Donne Triple Play on Scala Radio
A new feature for Hannah Cox and Angellica Bell
Last updated 27th May 2022
Continuing our partnership with Charitable Foundation, Donne, Hannah Cox and Angellica Bell have introduced a new feature into their shows. The Donne Triple Play features 3 back-to-back tracks by women composers, focusing on composers who are recent introductions to the Scala Radio playlist.
The Donne Triple Play features can be heard in Hannah’s 7am hour and Angellica’s 12noon hour on both Saturday and Sunday.
More information can be found out about the women featured in the Donne Triple Play here:
Augusta Holmès
Augusta Holmès was a French composer of Irish descent, who had to fight for the right to become a musician — her mother actively discouraged it, and only after her death was Augusta able to take music lessons. By 1875, her compositions were performed in France, and she became a celebrity in Parisian cultural circles. A disciple of César Franck, she was also a close friend of Franz Liszt, who admired her work and encouraged her to keep composing. She corresponded with the cultural elite of Europe, and held her own very popular salon from an early age.
Holmès' powerful, energetic music bears witness to how this woman held her own in a sphere where men exerted so much influence. Her compositions were often characterised as 'masculine' and 'virile' by the men she competed against.
She appears to have held everyone in thrall with her striking good looks, breadth of culture and ebullient personality. "Like children, women know no obstacles; and their will breaks everything. Mademoiselle Holmès is indeed a woman, she is 'outrageous'". This misogynistic outrage came from Saint-Saëns and reflects that period's admiring amazement for this woman who managed, thanks to her talent, but also to her will, to make recognize that the word "composer" also had a feminine.
Saint-Saëns even proposed marriage, and said, "we were all of us in love with her!". Franck's highly charged Piano Quintet was rumoured to be infused with his passion for her, and Debussy wrote after her death, "We shall never forget what delightful and powerful music she gave us".
Clarice Assad
Clarice Assad's numerous commissions include works for Carnegie Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo, Chicago Sinfonietta, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Youth Orchestra, General Electric, Sybarite5, Metropolis ensemble, the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Queen Reef Music Festival and the La Jolla Music Festival, to name a few. Her work Danças Nativas was nominated for a Latin Grammy for best contemporary composition in 2009. Her compositions have been recorded by some of the most prominent names in the classical music, including percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and oboist Liang Wang.
Sarah Quartel
Canadian composer and educator Sarah Quartel is known for her fresh and exciting approach to choral music. Deeply inspired by the life-changing relationships that can occur while making choral music, Sarah writes in a way that connects singer to singer, ensemble to conductor, and performer to audience.
Her works are performed by choirs across the world, and she has been commissioned by groups including the American Choral Directors Association, the National Children's Chorus of the United States of America, and New Dublin Voices. Since 2018 she has been exclusively published by Oxford University Press, and she continues to work as a clinician and conductor at music education and choral events at home and abroad.
Julie Cooper
Julie Cooper is an award-winning Welsh composer whose music is broadcast extensively on Film, Television and all visual media worldwide. She has scored multiple cinematic orchestral and chamber albums featured on television drama, wildlife documentaries, film and advertising.
Known for her evocative, eclectic scores and versatility as an orchestrator, she has created soundtracks for numerous theatre and BBC Radio Drama productions.
For the concert platform, her commissions have ranged from percussion quartet to full orchestra and choir, with performances at high-profile venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. David's Hall, Henley Festival, Newbury Spring Festival and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. The diverse range of musicians and instruments she has been fortunate to write for are a constant source of creative inspiration, including Dame Evelyn Glennie, Grace Davidson, Claire Moore, 4-Mality, The Locrian Ensemble of London, Justin Pearson, Andy Findon, Safri Duo, Nicholas McCarthy and contemporary urban dance company Union Dance.
Her latest album will be released by Signum Classics in 2022, featuring Grace Davidson, Elena Urioste and Tom Poster, Nicholas McCarthy and conducted by Jessica Cottis.
Hiromi
Hiromi Uehara, known professionally as Hiromi, is a Japanese jazz composer and pianist. She is known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances and blends of musical genres such as stride, post-bop, progressive rock, classical and fusion in her compositions.
Hiromi refuses to define herself or her music. She prefers to play and let her audience make up their own minds about what to call her music, saying, "It's just the union of what I've been listening to and what I've been learning."
Emily Bear
An award-winning composer and recording artist since the age of five, Bear has achieved groundbreaking success as a pianist, composer, and singer-songwriter. Her expertise and love for film and media scoring highlights her ability to move between musical styles and to communicate story through music. Her film and media roster includes Disney, Dreamworks, Warner Bros., and Universal. Clients value her ability to create both the score for a project as well as the songs. Whether she is creating a cinematic orchestral soundtrack or writing a pop song, Emily pulls from her skills in jazz, classical, musical theatre and pop.