Women’s College Junior Planning and Directing Student Recital Celebrating 19th-Century American Female Composers

Earlier this week my blog post, Celebrating 19th-Century American Female Composers, was published on The Huffington Post.

Early female composers, while making significant contributions to the world of music, have often gone unnoticed. American composers such as Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867-1972), Amy Marcy Beach (1867-1944), Clara Kathleen Rogers (1844-1931) and Kate Vannah (1855-1933) are included on this list.

Learning about a musical event created to spotlight 19th century American female composers, including these five, I wanted to connect with the event's creative force, Ellen Pelos.

Ellen is a junior at Scripps College, a women's college in Claremont, CA, dual-majoring in music and psychology. Her interest in music and musical performances started early with piano lessons when she was 3 years old and private voice lessons in middle school and high school.

When it was time for college, Ellen was deliberate in her choice, "I chose Scripps because it provides a well-rounded liberal arts education in a collaborative, feminist environment, which is very important to me." And it is here that Ellen continues with her voice lessons and musical performances.

Ellen is planning and directing a student recital on March 26, 2015: Women in Music in Post-Civil War America 1865-1900, at the Balch Auditorium on the Scripps campus. Joining her are students from Scripps College, Pitzer College, Harvey Mudd College, and Claremont McKenna College.

Fascinated with Ellen's choice of composers, I wanted to learn more about this project that highlights women's contributions to late 19th-century American music. She explains:

Continue reading here.