TromboneChat

I'm a little bit at sea here. I've spent a couple hours trying to research this, but I can't find anything that fits all four of my requirements below. This shouldn't be this hard.

I'm looking for
* A brass quintet (open to quartet/sextet/septet... not 100% sure how many horns we'll have)
* by a female composer
* that would sound OK with a bass trombone instead of a tuba on the bottom
* and is accessible & layman-audience-friendly/ not too long/ not too challenging (but not Grade-1-boring)

This would be performed as an extra feature thrown into a larger wind ensemble concert with a "female composer" theme.

Suggestions? Ideas? Thank you for your insights--any direction at all will be appreciated.

That's a pretty tall order. Lots of women composing music these days, but something for brass quintet that's accessible to a general audience?

I first thought of Julie Giroux, but I don't seen any quintet music from her. I'm actually a bit surprised by that; maybe she's written some quintet stuff but it's never been published?

There is a great all-female brass quintet here in SoCal called the Belle Air Brass. Maybe some of the members have written some music from the group, but I don't see any indication of such online.

The most promising lead I can offer is Lauren Bernofsky. She has some brass quintet stuff on her composition list.

Thank you! This is helpful, and a good lead. I thought this would be so straightforward when I started...!




Just a note--doesn't have to be a modern female composer.
(I'm not really up to speed on female composers through history [there were some, right? One or two, published under a pseudonym, or posthumously...? Maybe not western classical...? I'm out of my league here])

And I guess it could be something that wasn't composed for brass quintet, but has since been arranged for brass quintet. I think we're open to covers of choir pieces or pop charts or show tunes or what-have-you, as long as the original writer was a woman.

Quote from: LowrBrass on Jan 28, 2018, 09:06AMJust a note--doesn't have to be a modern female composer.It's only been in the last few decades that there's been much opportunity for women composers of most genres, so your best bet is probably "modern".

Several listed on IMSLP by Liana Alexandra http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Alexandra%2C_Liana

I was involved in the development of this brass quintet:

https://www.jwpepper.com/10483863.item#/submit

It's moderately challenging and pretty interesting to listen to.

Luminosity by Jessica Meyer

http://jessicameyermusic.com/luminosity

Thanks all. This really has been helpful.


For future searchers looking for leads, I also found this--
Calliope Brass is apparently doing a female-composer concert in February, and "young listeners" are welcome (= audience-friendly?). They've listed their program, so I've been looking into some of those charts/composers--

Jennifer Castellano: View from the Rocky Mountains
Faye-Ellen Silverman: Kalends
Jan Koetsier: Brass Quintet, Op. 65
Dana Wilson: Daylight at Midnight  (ribbit)
Alyssa Reit: American Songs


Lin Foulk also has a comprehensive list on her website, but it's overwhelming to navigate.
(For every piece, I have to do another search to try to determine (a) Is the piece nice to listen to? (b) Is it playable by my group? (c) Can I actually get a copy of the music anywhere?)


If we ever figure something out, I'll update accordingly.
Meanwhile, the quest continues.

Uuh...Jan Koetsier was a male composer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Koetsier

Pretty sure Dana Wilson isn’t a woman.

Pretty sure Dana Wilson isn’t a woman.