This week, February 27 through March 1, two recent Wolfe works for orchestra receive commissioner premieres: Her Story (for orchestra and women’s vocal ensemble) is performed by conductor Marin Alsop, the National Symphony Orchestra and Lorelei Ensemble. Pretty, is performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Her Story

Her Story (1-min video excerpt) performed by Boston Symphony with Lorelei

Co-commissioned by the Nashville Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and National Symphony Orchestra, Julia Wolfe’s Her Story is written for orchestra and women’s vocal ensemble. Her Story invokes the words of historical figures and the spirit of pivotal moments to pay tribute to the centuries of ongoing struggle for equal rights, representation, and access to democracy for women in America. The piece incorporates text from throughout the history of women’s fight for equality, ranging from a letter written by Abigail Adams to words attributed to Sojourner Truth, from public attacks directed at women protesting for the right to vote to political satire. The National Symphony Orchestra performance is created in collaboration with director Anne Kauffman; scenic, lighting, and production designer Jeff Sugg; sound designer Andrew Cotton; costume designer Márion Talán De la Rosa, and produced by Bang on a Can.

“Though we have yet to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, women have been battling for equality from the beginning of the nation,” writes Wolfe. “Her Story captures the passion and perseverance of women refusing subordination, demanding representation, and challenging the prejudice and power structures that have limited women’s voices. The dynamic vocal artists of Lorelei Ensemble team up with five major American orchestras to tell this important yet much neglected thread of American political history.”

Pretty

Pretty (1-min video excerpt) performed by Berlin Philharmonic

Co-commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker, Houston Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Pretty draws upon several of Wolfe’s lifelong inspirations: American vernacular music, the rhythms of industrial labor, and decades of musical experimentation. Pretty explores the concept and etymology of “prettiness” and its historical relationship with womanhood.

“The word ‘pretty’ has had a complicated relationship to women,” says Wolfe. “It implies an attractiveness without any rough edges, without strength or power. And it has served as a measure of worth in strange, limited, and destructive ways. It has a less sweet origin from the old English—’cunning, crafty, clever.’ As words evolve, it morphed to a much softer sentiment. My Pretty is a raucous celebration—embracing the grit of fiddling, the relentlessness of work rhythms, and inspired by the distortion and reverberation of rock and roll.”