| Boston Symphony Orchestra with Lorelei perform Her Story |
[Her Story] has a ferocity that is literally written into the score, but also an absence of resolution as it looks back to suffrage with one wary eye toward the future steps this country still needs to take for something resembling true equality.
— The New York Times, September 2022
Her Story (2022) 40'10 women's voices and orchestra 3(picc).3.3(bcl).3(cbn)/4.3(in c).2.btb.1/timp.4perc/egtr.ebgtr/pno.hp/strings Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Nashville Symphony, National Symphony, San Francisco Symphony |
listen to Her Story
Boston Symphony with Lorelei (Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor)
| Wolfe explains Her Story |
Julia Wolfe’s Her Story is a 40-minute oratorio for 10 women’s voices — with stage direction by Anne Kauffman, scenic design by Jeff Sugg, and production by Bang on a Can.
Her Story premiered in September 2022 with the Nashville Symphony and was performed in January 2023 by the Chicago Symphony. It received performances in March 2023 with the Boston Symphony, in May 2023 with the San Francisco Symphony, and in May 2024 with the Cincinnati Symphony. The National Symphony performs the work February 27 and March 1, 2025. These premiere performances all feature the vocal ensemble Lorelei.
read New York Times review from the premiere
Listen to Wolfe talk with NPR about Her Story
Her Story invokes the words of historical figures and the spirit of pivotal moments to pay tribute to the centuries of ongoing struggle for equal rights and representation for women in America. The piece incorporates text that reflects the history of women’s fight for equality, ranging from a letter written by Abigail Adams to words attributed to Sojourner Truth, from public attacks directed at women protesting for the right to vote, to political satire. Her Story is the latest in a series of compositions by Wolfe that highlight monumental and turbulent moments in American history and culture, and the people—both real and imagined, celebrated and forgotten—that defined them.
Wolfe explains:
Though we have yet to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, women have been battling for equality from the beginning of the nation. Her Story captures the passion and perseverance of women refusing subordination, demanding representation, and challenging the prejudice and power structures that have limited women’s voices. The dynamic vocal artists of Lorelei Ensemble team up with five major American orchestras to tell this important yet much neglected thread of American political history.
For more information about Her Story, or any of Julia Wolfe’s music, please don’t hesitate to write us.
For information about the production requirements for Her Story, please contact Kenny Savelson at Bang on a Can.