Annual American Composers Update
Emma Lou Diemer
Emma Lou Diemer holds a commission from the Santa Barbara
(CA) Symphony for a short work, titled
Homage to Tchaikovsky,
to open their May 2001 Mostly Tchaikovsky concerts. Other
commissions include an anthem for Christ Church Cranbrook,
in Bloomfield, MI, Charles Raines, music director; an
organ work and hymn tunes for Gemini Press International,
Paul Hamill, editor; an anthem for the First Presbyterian
Church, in Santa Barbara, Julie Neufeld, music director;
a women's choir work for the Sierra Women's Ensemble,
Jennifer Tibben-Lembke, conductor; and an organ work for
the American Guild of Organists 2001 Far West Regional
Convention.
Premieres
Diemer's
Mass (in Latin:
Kyrie, Gloria, Credo,
Sanctus, and
Agnus Dei) for choir, two pianos,
and percussion, was premiered by the Ojai Camerata, William
Wagner conducting, and pianists Tachell Gerbert and Bradley
Gregory, Nov. 2000 at the First Presbyterian Church, in
Ojai, CA.
Duo, for cello and piano, will be presented
at the Indiana University of Pennslyvania Festival of
Women Composers, Mar. 2001, with Ellen Grolman Schlegel
and Joan Dixon Broyles. At the Berlin (Germany) Botanical
Gardens in Oct. 2000, mezzo-soprano Suzanne Summerville,
accompanied by pianist Raminta Lampsatis, introduced
Frisch
Gesungen.
Performances
Interlude and Serenade/Toccata was played by Carol
Lancaster, piano, at the Santa Barbara Public Library
in Oct. 2000. In 2000, trumpeter John Harbaugh presented
Laudate at the University of Alaska, in Fairbanks
(Sept.); and at the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva
in Rome, December 29. The Women's Philharmonic, Apo Hsu,
conductor, has scheduled
Suite of Homages for Mar.
10, 2001 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater,
in San Francisco. Diemer organ works performed by the
composer in 2000 included
Toccata and psalm settings,
at St. Mary's Cathedral, in San Francisco. Aug. 20; and
at a recital of organ works by women composers at Basilica
of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, July 4. At Coral Ridge Presbyterian
Church, in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Oct. 2000, Darryl Miller
was the organist in
Psalm 121, for organ, brass,
and percussion, and other works for brass and organ.
Publications
Psalms for Trumpet and Organ; T. A. P. Music Sales.
Strings in the Earth and Air (text by James Joyce);
The Caller (text by Dorothy Diemer Hendry);
One
Perfect Rose (text by Dorothy Parker);
Comment
(text by Parker); all in
Southern
Music Co. Art Songs by American Women Composers,
Vol. 14, Ruth Friedberg, editor.
Psalm 221;
organ, brass, and percussion;
C.
Alan Publications.
Recordings
Fantasy; Leanne Rees, piano;
Fleur
de Son Classics Women Composers and the Men in
Their Lives.
Suite of Homages; Halle State
Philharmonic Orchestra, Rudolph Werthen, conductor; Contemporary
Record Society.
Variations on "Rendez a Dieu" and
Variations on "Abide with Me"; both by Joan Dixon
Broyles, organ;
www.joandeveedixon.com
Further Information
