Femmes4Music

Meredith Monk (* 1942, New York, United States) is one of the world's most influential and significant contemporary artists. Her repertoire includes solo pieces for voice with and without accompaniment, instrumental works, ensemble works, dramatic works, cinematic works and performances. Monk's work influenced artists such as Björk, which is why she considers herself the »aesthetic mother of Björk« who in turn interpreted Monk's song »Gotham Lullaby« in collaboration with the Brodsky Ensemble from her 1981 solo album »Dolmen Music«. She is recipient of the Nation Medal of Arts, the highest honor for artistic achievement in the United States, which was awarded to her by Barack Obama in 2014. Among countless other awards, she has received ten honorary doctorates. In honor of her 80th birthday, a CD box set containing all of her vocal pieces will be released in late 2022. 

Kaija Saariaho (* 1952, Helsinki, Finland, † 2. Juni 2023, Paris, France) studied at IRCAM at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among other places, where she engaged herself in algorithmic composition and electronic sound synthesis, acoustics and psychoacoustics, as well as work with tape and live electronics. Her body of work is at the same time comprehensive and versatile. In addition to orchestral works, it includes chamber music works, solo works for various instruments, electroacoustic works, choral works and, last but not least, a number of operas. In 2011, she received a Grammy for her opera »L'amour de loin« in the category Best Opera Recording. Saariaho's work »Semafor«, a commission from Carnegie Hall, had its world premiere in April of this year. In honor of her 70th birthday, classical musicians from Finland are currently creating a historically oriented collaborative work inspired by Saariaho's music. As part of this collaboration, a Finland-wide series of events will take place in the fall of 2022.

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (* 1939, Miami, United States) set a formative tone in several respects. In 1975, she became the first woman to receive a doctorate from the Juilliard School, and in 1983 she was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. She moreover is the first female composer to be appointed for a residency at Carnegie Hall, in 1995, a position she held until 1999. Pierre Boulez, winner of the ZKM Giga-Hertz Main Award for Electronic Music in 2011, performed her work »Symposium« with the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra in 1975, helping her gain international recognition. Taaffe Zwilich's repertoire includes pieces for chamber ensembles, vocal ensembles, choirs and orchestras, and her musical-aesthetic tools range from jagged, atonal harmonies to softer melodies with simpler textures. Gramophone Magazine listed her in an August 2022 article on the ten must-hear female composers.

Jennifer Higdon (* 1962, Brooklyn / New York, United States) enjoys a reputation as a technical master. She has been praised by the Washington Post as an »savvy, sensitive composer with a keen ear, an innate sense of form and a generous dash of pure esprit at her disposal.« Her work covers a variety of genres, ranging from orchestral and chamber pieces to wind ensembles, vocal, choral pieces, and operas. She often incorporates individual experimental, avant-garde touches, which she then usually incorporates into traditional structures and soundscapes. Jennifer Higdon received three Grammys in the category Best Contemporary Classical Composition.