Music and Literature - Thursday July 2, 7:00 p.m.
What’s at the intersection of music and literature? In this program Whistling Hens and the Women’s History Committee collaborate to place music and literature in historical context. Hear American women express their ambitions, woes, and ideas through musical texts. Paired with these musical moments are dichotomous accompanying texts of contemporaneous literature about how women should act, what they should desire, and what they should be thinking about (or not thinking about). Some are sassy and some are serious, but it’ll be clear that what was prescribed as “appropriate” for women in the early 20th century was not what women wanted. There are commissioned women composer coloring pages at the end of this program for you to enjoy along with the musical selections from this residency. Collington Participants: Jeannie Bessmer, Bonnie Cronin, Heather Hyuck, Marilu Sherer, Steve Woodbury, and Pat Zelman.

Learning About Living Composers, Friday July 10, 7:00 p.m.
What’s it like to compose music for a specific ensemble? How do composers even begin with a musical idea that transforms into an entire piece? What inspires the music? Find out this and more in this session featuring Whistling Hens and composers Ashi Day (Washington, DC) and Diana Rosenblum (Rochester, NY). Hear the composers introduce their works before Whistling Hens perform Winter Rain and The Green Child, and join us for an interview with the composers about their compositional process and the commissions written specifically for Whistling Hens. 

Education Recital – Monday July 13, 7:00 p.m.
So far everything we’ve heard in this residency has been in the realm of “traditional” classical repertoire, but now in this Hodge Podge Educational Concert Extravaganza we dive in to interesting and fun techniques for voice and clarinet. Learn about fluttertonguing, airtone, multiphonics, vocal sounds, improvisation, scat singing, and more in this educational lecture recital.

Music and Momentos, Wednesday July 15, 7:00 p.m.
Objects, things, and stuff - they have meaning to us. They hold memories, nostalgia, and associations. In this program, we pair music about “things” and “stuff” with Collingtonians’ own momentos honoring women and suffrage songs compiled by Steve Woodbury. Hear music by Gwyneth Walker, Joelle Wallach, and Beth Wiemann; hear stories by Margaret Bagley, Natalie Groom, Heather Hyuck, Maja Keech, Marilu Sherer, and Ruth Schrock. Join us in a sing-along-from-home with tunes from Steve’s A Suffrage Songster for Group Singing.