About as decorated as a young, serious composer can be anymore, Yale’s Hannah Lash is featured in the next “Conversations with” series presented by Close Encounters with Music at the Hudson Opera House on Sunday, November 20 at 3 p.m. In honor of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New York State, the theme of this talk can be deduced from the echoes of Virginia Woolf in its title: “A Studio of Her Own: Shattering the Glass Ceiling.” A composer of exquisite, elusive music for harp (and many other instruments and ensembles), Lash will provide firsthand insights into what has changed and what remains of this restrictive legacy for women composers in serious music and art in general.
Lash obtained her PhD in Composition from Harvard University in 2010. She has held teaching positions at Harvard University and Alfred University, and currently serves on the composition faculty at the Yale University School of Music. Her works have been commissioned by orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers’ Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra and have been presented in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Tanglewood Music Center and the Art Institute of Chicago. She is married to actor Stephen Routman, who has appeared in The Wolf of Wall Street and Inside Llewyn Davis, among many Broadway, TV and film productions.
“A Studio of Her Own: Shattering the Glass Ceiling” begins at 3 p.m. Admission costs $15, which includes light refreshments. The Hudson Opera House is located at 327 Warren Street in Hudson. For tickets and more information on this and other Close Encounters with Music programs, visit www.cewm.org.