RESULTS OF THE 2024 NEW YORK WOMEN COMPOSERS SEED MONEY GRANTS
Presenting the winners of our 2024 Seed Money Grants! This year we have awarded eight grants of $1,000 each to a diverse group of performers. We will support six focused concerts and two disseminated projects, one of which will be presented primarily online by a pianist in Chicago. Two concerts will be given in upstate New York, one in Athens, Greece, and another in Tokyo, Japan. The instrumentation is varied, with two chamber groups, a solo pianist, a solo cellist, and recitals featuring oboe, bassoon, clarinet, and soprano. All the projects will include open calls for some or all the NYWC composers to be represented.
The winners are listed alphabetically:
A longtime, passionate advocate of music by women, pianist Marcia Eckert will present a concert for soprano and piano with soprano Sara Paar, with the possible assistance of violinist Lynn Bechtold, in a concert entirely of music by New York Women Composers to be held in a location in Manhattan. You can visit her website for more information: http://marciaeckert.com/. She is the recipient of our Jonathan Falk Seed Money Grant.
The Athens, Greece-based Galan Trio, comprising violin, cello, and piano, has initiated a multi-year project called “Kinesis,” collaborating with composers across the United States. They will perform a concert called “Women of Our Time,” combining the music of NYWC composers with other music they already have in their repertoire. This concert will occur in Athens, Greece. Visit their website for more information at https://www.galantrio.com/.
Queens-based clarinetist Crystal Gloria Medina (known as Medina), along with pianist Margrit Julia Zimmermann, will perform two concerts in New York City. Her project, called “Evolutions,” seeks to present three centuries of women composers who have written music for the clarinet, adding to the known repertoire for that instrument. Medina is a dynamic performer and communicator on stage; her website is here: https://www.medinaclarinet.com/ .
Albany-based cellist Laura Melnicoff will present a concert of solo cello music in the Capitol Region featuring both NYWC composers and other women composers that she is exploring in her repertoire. She intends to livestream and record the concert, and also hopes to make studio recordings of the works that she has selected. You can read more about her on her website: https://lauramelnicoff.com/. She is the recipient of our Hilary Tann Seed Money Grant.
Bassoonist Christin Schillinger, currently on the faculties of Ithaca College and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, has a broad plan focusing on a full concert of music by women composers, featuring a piece she is collaborating on with NYWC member Sally Lamb McCune as well as composers to be chosen through an open call. Her concert will include music for solo bassoon, bassoon and piano, and bassoon and saxophone. She plans to livestream and videotape the concert as well as submit portions of the program for consideration to bassoon and double reed conferences and symposia. You can find out more on her website: https://www.schillingerbassoon.com/.
The Tokyo to New York composer/performer project will present parallel concerts of chosen works for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano at the Martha Graham Studio Theater in Manhattan and the Tokyo Concert Lab Hall in Tokyo. Professional audio and video recordings will be made of both concerts. Read more about this group at http://www.tonadaproductions.com/tokyo-to-new-york-home.html.
Oboist William Wielgus, who recently retired after a long tenure at the National Symphony in order to do his own research and performance projects, will present a recital in Manhattan presenting oboe music by women composers. He is amassing a YouTube playlist of music by women and is eager to perform and disseminate more pieces that are new to him. Access his YouTube playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC_ySo-Nx590n9zcLVktRSlP3nGYKUI0d and find out more about him on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063595117388. Mr. Wielgus is the recipient of our Elizabeth Bell Seed Money Grant.
Based in Chicago, pianist Amy Wurtz has gained a following on YouTube for her videos exploring women’s music for piano during Women’s History Month the past two years. Her project for 2025 is to explore the music of New York women composers, past or present, performing one piece each day in March, culminating in a live public-venue program. She plans to include the music of 10-20 NYWC members for this project. She may also include some 4-hand piano works and works for cello and piano, featuring her Wurtz-Berger Duo. You can peruse her YouTube video playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/@AmyWurtz and see her website for more information: https://www.amywurtz.com/.
