Brass quintets by female composers?

[ttf_LowrBrass]

I'm a little bit at sea here. I've spent a couple hours trying to research this, but I can't find anything that fits all four of my requirements below. This shouldn't be this hard.

I'm looking for
* A brass quintet (open to quartet/sextet/septet... not 100% sure how many horns we'll have)
* by a female composer
* that would sound OK with a bass trombone instead of a tuba on the bottom
* and is accessible & layman-audience-friendly/ not too long/ not too challenging (but not Grade-1-boring)

This would be performed as an extra feature thrown into a larger wind ensemble concert with a "female composer" theme.

Suggestions? Ideas? Thank you for your insights--any direction at all will be appreciated.

[ttf_JohnL]

That's a pretty tall order. Lots of women composing music these days, but something for brass quintet that's accessible to a general audience?

I first thought of Julie Giroux, but I don't seen any quintet music from her. I'm actually a bit surprised by that; maybe she's written some quintet stuff but it's never been published?

There is a great all-female brass quintet here in SoCal called the Belle Air Brass. Maybe some of the members have written some music from the group, but I don't see any indication of such online.

The most promising lead I can offer is Lauren Bernofsky. She has some brass quintet stuff on her composition list.

[ttf_LowrBrass]

Thank you! This is helpful, and a good lead. I thought this would be so straightforward when I started...!




Just a note--doesn't have to be a modern female composer.
(I'm not really up to speed on female composers through history [there were some, right? One or two, published under a pseudonym, or posthumously...? Maybe not western classical...? I'm out of my league here])

And I guess it could be something that wasn't composed for brass quintet, but has since been arranged for brass quintet. I think we're open to covers of choir pieces or pop charts or show tunes or what-have-you, as long as the original writer was a woman.

[ttf_JohnL]

Quote from: LowrBrass on Jan 28, 2018, 09:06AMJust a note--doesn't have to be a modern female composer.It's only been in the last few decades that there's been much opportunity for women composers of most genres, so your best bet is probably "modern".

[ttf_BGuttman]

Several listed on IMSLP by Liana Alexandra http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Alexandra%2C_Liana

[ttf_SilverBone]

I was involved in the development of this brass quintet:

https://www.jwpepper.com/10483863.item#/submit

It's moderately challenging and pretty interesting to listen to.

[ttf_William Lang]

Luminosity by Jessica Meyer

http://jessicameyermusic.com/luminosity

[ttf_LowrBrass]

Thanks all. This really has been helpful.


For future searchers looking for leads, I also found this--
Calliope Brass is apparently doing a female-composer concert in February, and "young listeners" are welcome (= audience-friendly?). They've listed their program, so I've been looking into some of those charts/composers--

Jennifer Castellano: View from the Rocky Mountains
Faye-Ellen Silverman: Kalends
Jan Koetsier: Brass Quintet, Op. 65
Dana Wilson: Daylight at Midnight  (ribbit)
Alyssa Reit: American Songs


Lin Foulk also has a comprehensive list on her website, but it's overwhelming to navigate.
(For every piece, I have to do another search to try to determine (a) Is the piece nice to listen to? (b) Is it playable by my group? (c) Can I actually get a copy of the music anywhere?)


If we ever figure something out, I'll update accordingly.
Meanwhile, the quest continues.

[ttf_Ken Kugler]

Uuh...Jan Koetsier was a male composer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Koetsier

[ttf_trombonemetal]

Pretty sure Dana Wilson isn’t a woman.

[ttf_trombonemetal]

Pretty sure Dana Wilson isn’t a woman.