Are Women People? is a song cycle celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote in New York State. It was commissioned by The Hanson Institute for American Music at the Eastman School of Music and the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women’s Leadership. The premiere will take place on March 5, 2015 at 3 pm in Kilbourn Hall at The Eastman School of Music.
The cycle sets the poetry of Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942), an American writer whose satirical feminist verses influenced American political opinions; portions of a speech by Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906); and the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. The work is approximately 13 minutes long, and is scored for SATB vocal quartet and piano 4-hands. Embedded within the cycle is a miniature, excerptable a cappella cycle, entitled The Power to Vote.
On the evening of March 4, 2017, I will also be giving a lecture about my opera The Scarlet Letter.