Music She Wrote
Darwin singing group Vocalective makes a triumphant return in 2025, kicking off the season with Music She Wrote – a performance in honour of, and to celebrate, female composers.
WORDS TIERNEY WHITE
IMAGE PAZ TASSONE
MUSIC DIRECTOR MICHAEL Loughlin was inspired to pop the program together after a song by French composer Lili Boulanger piqued his interest on the radio.
“In French it’s called Soir sur la plaine – Evening on the Plane – which she wrote in 1913 and I was just absolutely captivated by this song. It’s beautiful harmonies and great setting of the texts, it just has a beautiful feel about it,” he says.
Loughlin went digging for further information on Boulanger and found that she’d written quite a few other songs for choirs, which sent him down a rabbit hole where he discovered the fascinating works – and stories – of two other women composers.
“One is Fanny Mendleson, Felix’s sister, and she was apparently a brilliant pianist and composer like her brother Felix,” he says.
“But being around in the early 1800s, she had overwhelming obstacles to getting her work published, because of the social expectations of the time – composition was not a career for women. So, what happened was, Felix published some of her works under his own name.”
Clara Wieck is the third source of inspiration, who became Clara Schuman when she wed composer Robert Schuman.
“She was a brilliant pianist as well. She toured around the world from the age of 11, all around Europe, had a 61-year career as pianist, and outlived her husband by about 40 years. She composed music for orchestras and choirs, and I found a few pieces of hers, but her music was largely forgotten, really, until the 1970s. She still had the same sort of obstacles as Fanny did,” Loughlin says.
“Those three women really inspired me to think about programming a concert of women composers.”
Shining a light on these women, and highlighting the inequality they faced due to their gender, makes Music She Wrote an exciting program. It also features the works of some of today’s composers, spanning the globe, including Darwin’s own Cathy Applegate and Nora Lewis.
“Cathy has actually written a piece for us, which is really nice, it’s called With Splendour She Shines. She’s used a poem by Hildegard of Bingen, who was a bit of a buzz composer from back in the 12th Century, so she’s written that especially for us,” Loughlin says.
“And Nora Lewis, we’re using a song of hers that she wrote back when East Timor was struggling for independence from Indonesia, it’s called You’re in my Heart.”
Even today, Loughlin notes that the music of women composers doesn’t get played much. Which is why programs such as this are so important – to give them the exposure they deserve.
“It’s an exciting program, and there are some interesting features of some of these people. There’s quite a bit of variety, and some really exciting stuff that we’re bringing to the surface … that hasn’t been performed much, if at all.”
Pull up a pew in the acoustic setting of Darwin Memorial Uniting Church, and settle in, as 30 gifted singers bring the music of women composers to life.
WHEN SAT 26 APR | 3PM
AT DARWIN MEMORIAL UNITING CHURCH
COST $25 | $20 CONC
INFO facebook.com/vocalective.singers.7
