A conversation with Christine Moulton, principal flute, about March 2 concert
Christine Moulton is thrilled that the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra’s March 2 concert in celebration of Women’s History Month features women composers who defied the odds and brings together a panel of local women leaders in the performing arts and business who will share their own stories of struggles and success.
Moulton, principal flute, will join the Sinfonia in a performance of Concertino for Flute, Op. 107, by Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944). She credits Music Director Paul Chou for programming music not just by women composers but by women who specifically struggled for recognition and equality and for taking the extra step in organizing the complimentary symposium.
In addition to the Chaminade Concertino, the program will also feature the Overture in C Major by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805-1847) and Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 36, by Louise Farrenc (1804-1875).
The concert, 7:30 p.m. in First Presbyterian Church, 3231 W. Tilghman St., Allentown, will be preceded by the 6:30 p.m. symposium in the sanctuary. Chou will lead a discussion with Lourdes Starr, executive director of Astral Artists; Sun Min Lee, the former Robert Cutler Endowed Teaching Associate Professor in Choral Arts at Lehigh University; Anne Lewis, head of the Division of Performing Arts and associate professor at DeSales University; Rebecca Merola, entrepreneur and owner of the Designery Quakertown; and Leela Breithaupt, executive director of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem.
“The music of Mendelssohn-Hensel, Farrenc, and Chaminade is worthy to be part of the standard repertoire because of these composers' talent and brilliance,” Moulton observes. “What a great way to celebrate Women’s History Month. Paul is doing such good work connecting the community and the orchestra. This is another inspired example. This engaging concert repertoire, combined with bringing in prominent women in the community and having them share their stories, is sure to be uplifting.”
The contemporary stories from the panel will pair perfectly with these women composers, who never had it easy working in the 19th century, she says.
Eager to perform the Concertino with Chou and the Sinfonia, Moulton describes how Chaminade’s talent was recognized early on by other composers such as Bizet. She was encouraged to attend the Paris Conservatory but she faced opposition from her father, who refused to let her study at the Paris Conservatory because she was a woman and of a certain class in French society.
“She was allowed to take lessons with professors from the conservatory,” she says. “But she couldn’t enter that whole culture and community where so many lifelong connections are made. In many ways, Chaminade was her own champion. She would tour all over the world, including the U.S., and present her own pieces for piano and for voice and piano.
“She was the one who toured and played her music. There weren’t people necessarily championing her music. She was it,” Moulton adds. “She made a huge impression wherever she went. Apparently, Queen Victoria was really taken with her when she toured in England. After she toured the U.S., Chaminade Clubs began to form. There are still two operating, one in Providence, R.I. and one in Massachusetts. The Concertino in this concert was commissioned by the Paris Conservatory for its annual flute contest in 1902, so she was esteemed by certain prominent colleagues.”
Moulton intends the performance to be an experience of communicating directly with the audience while being intimately involved in the contrasting instrumental parts. “I want it to be a truly shared experience with everyone present,” she says.
Moulton is encouraged by seeing more women in principal orchestral positions playing all instruments, including tuba, trumpet and trombone, instruments that used to be considered “masculine,” and more and more recognition of hugely talented composers such as Jennifer Higdon and Julia Wolfe, to add to the ranks of composers like Chaminade.
“Women are being encouraged in general, rather than discouraged,” she says, noting that it wasn’t that long ago, 1941, when Helen Kotas won the position of principal horn with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, becoming the first woman to be hired as principal of any section, except harp, in a major U.S. orchestra.
“There are plenty of examples of women in all the arts who were geniuses but who were not allowed into the ranks of the elite because it wasn’t considered feminine,” Moulton adds. “But like Chaminade and other women composers, they broke through. And here I am, benefiting from all the work others have done before me. I am truly grateful for that.”
Moulton, principal flute, will join the Sinfonia in a performance of Concertino for Flute, Op. 107, by Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944). She credits Music Director Paul Chou for programming music not just by women composers but by women who specifically struggled for recognition and equality and for taking the extra step in organizing the complimentary symposium.
In addition to the Chaminade Concertino, the program will also feature the Overture in C Major by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805-1847) and Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 36, by Louise Farrenc (1804-1875).
The concert, 7:30 p.m. in First Presbyterian Church, 3231 W. Tilghman St., Allentown, will be preceded by the 6:30 p.m. symposium in the sanctuary. Chou will lead a discussion with Lourdes Starr, executive director of Astral Artists; Sun Min Lee, the former Robert Cutler Endowed Teaching Associate Professor in Choral Arts at Lehigh University; Anne Lewis, head of the Division of Performing Arts and associate professor at DeSales University; Rebecca Merola, entrepreneur and owner of the Designery Quakertown; and Leela Breithaupt, executive director of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem.
“The music of Mendelssohn-Hensel, Farrenc, and Chaminade is worthy to be part of the standard repertoire because of these composers' talent and brilliance,” Moulton observes. “What a great way to celebrate Women’s History Month. Paul is doing such good work connecting the community and the orchestra. This is another inspired example. This engaging concert repertoire, combined with bringing in prominent women in the community and having them share their stories, is sure to be uplifting.”
The contemporary stories from the panel will pair perfectly with these women composers, who never had it easy working in the 19th century, she says.
Eager to perform the Concertino with Chou and the Sinfonia, Moulton describes how Chaminade’s talent was recognized early on by other composers such as Bizet. She was encouraged to attend the Paris Conservatory but she faced opposition from her father, who refused to let her study at the Paris Conservatory because she was a woman and of a certain class in French society.
“She was allowed to take lessons with professors from the conservatory,” she says. “But she couldn’t enter that whole culture and community where so many lifelong connections are made. In many ways, Chaminade was her own champion. She would tour all over the world, including the U.S., and present her own pieces for piano and for voice and piano.
“She was the one who toured and played her music. There weren’t people necessarily championing her music. She was it,” Moulton adds. “She made a huge impression wherever she went. Apparently, Queen Victoria was really taken with her when she toured in England. After she toured the U.S., Chaminade Clubs began to form. There are still two operating, one in Providence, R.I. and one in Massachusetts. The Concertino in this concert was commissioned by the Paris Conservatory for its annual flute contest in 1902, so she was esteemed by certain prominent colleagues.”
Moulton intends the performance to be an experience of communicating directly with the audience while being intimately involved in the contrasting instrumental parts. “I want it to be a truly shared experience with everyone present,” she says.
Moulton is encouraged by seeing more women in principal orchestral positions playing all instruments, including tuba, trumpet and trombone, instruments that used to be considered “masculine,” and more and more recognition of hugely talented composers such as Jennifer Higdon and Julia Wolfe, to add to the ranks of composers like Chaminade.
“Women are being encouraged in general, rather than discouraged,” she says, noting that it wasn’t that long ago, 1941, when Helen Kotas won the position of principal horn with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, becoming the first woman to be hired as principal of any section, except harp, in a major U.S. orchestra.
“There are plenty of examples of women in all the arts who were geniuses but who were not allowed into the ranks of the elite because it wasn’t considered feminine,” Moulton adds. “But like Chaminade and other women composers, they broke through. And here I am, benefiting from all the work others have done before me. I am truly grateful for that.”
