Compositions by Women for Solo Trumpet in Concert Programming and Educational Syllabuses
The goal of my project is to bring attention to a selection of works for solo trumpet written by women, and to make arguments for their inclusion in concert programmes and educational syllabuses such as the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM), Trinity, and Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB).
Researcher: May Eisenmenger
I first became interested in solo works written by women during my undergraduate degree in Australia. In my search for lesser-known pieces, I found that there were not many works written by women being performed, nor were many pieces by women included in the upper grades of the AMEB syllabus. Despite this, there are many pieces for trumpet that exhibit technical and musical challenges suitable for advanced performers that I believe should be included in syllabuses and performed, both on the grounds of bringing more attention to these wonderful works and of improving gender equality in brass music.
In my project I will investigate works such as the Grace Williams Trumpet Concerto and collect information both on the pieces and their composers. I will investigate the background of the composers and analyse the musical and technical challenges to assist listeners and performers in understanding the music.
Image: by May Eisenmenger featuring Sofia Gubaidulina (Sikorski Music Publishers), Grace Williams (Curiad) and Jeanine Rueff (Alphonse Leduc)