Project W: Works by Diverse Women Composers—Chicago Sinfonietta/Mei-Ann Chen (Cedille 185)
Conductor Mei-Ann Chen and the Chicago Sinfonietta — the adventurous, MacArthur Award-winning orchestra that champions racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in classical music — offer world-premiere recordings of newly commissioned American works by Jennifer Higdon, Clarice Assad, Jessie Montgomery, and Reena Esmail. It was the capstone project of the orchestra’s 30th anniversary season in 2019. Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon responded to her commission with a five-moment suite for strings called Dance Card. Clarice Assad is a Grammy-nominated composer and performer who likes to give her address as “The Americas.” Her Sin Fronteras (Without Borders) lives up to its title with an exotic blend of musical influences from throughout the hemisphere. Juilliard-trained African-American composer Jessie Montgomery, a violinist member of the Catalyst Quartet and a collaborator with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble, imbues her Coincident Dances with the frenetic energy and multicultural sound worlds of her native New York City. Reena Esmail, an Indian-American graduate of Juilliard and the Yale School of Music, draws from Western and Hindustani classical music for #metoo, a composition rooted in her own personal experiences. The program also includes the first-ever recording of William Grant Still’s orchestration of Florence Price’s buoyant Dances in the Canebrakes.