I agree with oboist Kathleen Needleman's Substack May 13, 2026. As a freelance music critic, I’ve lobbied for the performance of longer works by women composers for years.
In a review of a work by Gabriela Lena Frank, who won a Pulitzer Prize this year, I wrote, “It was wonderful to hear a long (30-minute) work by a living woman composer of diverse heritage. So often, music directors will toss this demographic a musical bone by performing an overture-type composition in five minutes or so. This work reminded me of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra for its bold expression, complexity, and passion for the music of Indigenous cultures.” (BroadStreetReview.com May 16, 2023.)
