Music of heroic suffragette composers, a happy half-hour of delectable dishes, and a final course of fantastic folk inspired music that also features the release of our latest recording, as well as a chance to meet composer Reza Vali… this is how we roll, people!

On November 8th, 45^th Parallel proudly presents our first C2 double concert evening, starting at 7pm with the virtuoso ladies of mousai REMIX performing music composed by four heroic women of the suffrage era, including Dame Ethel Smyth, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Rebecca Clarke, and Amy Beach.

Following a catered reception, at 8:30pm 45^th Parallel will perform folk-music-inspired works by Reza Vali (who’ll be on hand to introduce his Folk Song set no. 9), Ernst von Dohnányi, and Bohoslav Martinů. These are some of our favorite pieces, rarely performed in Portland!

We give you, our loyal audience, the choice of either program or both at a substantial savings from the regular ticket price. Each program is 60 minutes long, with the entire evening wrapped up by 9pm.

This evening is also very special to us as we release our new recording of the Dohnányi Sextet and the Beethoven Septet! We’re extremely proud of it, and eager to share it with you! Look for it at our November 8th concerts, and online after that date.  


Vive la Femme @ 7pm
mousai REMIX

The composers of the suffrage era challenged the cultural patriarchy of their time with wonderful works that deserve our attention. mousai REMIX’s program features four such heroic artists, including Dame Ethel Smyth, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Rebecca Clarke, and Amy Beach. This program celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment.

Ruth Crawford Seeger: String Quartet

mousai REMIX violinist Emily Cole writes: “Crawford Seeger’s most influential composition, her String Quartet, was composed in 1931 during her European residency. Crawford Seeger’s complex and masterful quartet stands as a seminal work of American modernism, lauded both during her lifetime and long after.”

Amy Beach: Piano Quintet

Boston-based American composer Amy Beach (1867-1944) composed her three-movement Piano Quintet in 1906. Violist Holland Philips writes: “Though Amy Beach paved a remarkable path for future generations of professional female musicians, her career was complicated by circumstances of time, place, and social status.”

Rebecca Clarke: Poem

Rebecca Clarke was born and educated in Great Britain, though she lived most of her life in the US. Music critic Malcolm MacDonald describes Clarke’s music as ”a revelation – a composer I believe to have been one of the very best of her time.”

Dame Ethel Smyth: The March of the Women (Arranged by Katie Palka)

English composer Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), composer of the suffragette anthem The March of the Women, was known to have conducted imprisoned fellow suffragettes with a toothbrush from her cell window. mousai REMIX has commissioned Portlander Katie Palka to arrange Smyth’s famous march for this performance.  


Primordial Swamp @ 8:30pm
45^th Parallel Universe

One of the best things about 45th Parallel Universe is the idea that a group of restless musicians could get together in a room and come up with creative and unconventional programs that don’t otherwise fit in our respective ensembles. Our Primordial Swamp concert will feature Martha Long and Marilyn de Oliveira performing Reza Vali’s vivid Folk Songs, with the composer present to introduce his wonderful piece. We’ll also have great fun with Martinů’s brilliant Nonet, and also celebrate the release of 45^th Parallel Universe’s latest recording with a performance of Dohnányi’s Sextet.

Reza Vali: Folk Songs (Set no. 9)

Reza Vali was born in Ghazvin, Iran, in 1952. He began his music studies at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran, and has been a faculty member of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988. Vali writes, “Folk Songs (Set No. 9) is the ninth set of an ongoing cycle of Persian folk songs which I have been writing since 1978. The piece consists of eight songs, some of which are based on authentic Persian folk melodies and some composed in the style of a folk song (imaginary folk songs).”

Ernst von Dohnányi: Sextet in C, op. 37

Ernst von Dohnányi was arguably one of the finest pianists who ever lived, a champion of Hungarian music, and one of the major forces in Hungarian musical life in the first half of the twentieth century. 45^th Parallel bassoonist Steve Vacchi writes: “The Sextet in C, op. 37 (1935) opens with a commanding horn motive in the often-dramatic first movement. The nocturne-like second movement is interrupted by a dark march, while the various episodes of the following Allegro are at times elegant, driving, and refined.”

Bohuslav Martinů: Nonet

Born in Polička, Bohemia in 1890, Bohuslav Martinů studied violin and composition at the Prague Conservatory for a few years (he was expelled) before continuing his studies privately. He worked as a violinist with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and a teacher during World War I; he emigrated to Paris in 1923 and became a composition student of Albert Roussel.