25 Aug 2020

Voices of Women celebrates the successful struggle to gain female suffrage

From Upbeat, 11:23 pm on 25 August 2020

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Composer Janet Jennings

Composer Janet Jennings Photo: Supplied

Hamilton-based composer Janet Jennings writes in all forms, but is probably best known for her music for voice.

One recent work is the song cycle In Memoriam. It was first performed here by Jared Holt and the New Zealand String Quartet, and then in Beijing and Hong Kong by the Hong Kong-based Romer Quartet.

Her music’s been described as “filled with wit, humour, and intelligence”, and her compositional philosophy is that music should be both performable and listenable.

Voices of Women: music by Janet Jennings

Voices of Women: music by Janet Jennings Photo: CD cover art

Janet’s new CD “Voices of Women” has just been released by Atoll Records. It includes three song cycles for female voice, a setting of the Magnificat, and the work that gives the whole CD its name – “Voices of Women”. In this work, Janet sets to music words spoken and written by a range of iconic women including Ākenehi Tōmoana, Kate Sheppard and Jacinda Ardern.

The project brought together a team of exceptional female musicians including one of New Zealand’s few professional marimba players, Yoshiko Tsuruta, well-known percussionist Rachel Thomas, violinist Maia Dean Martin, and leading pianists Katherine Austin, Rachel Fuller, Noelle Dannenbring and Maria Mo.