WMUK is featuring Kalamazoo resident Elisabeth Blair's Listening To Ladies podcastson Mondays at 10:00 am this month. They grew out of Blair's desire to discover and shed light on the work of current and past composers who are women.
Blair writes: Born in 1933 in Syracuse, New York, Augusta Cecconi-Bates comes from an opera-loving Italian home. She studied piano from age 6, (she was composing music even then) and earned a B.A. (1956) and M.A. in Humanities (1960) from Syracuse University. After winning a composition contest in 1976, Augusta went on to study at Cornell University with Robert Palmer and Karel Husa. In 1992 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from a conservatory in Italy. Her work has garnered praise from Lukas Foss, who in 1988 wrote, “she is a composer who knows what she is doing and does it well.” She has composed some 200 works, in genres ranging from vocal to orchestra and band.
In a pre-episode interview, Elisabeth Blair tells Cara Lieurance about visiting the 83 year-old Cecconi-Bates at her home in rural New York. She summarizes some stories that weren't included in the episode, and concludes with her thoughts on how the act of sharing one's stories can be a powerful gift.
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