News
SMC Celebrates Female Composers
Published on March 10, 2025 - 4 p.m.
Southwestern Michigan College’s “Her Song” choir concert March 7 celebrated a millennia of music from female composers and arrangers.
Director of Choral Activities David Carew led the newly-formed Uccelli Canori (“Songbirds”), the Men’s Ensemble, Choral Scholars and the Collegiate Chorale in collaboration with Professor Dr. Maria DeRose for Women’s History Month.
“I program female composers all the time,” Carew said, “but at the beginning of last summer I wondered if I could put together a balanced program with just female composers. It was very easy to do. Actually, the hard part was picking and choosing.”
DeRose, who teaches the Women’s and Gender Studies course, narrated program notes for the journey. Her students met with Carew and developed a Women Composers in Early Music display in the Foster W. Daugherty Building.
The program featured Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Clara Schumann (1819-1896), Andrea Ramsey (1977-), Sarah Quartel (1982-), 1996 “Ragtime” lyricist Lynn Arens (1948-), Marianna Martines (1744-1812), Dale Trumbore (1987-), arranger Tsai Yu Shan (1968-) and Barbra W. Baker (1948-).
