Julia Wolfe’s ‘Fire in my mouth’ focuses on 1911 factory tragedy and the plight of working women in the early 20th century
Composer Julia Wolfe, second from right, spoke with members of the public as part of a special event, co-presented with the New York Philharmonic, at the Tenement Museum earlier this month. Photo: Agaton Strom for The Wall Street Journal By Elizabeth Yuan Jan…
Read MoreJanuary 24–26, the New York Philharmonic premiered Julia Wolfe’s Fire in my mouth, commissioned by the orchestra, Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley; the Krannert Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the University Musical Society at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Wolfe’s music focuses on the garment industry in New York City at the turn of the century — specifically the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which killed 146 garment workers, most of them young, female immigrants…
Read MoreOn January 20, Julia Wolfe joins the U-M Contemporary Directions Ensemble, directed by Oriol Sans, for an evening of conversation and performances of her small ensemble works.
This concert is part of a week-long residency by Ms. Wolfe (a U-M alum) to develop Fire in my Mouth, an evening-length orchestral work co-commissioned by UMS with the New York Philharmonic, Cal Performances and the Krannert Center.
This event is free and open to the public; no tickets required…
Read MoreFrom November 5-11, two European festivals feature music by Julia Wolfe:
• 11/5: Sounds of Music Festival (Groningen, NL) — the JACK Quartet performs Early that summer
• 11/7: Strings of Autumn Fesitval (Prague, CZ) — Bang on a Can All-Stars perform Anthracite Fields with Martinů Voices
• 11/8: Sounds of Music Festival — Trash Panda Collective presents Dark Full Ride
• 11/9: Sounds of Music Festival — Impatience, Lick, and Girlfriend performed by Ensemble Klang and the Prins Claus Conservatorium; Earring performed by Saskia Lankhoorn; Lick and Girlfriend performed by Ensemble Klang; Reeling performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars
• 11/10: Sounds of Music Festival — Anthracite Fields performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars with Cappella Amsterdam
• 11/11: Sounds of Music Festival — Impatience, On Seven-Star-Shoes and Believing performed by the Prins Claus Conservatorium
From May 10-13, Peak Performances in Montclair, NJ presents cellist Maya Beiser and friends in a new evening-length work by Julia Wolfe called “Spinning”, which celebrates the work once performed by hand by women. Music has long been a vital part of the craft — both as a propelling force and as a distraction. To pay homage to the human dignity of this “women’s work,” Wolfe and Beiser create a sonic universe for three cellos and voice performed by Beiser with Melody Giron and Lavena Johanson featuring multimedia projections imagined by the innovative artist Laurie Olinder…
Read MoreThursday, April 20, 2017
Louisville Symphony Orchestra
Teddy Abrams, conductor
Louisville, KY
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Big Beautiful Dark and Scary is one continuous and compelling swell that lives up to every adjective in the title. Wolfe’s music is constantly pushing forward through waves of tension and tremolo until it finally releases a scant 10 seconds before the end of the piece.
— Sequenza21
Anthracite Fields: tours Pennsylvania
[Anthracite Fields] captures not only the sadness of hard lives lost…but also of the sweetness and passion of a way of daily life now also lost…
Read MoreAs Trump Tries to Revive Coal, an Oratorio Confronts Mining’s Past
By MICHAEL COOPER APRIL 4, 2017
LEWISBURG, Pa. — Onstage, a choir intoned the names of coal miners whose deaths and injuries had landed them on the Pennsylvania Mining Accident index more than a century ago. In the lobby, members of the audience — some of whom came on free shuttle buses that picked them up from nearby coal towns — created an index of their own, writing about their mining ancestors in a small leather notebook held open with a coal paperweight…
Read MoreJulia Wolfe has been named a 2016 MacArthur Fellow. The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.”
Go to macfound.org for more information.
Read MoreAs part of the New York Commissions to honor the New York Philharmonic’s 175th season (2016-17) with New York-themed works by New York-based composers who have strong ties to the Philharmonic, Julia Wolfe presents a new evening-length piece for orchestra and women’s choir about women in the American work force. The Philharmonic plans to present this piece in 2018-19.
Wolfe has previously explored American labor history with Steel Hammer, her reimagining of the John Henry legend, and Anthracite Fields, an oratorio about Pennsylvania coal miners…
Read MoreIn April, the Bang on a Can All-Stars travel to Europe for a blockbuster set of concerts, including the European premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields and the Dutch premiere of her Steel Hammer.
On Saturday April 16, Wolfe’s Pulitzer prize-winning, Anthracite Fields, a concert-length work for chorus and instruments, receives its European premiere with the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the Danish Radio Vocal Ensemble at The Royal Library of Denmark, Copenhagen
The recording of Anthracite Fields on Cantaloupe Music was nominated for a 2016 Grammy award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition…
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