About She Is Song
My name is Noelle McMurtry, and I’m a classical-music vocalist, concert curator, and musicologist. I employ my interdisciplinary background to write about how music intersects with culture from a feminist perspective.
I’m passionate about creating a more accurate, inclusive, and just historical narrative that centers the contributions of women creators in classical music, as well as an online community to share research, thoughts, music and more.
I’m glad that you’re here, and I hope that She Is Song serves as a resource, canon-challenger, and most importantly, a fun read!
In She Is Song, you will engage with diverse and underrepresented storytellers in classical music. I specifically created She Is Song as a space to explore and share my research on the song repertoire of women composers. As a vocalist, I interpret music from the medieval era until today, and I am currently delving into the 19th-century song repertoire of European and North American women composers through my post-doctoral research.
I have had the pleasure of performing vocal repertoire by all of the composers below; you will come to love them and their music as much as I do!
Since I am most interested in pairing scholarship with performance, I tend to think and write about the music/texts that inspire me and the projects I am currently working on. This involves a whole bunch of intersecting topics, including history, politics, literature, and autobiography, as well as the contributions of women composers, writers, visual artists, activists, and historical figures that intersect with musical composition.
For more bio information, check out my website. Also, subscribe here to my YouTube channel to watch/listen to my concert performances of the vocal works of women composers.
About me
My performance interests span the vocal works of women composers from the medieval era to the present day. I've collaborated with various music organizations, such as Cantanti Project (NYC), The Pleiades Project (NYC), and IN Series (DC) on programs focusing on the perspectives of women in song. Since 2015, I have presented my original recital programs, including Ophelia and Her Sisters, Femme en fleurs, The Heavenly Banquet, To the queen of my heart, Head, Heart, Portraits: The Self Illuminated, The Shining Place, and Sauvez-moi de l’amour. For more bio information, check out my website. I currently live in Washington DC with my partner Kevin and our adorable pup Cashew.
Here’s a clip of me and pianist Michael Sheppard performing “A Letter” by composer Lee Hoiby (1926-2011). Hoiby included this song in his cycle Four Dickinson Songs, where he set poetry and texts by the incomparable Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). I sang this song cycle in February 2022 on “The Shining Place,” a recital program exploring American women composers and poets.
Subscribe here to my YouTube channel to watch/listen to my concert performances of the vocal works of women composers.
What I’m thinking about right now…
In May 2023, I received a Doctor in Musical Arts degree (DMA) in Voice with a joint Master’s in Musicology from Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. My research interests include the song repertoire of 19th-century European and North American women composers, as well as philosophies of embodied vocal performance in classical music.
In 2020, I was awarded the Presser Graduate Award from The Presser Foundation to pursue archival research in Berlin, Munich, and Karlsruhe for my DMA lecture recital on the published Lieder (songs) of German Romantic-era composer Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927). I completed my archival research in Germany from March to June 2022 and launched She Is Song in July 2022 to further share my research and writing about the song contributions of women composers in classical music. In the upcoming year, I plan to pursue post-doctoral support for my Le Beau project, which will also delve into her unpublished Lieder. Click here for more information on “In Search of Luise Adolpha Le Beau.”
Why should you subscribe?
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Now is the time!
By launching She Is Song, I hope to build a larger community and conversation around classical music, equity, vocal repertoire, and the complicated ways in which they culturally intertwine with gender. Song repertoire in classical music is a uniquely impactful medium through which to deconstruct gendered hierarchies and prejudice.
Join me in this conversation - I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, and any related topics that you would like to explore. I hope to be in dialogue with you as we embark on this project together!
