I am honored to serve as the President of Women in Music – Columbus (WMC) for the coming year. The 2009–2010 season is our one hundred and twenty-eighth in being, making us one of the oldest arts organizations in Central Ohio. As we begin our activities anew, I would like to take this time to remind us all of our organizing mission and its manifestation through our activities.

Firstly, as musicians, we enrich our community’s culture through performances. Cantilena Concerts, our series featuring professional musicians from outside the organization, expands to a three-concert format for this season, partly through the generosity of the Kenneth L. Coe and Jack Barrow Fund of the Columbus Foundation. Cantilena Concerts, begun in 2006 to mark the 125th season of WMC, has been featured on WOSU and in the Columbus Dispatch, to critical acclaim.
This year’s opening concert marks the first performance by an international artist on the series. Our members shine in the Huntington Concert Series, which once again will feature four concerts.

Secondly, we actively promote new art music works by women composers. One of our feature performances on the Huntington series will be the selected work from last year’s call for scores by women composers. The work is titled ‘American Solstice’, and will be performed by an 11 member mixed ensemble. Last spring also saw the first of what will be many readings by our singers and instrumentalists of works by our composers, giving many of these scores their first hearing, and providing the composers invaluable feedback on their work.

Thirdly, we enrich the lives of our youth with music. Our Young Artists String Competition (for school age children) and Scholarship Competition (for collegeage students) give our local youth an opportunity to test their skills, and to perform at their highest level on our early March Huntington Concert. Our instrument donations to schools, and our visiting performances at the Franklin County MRDD, bring live musical experiences to young people who may not otherwise have them.

Finally, there are always new circumstances under which we can fulfill our mission. I am proud to report that during the Columbus Symphony’s crisis last year, we collected and disbursed more than $20,000 on behalf of the musicians of the Columbus Symphony to assist them in their difficult passage. When even the premier classical music organization in Central Ohio can experience such problems, it may seem that live art music may be on the verge of being drowned
out by so many other concerns. But, to borrow a line from Schlegel, “Through all the varied sounds which fill the world’s many-colored dreams, one whispered tone may be barely heard for those who listen in secret.” If, every season, we let a few more people in on the secret, then one day it will be secret no longer.

~Angela Sutton