Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra Celebrates Women Composers in A Time to Honor

Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra kicks off the 2021-22 Season with A Time to Honor on Oct. 16th, 2021 at 7:30 PM at the Cheyenne Civic Center. Masks are  strongly recommended and socially distanced seating is available by request, if tickets are purchased by Fri. Oct. 15th. The 7:30  PM performance will also be livestreamed for those who prefer to watch from the comfort of home, for $15 per household. 

The season begins with a special concert that will usher in a season-long exploration of women composers. This concert  includes music by five American women composers, spanning the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. William Intriligator, CSO’s  Music Director and Conductor explains, “There is so much great music by women composers, yet most orchestras perform  very little music by them. This will surely be the first-ever CSO concert to feature all women composers.” 

The five composers featured on this program are Joan Tower, Caroline Shaw, Gwyneth Walker, Anne Guzzo and Amy Beach.  They all have incredible talent and compelling musical voices, and there is a great deal of variety in their musical styles. Two of  the pieces performed will be world premieres! One of those, Stumbling Towards Equality by Wyoming composer Anne Guzzo,  was commissioned especially for this concert by the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, and the composer will be in attendance.  Dr. Guzzo is on the faculty of UW in Laramie and is an Emmy-nominated composer. This new orchestral piece celebrates the  150th anniversary of the right to vote for women in Wyoming while also honestly addressing the troubled history of that right  and the work yet to be done. The other world premiere is A Time to Vote written by Gwyneth Walker to honor the centennial  of the 19th Amendment.  

Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman starts the program. The title of this short piece, a clever reference to  Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, made it the perfect way to start this season. Scored for brass and percussion only, it’s  exciting and powerful, bold, and a bit “in your face.” Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte is a bit opposite of that, scored only for strings;  it is a moving, intimate, and heartfelt take on an old-fashioned minuet, yet brilliantly uses modern techniques and sounds.  Ms. Shaw was the youngest-ever recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in music when she won that prize a few years ago.  

This concert will also be unusual in that Maestro Intriligator will conduct the first half of the program and then pass the baton,  literally, to a guest conductor, Avlana Eisenberg, to conduct Amy Beach’s masterpiece, Symphony in E minor, op.32 “Gaelic”.  Maestro Intiligator says, “One might hear it and think it was written by Dvorak, it is that good! Yet it also has a unique voice,  combining Irish and Gaelic folk tunes in the middle movements in creative ways. It’s a huge, powerful piece that will bring the  audience to its feet at the end of the program!” Maestra Eisenberg is a brilliant American conductor, who well represents the  wealth of talented women conductors on the classical music scene today.  

Enhance your experience with “Lunch and Learn” on Oct. 15th, from 12-1:30 PM at the Laramie County Library, which will  also be livestreamed on the CSO Facebook page. Gain additional insight into women in classical music at the Women in Music  Roundtable on Oct. 15th at 5:00 PM in the Upper Lobby of the Cheyenne Civic Center. “Classic Conversations” returns on Oct.  16th, at 6:30 PM at the Civic Center, prior to the concert.