“She taught a course called Women in Music. I’m not a big fan of musicology classes because they kind of bore me, having taken too many of them at Columbia University,” she said. “So I thought I’d show up once in a while and try to learn something. I not only went to every class, but my hand was up in the air half the time because I was so fascinated by [the story] she was telling of women from the past in music.” That class grew into a partnership between Reich and Tower, and the two worked to put on three festivals featuring music by some of the often-ignored women composers taught in the class. “It was a real eye-opener for me,” Tower said. “Knowing that history was important to me because it showed me where I was along that line [of women in classical music] and that some of my problems might not necessarily be personal but historical.” Since writing her first fanfare, the pieces have been performed by more than 500 ensembles worldwide. They regularly are featured at inaugurations or events paying tribute to women in some way. “These fanfares have had quite an interesting life,” Tower said. “I like being helpful in that respect. That’s why I continue with the title.” Ricky O’Bannon, written for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Brio Augusta Read Thomas Brio for Orchestra, a “Music from the Heartland” commission by the Des Moines Symphony, Joseph Giunta, Music Director and Conductor, is dedicated to Carolyn (Kay) Bucksbaum — arts devotee, innovator, philanthropist and dear friend — and was commissioned as a gift from her son and daughter, John Bucksbaum and Ann Bucksbaum Friedman. Kay Bucksbaum is radiant, elegant, brilliant, expressive, graceful, fun, beautiful, generous, sophisticated, and positive. I am humbled by this opportunity to compose an orchestral work in her honor for its world premiere on Maestro Giunta’s “Apotheosis of the Dance” concert. The Webster’s Dictionary definition of the noun brio reads in part: “Let’s give this celebration the brio it deserves! — vigor, vivacity, gusto, verve, zest, enthusiasm, vitality, dynamism, animation, spirit, energy; informal pep, vim, get-up-and-go.” The title Brio hopefully captures the spirit of Kay’s magnificence, twinkle, and positive energy. I care about craft, clarity, and passion. My works are organic and, at every