On March 16, audience members settled into Leffler Chapel and Performance Center to hear a performance by mezzo-soprano Loralee Songer. This recital was in partnership with the Song Collaborators Consortia (SCC), a collective of musicians created by Christopher Meerdink in 2011. The recital highlighted achievements of women poets and composers.
Songer is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at Taylor University. This most recent round of performances, including the one here at Elizabethtown College, marks Songer’s third time attending the SCC Festival.
“I appreciate SCC’s commitment to a friendly and nurturing environment where performers can be themselves and offer music to a supportive audience,” Songer said.
This recital, titled “Voices of Women,” featured songs written and composed by women. The song selection throughout the night covered over 100 years of music and poetry. Some of the pieces were musical renditions of poems, like “Will there really be a morning?,” the song version of Emily Dickinson’s poem of the same name.
While audience members enjoyed all the songs performed, the last piece of the night, “Little Black Book,” was a favorite. Laughter filled the hall as Songer performed this humorous and relatable piece.
“Little Black Book” was a collaboration between Songer and two of her friends, Susan LaBarr and Dr. Caitlin Vincent, both also in the world of music. Songer first commissioned the piece for her performance at Carnegie Hall through Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY). According to the “Voices of Women” recital’s program notes, “The text of ‘Little Black Book’ was fashioned by Caitlin as a combination of both hers and my romantic histories, seamlessly blending our separate stories into a unified tale, by turns funny and poignant, that highlights the struggle to find love in the digital age.”
Throughout the song, Songer tells the story of trying to find love with various levels of success and ultimately finding herself on the couch eating pizza and thinking back on where it all went wrong.
“I have performed the cycle dozens of times since the premiere, and it is always a fan favorite,” Songer said. “The stories are unexpected, yet relatable.”
The “Voices of Women” recital was part of Etown’s celebration of Women’s History Month. Audience members greatly enjoyed the performance and felt the importance of women’s achievements come alive through the music.
Songer has worked throughout her career to celebrate women and fight for equality, and this recital was just one example of this work.
“Supporting women and their achievements feels second nature to me,” Songer said. “I was raised by a single mother and all of my mentors are women. I wouldn’t have a career if it weren’t for women, so I want to be known as a woman who supports other women, both past and present. I hope my students, of all genders, recognize this and try to do the same. Women deserve to be heard and celebrated!”
Etown’s Music Department will have a few more performances this semester. On March 27, Distinguished Professor of Music Jim Haines will be celebrated in a concert featuring works from the past 35 years, including several pieces by former composition students. On March 30, music therapy major and percussionist Devynn Napp-Barker will have his senior recital. The semester will finish off with the student chamber recital on April 3 and the Elizabethtown College-Community Orchestra Concert on April 16.
For more information about upcoming concerts, please visit https://www.etown.edu/depts/music/music-events.aspx. To learn more about Etown’s Women’s History Month programming, visit https://news.etown.edu/index.php/2023/02/23/elizabethtown-college-celebrates-womens-history-month-and-international-womens-day/.
