Rain Worthington

Why I selected “Shredding Glass” for my “1 Track”


Bearing Witness and “Shredding Glass” on “1 Track Podcast”

Worthington’s piece provides the listener with exquisite disintegration, mere glass filaments casting light in all directions, with an undercurrent of unresolved apprehension. – Scott Locke (Journal of International Alliance of Women in Music)

Anthony Joseph Lanman invited me to select one composition for an episode on his “1 Track Podcast.” The great concept of this show is that Lanman asks a composer to choose one work that they would use to introduce listeners to their music. The source points of my music have always come from emotional responses to life experiences. So, I chose “Shredding Glass” as this was an intensely poignant source point – bearing witness to 9/11 and the ensuing stages of grief that blocked my creative energies. I knew that I first had to find a way to translate my experience of bearing witness into music before I could continue composing.
Read more.

Thanks to the Musicians for their Performances in 2018!

My tribute and thanks to the Musicians who bring the music to life!
From Italy to Brazil,
Seattle to New York to San Antonio…
Thanks to these wonderfully gifted musicians for their exquisite performances of my music in 2018
I am so grateful for their skill and artistry!


Karen Bentley Pollick, violin/viola; Miolina: Lynn Bechtold & Mioi Takeda, violins; Ana Cervantes, piano; the V EIC Orchestra; I Solisti Veneti, Maestro Claudio Scimone, & Chiara Parrini, violin soloist; Sylvia Ahramjian, violin soloist, with Paula Gabriela De Sant’Ana, conductor, & with Rafael Torralvo, violin, at the Encontro Internacional de Cordas; Margaret Lucia, piano; Marvin Rosen, piano; Lux Musicae, conductor Emmanuel Godoy & Emily Madonia, violin soloist; Vent Nouveau w Katrina Owens, fl; Kristen Mather, cl; Briana Lehman, bsn; & Sam Kaester, bs cl; InterXchange: Melanie Mitrano & Gerson Galante; Barnard-Columbia Chamber Singers and Instrumentalists; and Leanne Friedman with woodwind quintet at NYU; and Jianda Bai, violin at JMU.

#Giving to NYWC = Giving Opportunities for Women’s Music

I have served as the Artistic Administrator/Composer Advocate for the New York Women Composers for over a decade now.
We are an innovative advocacy member organization with a mission to expand performance opportunities for women’s music.
Our program of Seed Money Grants has created concert opportunities all across America, and internationally in Brazil, Cyprus, Japan, Armenia, and Poland.
If you’d like to support our work through a tax-deductible contribution, no amount is too small or large. Contributions are appreciatively accepted throughout the year, and can be made through our NY Charities or PayPal Giving Fund buttons at: https://mailchi.mp/fa5d4e742619/givingtuesday-nywc-giving-opportunities-for-womensmusic-2847937 or on our website.
Thank you for you generosity!
Rain

Rain Worthington, Sylvia Ahramjian, Paula Sant’ana with the student orchestra of the Encontro Internacional de Cordas.

The Muse’s Voice Panel & Concert at Barnard Oct 31st, NYC


I’d like to invite you to The Muse’s Voice an evening of conversation and music 7:30 at Barnard College, NYC on October 31st. It’s free and open to the public.
Composer Kala Pierson and I will be talking about our music, careers as women composers, and other topics as host Gail Archer leads us in the conversation.
The program will include several of my works – a flute duet, violin solos, violin duet, and also the premiere of my one and only piece for chorus based on refrigerator word magnet phrases by Therese McNally, aptly called Refrigerator Poems.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018, 7:30 PM
The Sulzberger Parlor, located on the 3rd floor of Barnard Hall (enter through the main gate of the Barnard College campus at Broadway and 117th Street)
Information: 212.854.5096
Barnard College | Columbia University | 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027

American Prize Ernst Bacon Award



Hey, hey, finally, got the award list from the American Prize ERNST BACON MEMORIAL AWARD for the PERFORMANCE of AMERICAN MUSIC, ensemble division, 2017‑18, and conductor Chris Kelts’ world premiere performance with the MSU Symphony Orchestra of “Tracing a Dream” came in as a tie for Third Place:

Rain Worthington, composer
Missouri State University Symphony
Christoper Kelts, conductor
Springfield MO
Tracing a Dream—Worthington

It’s very nice to receive word of the much-deserved recognition for Chris Kelts’ wonderful performance with the MSU Symphony, and to appear on the page of awardees!

Prepping score & parts for September PARMA Recordings session

Excitedly busy preparing the score and all the parts for the upcoming recording PARMA Recordings session for my new piece, Full Circle – for cello soloist and small orchestra. Recording session will be September in Olomouc with Petr Vronsky conducting the Moravian Philharmonic with Petr Nouzovsky, cellist!
… extracting, formatting, printing, proofing, correcting, proofing, etc. etc. but got it done and off to PARMA!
Now happy, excited and just a little blurry-eyed!

Encontro Internacional de Cordas – Fantastic!

Student orchestra of the V Encontro Internacional de Cordas, in Limeira, Brazil.

A totally amazing experience to be there in Limeira, Brazil for the festival. The students and master musicians were wonderfully passionate about music and interested in contemporary composers. All the people were genuinely welcoming, open-hearted and appreciative. Truly a soul-nourishing, musically revitalizing and treasured experience. The South American premiere of In Passages was performed brilliantly by Sylvia Ahramjian, as soloist and conducted by Paula Sant’ana.

Rain Worthington, composer; Sylvia Ahramjian, violin soloist, and Paula Sant’ana, conductor.

Rain Worthington, Sylvia Ahramjian, Paula Sant’ana with the student orchestra of the Encontro Internacional de Cordas.

Karen Bentley Pollick at the SPECTRUM in Brooklyn, June 3rd

Karen Bentley Pollick will be mixing Serbian, Lithuanian, Oriental, Icelandic & Mid-Eastern harmonies and melodies in a violin & viola recital coming up

June 3, 2018 at 7pm
SPECTRUM Female Composers Festival
70 Flushing Avenue, Garage A, Brooklyn, New York 11205

And, I’m happy to say that the program includes two of my solo violin pieces and the NY premiere of a miniature for solo viola. Here’s the video of her earlier beautiful premiere performance of Mixed Times of Yearning in Seattle.

Semi-Finalist for the American Prize Ernst Bacon Award

Whooee, Conductor, Christopher Kelts and I both made it to the semi finals in the “American Prize ERNST BACON for the Performance of American Music.” We applied with Missouri State University Symphony’s premiere performance of my orchestral piece, “Tracing a Dream.”
(I applied as a Composer in the Professional division and Chris Kelts applied in the College/University division.)

Very competitive to get to the finals, but hey hey we’re both on the semi-finalists list.
It’s a bit of recognition and a nice little boost.

Two works performed by Vent Nouveau on March 25th, NYC

White Raven – Chamber Music by WomenHosted by Vent Nouveau and Compass New Music Series
Sunday, March 25th, 4:30 at the Marc A. Scorca Hall at the National Opera Center, NYC
Happy to say that two of my pieces will be included on this concert program. The one that’s for solo low wind, with the odd title of “BaDaBaDaDa” will be a premiere, which is always a treat to hear the music realized by a real musician! Can’t wait to hear it. (with fingers crossed that my writing works!)
Hope you can make it.

Miolina performs the US premiere of “In Tandem” March 24th

Saturday, March 24th, 8pm at the Center for New Music in San Francisco
Miolina Violin Duo presents ‘All Good Is Luck,’ a program of works by East Coast and West Coast women composers
55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

It’s always very cool to hear the fabulous violin duo, Miolina (Mioi Takeda & Lynn Bechtold, violinists). And, I’m excited that they’ll be presenting a US premiere of my violin duet “In Tandem” following their world premiere performance last year in Tokyo!

In a concert curated by Center for New Music’s Emma Logan, NYC-based violin duo Miolina, a member of New Music USA’s Impact Cohort, presents ‘All Good Is Luck,’ a program of works highlighting East Coast and West Coast women composers. Premieres of new and newly arranged works by Emma Logan, Eve Beglarian, Jessica Meyer, Lynn Bechtold, and Rain Worthington will be featured, as well as fixtures of Miolina’s repertoire by Angélica Negrón, Mari Kimura, and Melissa Grey. Miolina is Mioi Takeda & Lynn Bechtold, violins.

I Solisti Veneti European Premiere of “In Passages” in Padua, IT

Coming Up March 8, 2018 at 21:00, Padua, Italy: I Solisti Veneti orchestra conducted by Maestro Claudio Scimone with Chiara Parrini, violin soloist, will present the European Premiere of “In Passages” for violin soloist and string orchestra on a concert program of International Women Composers facilitated through Donne in Musica.

The international program will feature music by women composers from six countries.
SOUTH AFRICA: Jeanne Zaidel Rudolph, “Masada”
USA: Rain Worthington, “In Passages” (European Premiere)
CHINA: Fuhong Chi, “The Mountain Spirit”
AUSTRALIA: Cassi To, “Orchinus Orca”
ITALY: Silvia Bianchera, “Ad Anna F”
GREECE: Anna Stereopulo, “Alpha”

Auditorium Cesare Pollini, Via Carlo Cassan, 17, 35121 Padova PD, Italy

Karen Bentley Pollick premieres “Mixed Times of Yearning”

February 1st, Karen Bentley Pollick performed a fabulous concert at the beautiful Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle, Washington. The program featured music by NYWC members Victoria Bond, Adrienne Elisha, Marga Richter, Faye-Ellen Silverman, as well as works by Mark Kopytman, Jonathan Berger, and a world premiere of Karen’s own new piece for solo violin.
Her performance of the world premiere of my miniature for solo viola, Mixed Times of Yearning was so perfectly exquisite.

Support Rain

Rain Worthington is a Sponsored Artist with Performance Zone, Inc (dba The Field), a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization serving the performing arts community. Contributions to The Field earmarked for Rain Worthington, in support of her music are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

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