Musical Herstory

Musical Herstory

For centuries, the writers of musical textbooks (and the programmers of musical institutions) excluded women who composed.

Women have been writing and performing music for as long as men have; so how come we don’t know about very many women composers? In this class we’ll explore the socio-historical reasons behind the absence of women from textbooks while exploring their music and their lives.

With stories such as appealing to the vanity of Louis XIV in order to publish their music, or conducting from a prison cell with a toothbrush, the Herstory of Music shows the bravery and tenacity of women finding ways to create music in a world dominated by men. And the Herstory does not just live in the past – it is being made today by living and breathing women. How much has really changed?

Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre

The SSO is proud to present Saskatoon composer Kendra Harder in this six week course exploring the Herstory you need to know.

Classes take place Thursday’s at 7pm (Saskatchewan time) – each class is 60 minutes.

The first class takes place on September 17th, and will be available on video to those who aren’t able to attend the class live on Zoom.

[button link=”https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_pTj2pr94qgALU3DhVFNCvtHT0SHcumTre_uPibxqBkJR8g/viewform?usp=sf_link” bg_color=”#25878a”]Click to Register Now[/button]


[box]How does it work?

Before the first class, you’ll receive an email that gives you access to the 6 weeks of scheduled Zoom classes.

If you can’t participate in the live Zoom class, you’ll have access to the video of the class on our YouTube channel[/box]

Week One – History of Feminist Musicology

Composers in focus – Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre and Marianna Martines

Week Two – The Education and Socialization of Women

Composers in focus – Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann

Week Three – The Suffrage Movement and Difficulties of Being a Female Musician or Musician of Colour in the 20thCentury

Composers in focus – Dame Ethel Smyth and Florence Beatrice Price

Week Four – Living Composers – The Advancement of Music Technology and the Avant-Garde

Composers in focus – Kaija Saariaho and Sofia Gubaidulina

Week Five – Living Composers – Composers in the Neighbourhood

Canadian composers in focus – Alexina Louie and Cris Derksen

Week Six – Living Composers – Music as a Living and Interacting Entity. Plus – what else do composers do besides write music?

Composers in focus – Kaley Lane Eaton and Niloufar Nourbakhsh

Friends of the SSO

Musicians around the world are still making music, and collaborating in unique new ways during social distancing.  So we wanted to bring you a list of quarantine performances from some of the SSO’s friends – watching these videos is a good reminder of how incredibly lucky we are to have shared the stage with all these awesome people!

We’ll keep updating these performances regularly so check back for more!

Saskatoon’s own Ryan Davis brings us a performance of his new work Wildfire – and we absolutely love it!

The UofS Jazz Ensemble brings us a little sunshine to cheer you up on rainy days!

The Greystone singers, like us, lost the end of their season – but they worked together to create this great video!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVG5xeOqO3M]

 

Eileen Laverty has left our audiences speechless on a number of occasions…its not just her stunning voice, its also her ability to touch our hearts with her musicianship.  She recorded this performance during social isolation, and its perfect.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nur9km0JWJ0]

 

Our friend Thomas Yu has been using his social distancing time to reconnect with the piano on some brand new arrangements he’s putting together…is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdhDBSUlaOw]

 

Our friend Timothy Chooi has been very busy making music from home during social distancing! Take a listen to a concert he did from his living room for the Violin Channel.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0vA-OGTVSg]

 

Tenor Spencer McKnight is an audience favourite at our performances of Handel’s Messiah.  He teamed up with the SSO’s Mark Turner to make some music during social distancing…Mark recorded the piano part in his living room in Saskatoon and sent it on to Spencer so he could record his part in his living room in Outlook!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9z6T_opkx0]

 

Accent…oh Accent! Our first concert effected due to the pandemic was our show with Accent, so we miss them the most.  They’ve been making some fun quarantine collaborations reminding us how much music can mean!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AcxdeL4zus]

 

As the weeks of distancing go on, we were thrilled to see Thomas Yu share this beautiful performance!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhSPztLplHw&w=560&h=315]

Keep checking in as we’ll be posting more videos from friends!

From Bach To Bartok Online Class

From Bach to Bartok – with Music Director Eric Paetkau

Free online class for SSO subscribers – if you’re not a subscriber but would like to give the class a try email us at classes@saskatoonsymphony.org

Take a fascinating journey through some of the greatest symphonic music ever written. From Bach to Beethoven to Brahms to Bartok, we’ll dive into the works of famous composers and look at them from a conductor’s perspective. There will be musical excerpts, juicy stories, and lots of Q&A.  Join me for a fun, fact-filled exploration of classical music’s masterworks and get a behinds-the-scenes look at what makes this music great.

-Eric Paetkau

Classes take place Fridays at 11am – videos of each class will be available to subscribers until June 30th.

Week 1, April 17. Baroque orchestral works – Bach, Handel, and more,
Week 2, April 24. Classical symphonies – Mozart, Haydn, and more,
Week 3, May 1. Beethoven Fest  1 – overview of the Beethoven Symphonies 1-5
Week 4, May 8. Beethoven Fest 2 – overview of the Beethoven Symphonies 6-9
Week 5, May 15. Early romantic symphonies – Mendelssohn, Schumann, and more,
Week 6, May 22. Later romantic symphonies – Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, and more,
Week 7, May 29. Early 20th Century symphonic works – Strauss, Mahler, Sibelius, and more,
Week 8, June 5. Other 20th Century symphonic works – Bartok, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and beyond

The classes take place live on Zoom – its an easy to use online program that lets you join the class.

Classes are reserved for subscribers – to get access to the recorded classes email us at classes@saskatoonsymphony.org

You DO NOT need to have an account with Zoom to join the class – watch the video below to learn more about how to use Zoom for this class.