational figures in Women’s history, and why?
One of the most inspirational figures in our time has been the brilliant Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Fighting discrimination in university, in law school, and in employment she persevered and became a voice for gender equality and women’s rights.
Ayona Anderson
DSO Jóvenes Profesionales
Who would you consider one of the most inspirational figures in Women’s history, and why?
Ida B. Wells is one of the most inspirational figures in women’s history, our history. She significantly impacted the field of public relations and advocacy by leveraging the press to challenge inequitable systems, expose wrongdoing and promote civil rights. By using her voice, her story, her skills as a journalist, and her ability to move people to act, she blazed a trail for women in public relations and her work influences my current practices. Advocacy work is where public relations experts find their most fulfilling and life-changing impact.
Women’s Community Group Playlist
Curated by the Women’s Community Group of the Dallas Symphony, enjoy this playlist that pays homage to composers, musicians, and artists in classical and choral music. The Women’s Community Group is dedicated to providing support, visibility and empowerment specifically to our female DSO family members and allies of this community.
Celebrating Women throughout the Season
During the 2022/2023 season, the DSO stands firm in its commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion through inspired programming that gives voice and space to women representing various facets of the artistic landscape, including singers, musicians, conductors, and composers.
Susanna Phillips: Mendelssohn’s “A Symphony Cantata”
La soprano de Alabama native Susanna Phillips sigue consolidándose como una de las cantantes y recitalistas más solicitadas de la actualidad. La Sra. Phillips ha recibido el prestigioso premio Beverly Sills Artist Award 2010 de la Met Opera. Ha cantado en la Ópera del Met durante 12 temporadas consecutivas en papeles como Musetta y, más recientemente, la Condesa Almaviva. Entre sus papeles más destacados se encuentran Fiordigili, que The New York Times calificó de "noche rompedora", y Clémence en el estreno de la compañía de L'amour de Loin, de Kaija Saariaho.
Deseada por las orquestas más renombradas del mundo, la Sra. Phillips abrió recientemente la temporada del 125 aniversario de la Sinfónica de Oregón interpretando la Segunda Sinfonía de Mahler. Ha actuado con la Real Filarmónica de Estocolmo, la Orquesta Sinfónica de Chicago y la Orquesta de Filadelfia. Se dedica a las obras de oratorio con créditos que incluyen la Novena Sinfonía de Beethoven y los Réquiems de Fauré y Mozart. Otros hitos de su carrera son Cleopatra en Giulio Cesare y el papel principal de Agripina con el Boston Baroque, Stella en Un tranvía llamado deseo de Previn junto a Renée Fleming, y Birdie en Regina de Blitzstein.
La Sra. Phillips es cofundadora de Twickenham Fest, un festival de música de cámara en su native Huntsville, Alabama, con el fagotista y native de Huntsville, Matthew McDonald. Vuelve con frecuencia a su estado native para dar recitales y hacer apariciones con orquesta.
Sari Gruber: Mendelssohn’s “A Symphony Cantata”
Aclamado como "nada menos que sensacional" por Opera Sari Gruber ha actuado con la Ópera Lírica de Chicago, la NYCO, la Ópera de Los Ángeles, la Ópera de los Países Bajos, el Maggio Musicale di Firenze, el Festival Saito Kinen, el Ongaku-Juku de Seiji Ozawa, la Ópera de Filadelfia, la Ópera de Pittsburgh, la Florida Grand, la Ópera del Pacífico, la OTSL, la Ópera de Boston, la Ópera Lírica de Kansas City, la Ópera de Portland, la Ópera de Connecticut, la Ópera de Austin y la Ópera de Arizona, interpretando sus papeles característicos de Susanna/Le nozze di Figaro, Despina/Così fan tuttey Musetta/La Bohème, además de Pamina/Zauberflöte, Norina/Don Pasquale, Adina/L'elisir d'amore, Gretel/Hänsel y Gretel, Gilda/Rigoletto, Juliette/Roméo et Juliette, Anne/Rake's Progress, Vixen/Pequeña zorra astuta, Rose/Escena de la calleAlexandra...Regina, Nannetta/Falstaff, Aricie/Hippolyte et Aricie, Poppea/Agripina, Carolina/Matrimonio Segreto, Marzelline/Fidelio, Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte, Zerlina/Don Giovanni, Adele/Fledermaus, Beth/Mujercitas, Lisette/Rondine, Miss Hedgehog/Fantastic Mr. Fox(estreno mundial), y Helena/Sueño de una noche de verano.
Aclamada recitalista y ganadora del Concurso de Naumburg en 2005, la Sra. Gruber ha cantado numerosos recitales como solista en los salones Alice Tully y Carnegie, y en muchos lugares de recitales de renombre en los Estados Unidos, incluyendo el Festival Shakespeare de la BSO y el Festival Copland de la Filarmónica de Nueva York, y numerosas apariciones con la NYFOS. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Indianápolis, Carolina del Norte, Richmond, Savannah, Omaha, Winston-Salem, Jacksonville y Columbus, las Filarmónicas de Buffalo, Erie y Florida, así como la Philharmonia Baroque, la Orquesta de Cámara de Indianápolis, la Boston Baroque, la Portland Baroque, el ProMusica Chamber Ensemble, la Orquesta del Festival de Música de Aspen, el Festival Coral de Berkshire y el Festival de Skaneateles. Misa en si menor, El Mesías, Silete Venti, La Creación, Mozart's Réquiem, Beethoven Egmontand Sinfonía nº 9, Bruckner's Te Deum, Mahler's Sinfonía nº 2 y 4, Barber's Knoxville: Verano de 1916, el de Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Los siete pecados capitales...y... Festival de la canción.
Entre las actuaciones más recientes se encuentran Mesías con la Sinfónica de Indianápolis, Cuatro últimas canciones con Symphoria, Beethoven's Sinfonía No. 9 con la Sinfónica de Pittsburgh, y recitales con NYFOS, BluffSeries y la Serie de Música de Cámara de la CMU.
Gemma New: The Rite of Spring
Buscada por sus perspicaces interpretaciones y su dinámica presencia, Gemma New, nacida en Nueva Zelanda, es asesora artística y directora principal de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Nueva Zelanda. También es directora musical de la Orquesta Filarmónica de Hamilton y principal directora invitada de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Dallas. Aclamada por el St. Louis Post-Dispatch como "una estrella emergente en el firmamento musical", New ha recibido el prestigioso premio de dirección Sir Georg Solti 2021.
2022 marca la temporada inaugural de Gemma New como Asesora Artística y Directora Principal de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Nueva Zelanda, donde dirige el Festival de Invierno 2022 con Hilary Hahn y Paul Lewis, Mozart Réquiem con Voices New Zealand, y obras contemporáneas de los compositores neozelandeses John Psathas, John Rimmer, Tabea Squire y Anthony Ritchie en la temporada del 75 aniversario de la orquesta. La temporada 2022/23 marcará la octava temporada de New como directora musical de la Orquesta Filarmónica de Hamilton y su cuarta temporada como principal directora invitada de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Dallas.
En la temporada 2022/23, New dirige la Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, la BBC Symphony Orchestra, la Royal Scottish National Orchestra y la Royal Northern Sinfonia. Cada vez más solicitada en Europa, dirige la Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de RTÉ, la Orquesta Nacional de Lyon, la Berner Symphonieorchester, la Sinfónica de Gävle, la Orquesta Nacional de Burdeos Aquitania, la Orquesta de la Toscana y la Orquesta del Mozarteum de Salzburgo en el último concierto de la Mozartwoche 2023. New debuta con la Sinfónica de Houston y la Sinfónica de Melbourne en Australia y vuelve a dirigir la Orquesta Sinfónica de Nueva Jersey, la Sinfónica de Toronto y la Sinfónica del Nuevo Mundo. En junio de 2023, regresa a San Luis para dirigir la producción del Opera Theatre of St. Susannah.
Angélica Negrón: Beethoven and Brahms
Brooklyn-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1981. Creating intricately simple narratives—as evocative as they are intangible—she writes music for accordions, toys, and electronics as well as for chamber ensembles and orchestras. Her music has been described as “wistfully idiosyncratic and contemplative” (WQXR/Q2) and “mesmerizing and affecting” (Feast of Music), while The New York Times noted her “capacity to surprise” and her “quirky approach to scoring”. She was selected by Q2 and NPR listeners as part of “The Mix: 100 Composers Under 40”, by Flavorpill as one of the “10 Young Female Composers You Should Know,” and by Paste Magazine as one of the “20 Most Innovative Musicians Working Today.”
Lido Pimienta: Beethoven y Brahms
Afro/indígena/colombiana/canadiense/punk/folklorista/tradicionalista/transgresora/diva/ángel. La identidad de la cantante canadiense-colombiana Lido Pimienta tiene tantas capas que uno podría perderse en ellas. Pero si lo hicieras, te estarías perdiendo el objetivo.
Her multi-textural, mind-bending voice and music project what Canada’s The Globe and Mail called her “bold, brash, polarizing” persona, which constantly confronts the powers that be. But it also reveals an embrace of the Afro- and Indigenous traditions that is at once defiant, delicate and sweetly nostalgic.
Pimienta’s new album Miss Colombia takes her ecstatic hybridity to a new level, building on the “nu” intersection of electronica and cumbia established by her first two albums, Color, released in 2010, and the 2016 Polaris Prize-winning La Papessa as Canadian album of the year. The latter was the first 100% independently released, non- English or French album to win the $50,000 prize. Produced with Matt Smith, a/k/a Prince Nifty, Miss Colombia overflows with the kind of understated genius that promises yet another breakthrough.
Audrey Luna: Carmina Burana
Grammy award-winning soprano Audrey Luna’s future engagements include her debut at Teatro alla Scala as ARIEL Thomas Adès’ La Tempestad, her Teatro Real, Madrid debut as MADAME MAO Nixon en China, C de Orffatulli Carmina y Carmina Burana Dallas Symphony Orchestra with Mo. Luisi conducting, OPHELIA cover in Brett Dean’s Hamlet Metropolitan Opera and KÖNIGIN DER NACHT Die Zauberflöte (Barrie Kosky production) Des Moines Metro Opera.
Ms. Luna recently set the record for singing the highest written note on the Metropolitan Opera stage, A6, as LETICIA in Thomas Adès’ El ángel exterminador, which she also performed in the world premiere at the Salzburg Festival and at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Previous productions at the Metropolitan Opera include KÖNIGIN DER NACHT in Julie Taymor’s production of Die Zauberflöte, NAJADE Ariadna en Naxos, FIAKERMILLI Arabella, OLYMPIA Les contes d'Hoffmann y ARIEL de Thomas Adès La Tempestad. Her performance as ARIEL was released on DVD with Deutsche Grammophon; the DVD was awarded a French Diapason d’Or, and the 2013 Grammy Award for “Best Opera Recording.”
Shayna Steele: Nothin’ But the Blues
There’s no need to sugar coat it, since her impressive credits speak for themselves. Her colleagues praise her ability, her dedication and drive to perfecting her craft as a professional singer and knockout performer. On stage and in the studio, New York City based vocalist and songwriter Shayna Steele proves she is a vocal force to be reckoned with.
Después de aparecer en Broadway en Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar y el elenco original de Laca para el cabello, Steele started writing music with partner David Cook in 2002. The two quickly developed a creative synergy, collaborating on Steele’s eponymous debut EP in 2004. Though self-released, the album’s breakout soul-funk single “High Yella” achieved the attention she needed to raise her solo profile. She and/or her band have since shared the stage with luminaries Ledisi, opening for George Clinton and the Sugar Hill Gang, a featured singer with Bjorkestra and GRAMMY® winning conductor/composer/trumpeter Dave Douglas, featured with two time GRAMMY® winner Snarky Puppy in 2014 at the Nice Jazz Festival, the Estival Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival, Java Jazz Festival and the Singapore Jazz Festival. Steele is a vocalist with the GRAMMY®-nominated Broadway Inspirational Voices and has worked as a sideman with Lizz Wright, Bette Midler, Natasha Bedingfield, John Legend, Matthew Morrison, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Rihanna and Kelly Clarkson.