Stunning Array of Commissioned Works

For the 2021-22 season, CityMusic Cleveland commissioned new chamber works on the theme “Justice, Equality, Freedom, and Hope” from 12 top female composers. Each approached the theme from a different angle, bringing their diverse backgrounds, social perspectives, and musical languages to the task.

Füsun Köksal, Daixuan Ai, Akua Dixon, Denise Ondishko, Jasmine Barnes, Jessica Meyer, Kotoka Suzuki, Dawn Avery, Michi Wiancko, Margaret Brouwer, Elena Ruehr, and Jungyoon Wie.

Now available on our website, you can explore each new work through written descriptions, interviews with the composers, and recordings from the CityMusic premieres. You will be amazed by the variety of musical styles and personal perspectives showcased in these compositions.

The fascinating range of compositional concepts range from Elena Ruehr’s portrayal of the abstract ideas of justice, equality, and freedom by evoking the emotions they bring up, to Margaret Brouwer’s musical depiction of people gathering from different parts of the world to march for equality, to Kotoka Suzuki’s use of Japanese folk songs to illustrate the courage of an immigrant claiming freedom and identity in a foreign land.

Taken together, this group of new compositions illustrates the breadth of creative approaches through which composers translate ideas into music, and the immense range of musical and non-musical inspirations that inform contemporary composition.