Festival

The 2020 Collaborative Works Festival, The Women, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. Featuring exclusively the works of women composers, the festival will be held over four consecutive weekends in October.

"With the Collaborative Works Festivals the
Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago are presenting annually,
Chicago is doing its bit to rescue art song performance from the endangered species list."
- CHICAGO TRIBUNE

ALTERNATE PLANS REGARDING COVID-19
Due to the continued uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, with the safety of the artists and audience members as its top priority, CAIC has strategized to bring performances and educational events online, allowing us to present the Festival in accordance with Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan.

FESTIVAL DETAILS

The festival will spotlight music spanning over four and a half centuries, shedding light on the long history of musical pioneers who have been overlooked due to centuries of sexism. A wide range of composers will be explored, from the first woman to have a book of her music published, Maddalena Casulana, to women composers of the Parisian Belle époque like Pauline Viardot, to 20th century composers such as Margaret Bonds and Florence Price, as well as some of the women composers of today, such as Stacy Garrop and Errollyn Wallen.

MASTER CLASS:
MYRA HUANG

OCTOBER 2-4, 2020

MASTER CLASS PROGRAM BOOKLET

The festival opens October 2 with the broadcast of a Master Class led by Grammy Award–nominated pianist Myra Huang. Acclaimed by Opera News as “among the top accompanists of her generation”, and one of the leading women working in the field, Huang will work with Chicago-based young professional singer-pianist duos on repertoire by composers and poets who are women of color.

Master Class photo: Nadia Boulanger

CONCERT I:
WOMEN OF
THE BAROQUE

OCTOBER 9-11, 2020

BAROQUE PROGRAM BOOKLET

The Festival’s first concert, Women of the Baroque, will feature the works of the many overlooked women composers of the late Renaissance and Baroque period, including French composer Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre and Italian composer Maddalena Casaluna, who was the first woman in western music history to have an entire book of her musical compositions published.

Concert I photo: Allegory of Music, Laurent de La Hyre

PROGRAM

MADDALENA CASULANA: Vagh'amorosi augelli
FRANCESCA CACCINI: selected songs
JULIE PINEL: Rossignols vous chantez
ANTONIA BEMBO: Passan veloci l'ore
BARBARA STROZZI: Un amante doglioso
ANTONIA BEMBO: Ha que l'absence
ELISABETH JACQUET DE LA GUERRE: selections from Le Sommeil d'Ulisse
BARBARA STROZZI: Hor che Apollo
BARBARA STROZZI: Che si può fare

ARTISTS

WOMEN OF THE BAROQUE is presented in partnership with The Poetry Foundation

CONCERT II:
LES PARISIENNES

OCTOBER 16-18, 2020

PARISIENNES PROGRAM BOOKLET

The Festival's second concert, Les Parisiennes, will feature the works of the women composers trailblazing during the years of the Parisian Belle époque: songs which broke barriers, pushing past the domestic confines of Paris' salons to the city's grand, public concert halls.

Concert II photo: French suffragists protesting

PROGRAM

CÉCILE CHAMINADE: Ma première lettre
NADIA BOULANGER: selected songs
GERMAINE TAILLEFERRE: Six chansons françaises
PAULINE VIARDOT: selected songs
LILI BOULANGER: Clairières dans le ciel

ARTISTS

Janai Brugger, soprano | Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano | Nicholas Phan, tenor | Myra Huang, piano

CONCERT III:
MODERN WOMEN

OCTOBER 23-25, 2020

The Festival’s closing concert, Modern Women, will showcase the work of some of today’s women composers, as well as the songs of American women composers of the 20th century.

Concert III photo: Tye Leung Schulze, who in 1912 became the first Chinese-American woman to vote (perhaps anywhere in the world)

PROGRAM

MARGARET BONDS: Three Dream Portraits
IVA BITTOVÁ: Nezabudka (Midwest Premiere)
RUTH CRAWFORD SEEGER: Home Thoughts
ERROLLYN WALLEN: Roundel (Midwest Premiere)
SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER: How Graceful Things Are Falling Apart
STACY GARROP: In Eleanor's Words
FLORENCE PRICE: Song to a Dark Virgin

ARTISTS

Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano | Nicholas Phan, tenor | Chris Kenney, baritone | Shannon McGinnis, piano