June 28-30 | LunART Festival celebrating Women in the Arts!

LunArts Festival poster

It has finally arrived!  The 2018 LunART Festival celebrating women composers, performers, visual artists, choreographers, and more!  This festival, spearheaded by Sound Out Loud flutist Iva Ugrčić, has a mission to: “… support, inspire, promote, and celebrate women in the arts through public performances, exhibitions, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration; thus enriching our community and creating a welcoming space for learning and experimentation.” 

Please do yourself a favor and take a scroll down LunART Fest’s official facebook page, you’ll find post after post highlighting all of the fantastic musicians participating in this festival!

DONATE TO THE CAMPAIGN – Help support this event and sustain it for future seasons!

LunART Festival write ups by: Isthmus; Madison 365; Diversity.Wisc;

More from LunART: [This] festival strives to cultivate a vibrant, safe space for women, unveiling our artistic leadership and creating the opportunity to put our hearts and souls into what we believe in.

Throughout history, artists have created and used their works as a powerful way to comment on social issues. They have raised questions, challenged norms, and encouraged people to observe controversial subjects through a different lens. Gender issues are currently at the forefront of political and social discussions, and we want to support women across the globe as they navigate the gender imbalance in artistic fields.

This three-day festival features a remarkable range of women, diverse and varied in their artistic vision, but with the shared passion and desire to make their voices heard!

Our 2018 Artist in Residence is award-winning composer Jenni Brandon. She will coach the LunART Festival “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers Workshop,” offering master classes, lectures, and discussions about collaboration and career tools.  ”


2018 LunART Festival Dates and Featured Events

Thursday, June 28:

6pm Free | Lecture “Beyond the Muse: Women’s Musical History” presented by musicologist Andrea Fowler @ Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Lobby: 227 State Street, Madison Wisconsin 53703

“The main idea behind this talk is to highlight the varied roles that women play in the music industry. We are performers, composers, and scholars, yes. And those roles have been public for quite some time. But we are also pedagogues, consiglieri, critics, and administrators, not to mention conductors, librarians, and educators. My goal with this talk is to explore some examples of these roles and to demonstrate how women’s cultural agency is a vital part of music in the 21st century.”

7pm $20 Tickets“Moon Dances” Opening Gala Concert” @ Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Lobby: 227 State Street, Madison Wisconsin 53703

Enjoy this opening event featuring music by Composer-in-Residence Jenni Brandon; 2018 Call for Scores Winners Katy Abbott & Veronika Krausas; Valerie Coleman and Cecilia McDowall; with special guests Katrina Schaag, writer and Zhalarina Sanders, hip-hop artist.

Program

Katrina Therese Schaag
The Infinite Woman feminist writing project

Jenni Brandon Music, composer-in-residence
Meditations for piano, violin, viola and cello

Veronika Krausas, 2018 Call for Scores Winner
Hopscotch Tarot for mezzo soprano and violin

Cecilia McDowall
The Moon Dances for flute and piano

Jenni Brandon
The Dreams of Birds for alto flute and piano

Katy Abbott, 2018 Call for Scores Winner
Glisten for piano solo

Valerie Coleman-Page Flutist & Composer
Trio Toccata for oboe, bassoon and piano

Friday, June 29:

7pm $20 Tickets | “The Woman with the Unfathomable Eyes” Friday Gala Concert, Promenade Hall, Overture Center for the Arts: 201 State St, Madison, WI 53703

Program

Xinyan Li, 2018 Call for Scores Winner
Mongolian Impressions for solo bassoon, percussion, and string quartet

Katrin Talbot
poetry reading and photo exhibition

Jenni Brandon
Sun Songs for soprano, English horn, cello, and piano

​Galina Ustvolskaya
Composition No.1 “Dona Nobis Pacem” for tuba, piccolo and piano

​Fanny Mendelssohn 
Three Pieces for piano four hands

Doina Rotaru
Japanese Garden for bass flute/piccolo and electronics

​Jenni Brandon
The Woman with the Unfathomable Eyes
for small chamber ensemble, narrator, and dancer

9:30pm Free | “That’s What She Said” Anthology @ Bos Meadery: 849 East Washington, Madison, Wisconsin 53703

That’s What She Said is a story-share production in which local women share real stories about their fears, their joys, their lives. Created in 2014, it is produced by The Bricks Theatre (Madison, WI) and directed by Molly Vanderlin (Owner/Producer, The Bricks Theatre). It has received great reviews, and after fifteen shows, The Bricks Theatre has decided it might have a great idea!

Saturday, June 30:

10am Free | Panel Discussion: “Collaboration in the Arts” – with Jenni Brandon, Katrina Schaag, and Zhalarina H. Sanders, @ The Bubbler at Madison Public Library: 201 W. Mifflin St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703

Join us for a Saturday morning chat about the Collaboration is the Arts led by our fabulous guest artists: 

Jenni Brandon – composer
Kelly Parks Snider – visual artist
Katrina Therese Schaag, PhD. – writer

This engaging panel discussion is for anyone interested in arts entrepreneurship, and for those who want to learn how artists work together. Participation from attendees is encouraged.

2-3pm Free | “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers Workshop” – Composition master class with Jenni Brandon @ Outreach Concert, Capitol Lakes Grand Hall: 333 W Main St, Madison, Wisconsin 53703

We are extremely excited to welcome 6 talented composers to LunART’s 2018 educational program “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers!” Join us for the concert dedicated to showcasing their works!

7pm $20 Tickets | “Women’s Voices” Closing Gala Concert  @ First Unitarian Society Auditorium: 900 University Bay Dr, Madison, Wisconsin 53705

Join the LunART Festival in celebrating women in the arts! Enjoy this event featuring music by Composer-in-Residence Jenni Brandon, 2018 Call for Scores Winner Ingrid Stölzel, and Abbie Betinis, Hildegard von Bingen, Linda Kachelmeier, Elizabeth Alexander, Marilyn Bliss, Brianna Ware, Madeleine Dring, & Amy Beach. ​Featuring Festival Women’s Choir conducted by Kathy Otterson.

With special guests: visual artist Kelly Parks Snider and photographers Jennifer Bucheit & Katrin Talbot. 

9:30pm Free | “Starry Night”performance: 2014 International Fingerstyle Guitar Champion and folk singer-songwriter Helen Avakian, and rock band Tiny Dinosaur @ Robinia Courtyard: 829 E Washington Ave, Madison, Wisconsin 53703

Come enjoy our fabulous guest artists, singer-songwriter Helen Avakian and Tiny Dinosaur rock band, and join us in celebrating the end of our inaugural 2018 season!

Madison singer-songwriter and guitarist Helen Avakian is the 2014 International Fingerstyle Guitar Champion, and was voted Favorite Acoustic Act by Rhythm and News Magazine. She is also a recording artist, producer, and guitar instructor specializing in acoustic guitar music. 

Time for some indie pop emerging from the primordial ooze of the isthmus to weave tiny tales. It’s Mesozoic music for the masses. Tiny Dinosaur is an indie rock band of four females giving a warm embrace to folk, punk, and pop to tell you a story.


Partners

LunART Festival has partnered with area art organizations including:

  • Overture Center for the Arts
  • Madison Museum of Contemporary Arts
  • First United Methodist Church
  • Madison Public Library
  • Capitol Lakes Retirement Center and First Unitarian Society
  • Robinia Courtyard
  • Bos Meadery
  • Field Table

LunART is supported by:

  • Dane Arts and Madison Arts Commission
  • 2018 UW Arts Business Competition, 2nd place
  • finalist for 2018 National Flute Association’s C.R.E.A.T.E. Project Competition

Composer In Residence – Jenni Brandon

Call For Score Winners


Emerging Composers Participants

  • Grace Hale
  • Donna Howard
  • Meg Huskin
  • Seolhee Kim
  • Alissa Stolt
  • Amy Thomas

Performers

  • Sarah Ambrose, flute
  • ARTemis Women’s Choir
  • Helen Avakian, singer-songwriter
  • Yana Avedyan, DMA piano
  • Jennifer Bucheit, photographer
  • Melanie Cain, DMA voice
  • Matthew Coley, percussion
  • Thomas Curry, DMA tuba
  • Lara Saville Dahl, DMA oboe
  • Shannon Farley, violin
  • Andrea Fowler, musicology
  • Vincent Fuh, piano
  • Jose García-Taborda, clarinet
  • Ina Georgieva, viola
  • Brian Grimm, cello
  • Amy Harr, cello
  • Satoko Hayami, piano
  • Heartland Marimba Ensemble
  • Kyle D. Johnson, DMA piano
  • Buzz Kemper, narrator
  • Michael Koszewski, percussion
  • Jason Kutz, piano
  • Leanne League, violin
  • Sarah Leuwerke, mezzo-soprano
  • Wes Luke, violin
  • Blakeley Menghini, DMA viola
  • Juliana Mesa, bassoon
  • Kathleen Otterson, conductor
  • Marie Pauls, viola
  • Jennifer Paulson, viola
  • Breta Saganski, percussion
  • Valerie Clare Sanders, violin
  • Katie Schaag, PhD
  • Kelly Parks Snider, visual artist & activist
  • Elspeth Stalter-Clouse, violin
  • Kristina Teuschler, clarinet
  • Tiny Dinosaur, rock band
  • Liz Sexe, dancer & choreograper
  • Samantha Sinai, cello
  •  Katrin Talbot, photographer and poet
  • Lawren Brianna Ware, piano & composition
  • Jacqueline Wilson, DMA bassoon
  • Aaron Yarmel, violin
  • Iva Ugrčić, flute

 

CALL FOR SCORES LunART Festival celebrating women composers (June 28th-30th Madison, WI)

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June 28-30th, 2018  Madison, WI

Celebrating women composers

Call For Scores (Deadline March 1st, 2018)

Serbian flutist Iva Ugrčić is organizing this year’s LunART Festival for women composers – taking place in Madison, WI from June 28-30th, 2018!  This three-day festival features a remarkable range of women, diverse and varied in their artistic visions, but with the shared passion and desire to make their voices heard!

The vision for LunART festival is to empower women in the arts by fostering originality, honoring diversity, and strengthening equality – and to put Madison on the world map as mecca for women artists.

Festival Events include four classical concerts presenting the work of women composers, a musicological lecture about women in the arts, as well as “Starry Night” after hours performances featuring local women jazz and hip hop artists, and singer-songwriters. Visual art, photography, and spoken word will be woven into all Festival events, and we are thrilled to include the Madison Youth Choir in our Closing Gala Concert.

Our 2018 Composer in Residence is award-winning composer Jenni Brandon, whose instrumental and vocal music will be showcased in our Gala concerts, including two world premieres! She will coach the LunART Festival “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers Workshop,” offering master classes, lectures, and discussions about collaboration and tools necessary for a successful freelance career in the arts. Additionally, we have created an annual Call for Scores, open to women composers from around the globe.


Call for Scores poster

CALL FOR SCORES

(Submission Deadline Dec 1, 2017- Feb 1, 2018)

Designed for professional composers. Up to three works will be chosen and then presented each night of the Festival. Composer can come and she will have free housing provided.

Performances

Thursday June 28 @ MMoCA Lobby 7pm

Friday June 29 @ Promenade Hall, Overture Center 7pm

Saturday June 30 @ FUS Auditorium 7pm

FROM PAGE TO STAGE – Emerging Composers Workshop

(Submission Deadline Dec 15, 2017-March 15, 2018)

For younger composers and students that still need guidance and tools for professional careers.  The Page to Stage concert will be Saturday June 30 @ Capitol Lakes 2pm. Fee for this is $150 for the professional concert and recording, workshop with musicians, and masterclass with the composer, + all events for free.

 


LunART Festival Mission

The mission of the LunART Festival is to support, inspire, promote, and celebrate women in the arts through public performances, exhibitions, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration; thus enriching our community and creating a welcoming space for learning and experimentation.

About Dr. Iva Ugrčić  FOUNDER & ARTISTIC/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“There is a place for everyone under the Sun.”

Serbian flutist Iva Ugrčić is one of the most exciting and adventurous young flutists in the international pantheon. Described as “a natural star on her instrument,” Iva has been featured as a solo artist and a chamber musician at numerous music festivals, touring and performing around Europe and the United States. She is a musician who has worn many hats throughout her professional career: flutist, teacher, artistic director, entrepreneur, freelance musician and recording artist, among others. Since moving to the United States (2014), Iva has performed with many orchestras and chamber groups.

She currently plays with Black Marigold Wind Quintet, ID flute and percussion duo, and Sound Out Loud contemporary chamber music ensemble.

After completing her Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the University of Belgrade Academy of Music, Iva Ugrčić moved to Paris, where she studied flute performance and chamber music for three years with Pierre-Yves Artraud and George Alirol.

Iva Ugrčić’s solo album, The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi was released in September 2014. The same year, Ms. Ugrčić was awarded the prestigious Paul Collins Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, where she completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree (2017), studying with flutist Stephanie Jutt. Iva won the Shain Irving Duo Competition in 2015 as well as multiple concerto competitions, performing as a soloist with the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra and Miami Summer Music Festival Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, Iva received a James R. Smith Orchestra Award for excellency and leadership. She is finishing up her second solo album Cries and Whispers – Flute Works by Doina Rotaru, and currently serves as Artistic Director for the Rural Musicians Forum in Spring Green.