North American Women Composers: Laitman, Dunphy, Hagen

So Lit Song Lit

This week we are focusing on three contemporary women composers in North America: Lori Laitman, Melissa Dunphy, and Jocelyn Hagen, all of whom have a great deal of Art Song repertoire to explore! To find more women composers, check out the Kassia Database, and for even more current composers or broader repertoire, the Facebook groups we recommended were: American Art Song Composers, American Vocal Chamber Music Composers, and The African American Art Song Alliance.

Since we recorded the episode, pianist Sandra Mogensen has also compiled lists of women composers' Lieder and Mélodies repertoire -the lists include IMSLP links to each song and are available for a nominal fee.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist, (listed along with links to purchase information for the cycle):

• Lori Laitman: from The Metropolitan Tower and Other Songs (PDF score can be purchased at musicaneo.com)
  • 1. The Metropolitan Tower
  • 4. The Strong House
  • 5. The Hour
• Melissa Dunphy: from Four Poems of Nikita Gill
  • I. Sorcery
  • III. You Have Become a Forest
• Jocelyn Hagen
  • from Love Songs: i carry your heart
  • from Kiss: How to Bone a Fish

Recorded at The Camp Recording Studio in Elizabethtown, PA.

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about their network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree