International Women’s Day arrived a few days early this year at St. Jude’s Anglican Church in Oakville, ON–female composers were featured on Saturday, March 1, in Voices of Today. This groundbreaking all-day vocal workshop drew over 50 singers from Oakville and surrounding areas. For a grand finale, the Voices of Today Mass Choir performed the freshly rehearsed works for the broader community, presided by St. Jude’s Rector, the Rev. Canon Dr. David Anderson.
Most participating singers had previously only sung a limited number of works by female composers, as “classical composition has been male dominated for centuries. By learning and preparing the music of these fine composers, attendees will hopefully enter more fully into the reality that beautiful music transcends gender, race, creed, or any other factor,” states Sebastian Moreno, Director of Music at St. Jude’s. The historic church located in Old Oakville, established in 1839, has a long musical tradition and seeks to elevate a diverse range of musical voices.
The ambitious program included works by composers Elizabeth Coxhead (UK), Maxine Thévenot (Canadian-American), Stephanie Martin (Canadian), and Joanna Forbes L’Estrange (UK).
An award-winning composer and professor, Stephanie Martin—the workshop’s clinician—was pivotal in selecting the music from some of the “leading female choral composers of our time,” according to Moreno. Each piece has “the same qualities, of being singable and well-crafted for all choirs, which composer Joanna Forbes L’Estrange has identified as her mission when composing,” Moreno elaborated. Martin is Associate Professor of Music at York University: her vocal and instrumental compositions have been performed throughout North America and around the world.
Moreno studied with Martin for his undergraduate and master’s degrees: “Her ability to connect and engage with a community has heavily influenced my career” he said, inspiring him to collaborate on events like Voices of Today. Martin commented on the importance of this opportunity for musicians from a variety of choirs and locales to come together, sharing notes and creating a sense of community. She expressed her affection to the singers while conducting them in her work, A Prayer for Love.
The Royal Canadian College of Organists Hamilton Centre co-sponsored the workshop, allowing St. Jude’s to highlight four talented organists as they performed on St. Jude’s newly refurbished 1927/2012 pipe organ during the event. St. Jude’s also organized a lunchtime Lenten Organ Recital Series on Wednesdays from March 12 to April 9.
The Evensong’s final reading was taken from Hildegard of Bingen’s letter to Elizabeth of Schonau (c. 1150)—it concluded with “O my daughter, may God make you a mirror of life. I too cower in the puniness of my mind and am greatly wearied by anxiety and fear. Yet from time to time, I resound a little, like a dim sound of a trumpet from the Living Light. May God help me, therefore, to remain in his service.”
That day, at St. Jude’s, voices resounded more than a little. The “Living Light” was present in this celebration of the music of female composers.
Nancy J. Coombs is Rector’s Warden, St. Jude’s Anglican Church, and author of The Audition: Poems of Longing, Limbo and Restoration.
Welcoming the Stranger: Lessons in Hospitality from Monastic Life