{"id":95881,"date":"2022-03-10T15:03:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T20:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/?post_type=bu-article&p=95881"},"modified":"2022-11-22T10:29:36","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T15:29:36","slug":"opening-doors-missy-mazzoli","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2022\/opening-doors-missy-mazzoli\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening Doors: Missy Mazzoli Speaks Out for Women in Classical Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Photo by Marylene May<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOpening Doors: Missy Mazzoli<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Missy Mazzoli (CFA\u201902) is one of America\u2019s preeminent composers, and she\u2019s fighting to improve the path for women in classical music. <\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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March 10, 2022<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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This article was originally published in Bostonia<\/a><\/em> on March 10, 2022, as part of the Opening Doors<\/a><\/em> series. Written by Joel Brown<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Missy Mazzoli began playing piano when she was seven.
\u201cI knew instantly that I wanted to dedicate my life to music; it had such a profound effect on me,\u201d says Mazzoli (CFA\u201902). \u201cI started writing when I was 10. I made the decision to be a composer before I knew what that meant.\u201d
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Now, she is one of America\u2019s preeminent composers\u2014Time Out New York<\/em> calls her \u201cBrooklyn\u2019s post-millennial Mozart.\u201d Recently composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mazzoli is writing an opera based on George Saunders\u2019 novel Lincoln in the Bardo<\/em> for the Metropolitan Opera, and she rattles off new works that are performed or about to be performed by the National Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and others. Musical America<\/em> named her its 2022 Composer of the Year<\/a>. In addition to her bachelor\u2019s degree from BU, she has a master\u2019s from Yale and studied at the Royal Conservatory at the Hague. She is on the faculty of New York\u2019s Mannes School of Music<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s one of a small but growing cohort of women composers trying to make their way in a classical music world that\u2019s been dominated by men\u2014white men\u2014pretty much forever. <\/em>The Women\u2019s Philharmonic Advocacy found in a study of the 2021\u20132022 season at the top 21 American ensembles<\/a> that only 15 percent of works scheduled were by women, and those works represented only 11 percent of performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mazzoli and composer Ellen Reid started the Luna Composition Lab to give teenage female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming composers a head start. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Photo by Caroline Tompkins<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mazzoli and Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning composer Ellen Reid<\/a> started the Luna Composition Lab<\/a>, in collaboration with the Kaufman Music Center<\/a> in New York, to give teenage female, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming composers a head start. Mazzoli also makes it her practice to advocate for better representation for women, publicly when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven my beloved Philadelphia Orchestra, my hometown orchestra\u2014a couple of years ago they had a season that was all men [composers]. And I was very vocal on Twitter about pointing this out,\u201d she says. \u201cLike, this orchestra meant everything to me as a kid, and it\u2019s disappointing to feel unwanted, like there\u2019s no place for me in this organization. It was well publicized, and they made really concrete, amazing steps in a positive direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey hired Valerie Coleman<\/a> (CFA\u201995), my fellow BU alum, and started programming many, many more women. I had a piece with them in December,\u201d Mazzoli says. \u201cChange can happen fast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q&<\/span>A<\/h2>

BOSTONIA INTERVIEWS MISSY MAZZOLI<\/h4><\/div>\n

News:<\/span> How was your experience at BU as a composition major in the College of Fine Arts School of Music?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Missy Mazzoli:<\/strong>  I like to look at the numbers and the statistics and the ratio in terms of representation in any program I\u2019m in or in a leadership position in. At BU, for a couple of years I was the only female undergrad. Not the only woman in my year, the only woman out of four years. Then I think at the end of my sophomore year, one more transferred in, and there were two of us. And 2 out of 40 is not a great number.

Anytime you are that significantly in the minority, that\u2019s not the best learning environment. There was Marjorie Merryman<\/a> teaching in the department at the time. She was the only woman, and I actually never got to study with her. It\u2019s great there\u2019s one female faculty member, but one out of six or seven is not a great ratio.

I had an amazing time at BU, I had amazing professors, I learned a lot, and they really kicked my butt and drilled the fundamentals into me, and I draw on that knowledge every day. [But] when you are the only one in your situation, that is not ideal and usually not a supportive environment. Also, there were very few students of color. And at the time, we didn\u2019t have the language to recognize people who are not binary. It was a very white, male department. That is still the overwhelming majority of people who make up composition departments.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News:<\/span> How would you change that?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I would hire a lot more women. Everything I\u2019m saying also applies to race and representation of nonbinary and trans individuals. But from my perspective as a woman, when you have women in positions of power, more women are attracted to apply. So at NYU, you have Julia Wolfe<\/a>. I see a lot of women in that department. Up until recently, Jennifer Higdon<\/a> was teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music<\/a>, and that program, though it\u2019s small, had a lot of women. My department at Mannes could be better, but there are a lot of women on faculty, so we get a lot of female applicants.

I would also find ways to recruit exceptional young women who are in their teens. Part of the reason we founded Luna Lab was to shine a spotlight on really young, female, and nonbinary and gender-nonconforming composers who are making decisions about where to apply. I could imagine some kind of recruiting situation where, if BU was interested in those students, we could encourage them to apply.

BU has women on the faculty. It becomes a sort of knotty situation when these programs don\u2019t have significant numbers of women on faculty\u2014then I cannot in good conscience recommend that program to my students. It takes time, building a department where young women feel like they\u2019re heard and they\u2019re welcome and they\u2019re recognized.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News:<\/span> As a high schooler, you also studied at the BU Tanglewood Institute\u2019s Young Artists Composition Program.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I was the only woman in the program there too, and I had a really hard time because of that. It\u2019s the same exact problem. I do believe it has opened up now, and I am working with them as an advisor to help it open up even more. [She is an advisor for a new BUTI program\u2014the Composition Fundamentals Workshop<\/a>\u2014for composers earlier in their development.]<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News:<\/span> Is this an academia problem or a classical music problem?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s both. I see the problem more acutely in academia because the numbers are smaller. I never had a female professor at Yale or at the Royal Conservatory at The Hague. There were no women on faculty at all. And this was not that long ago! This was, like, 15 years ago. 

Up until recently, there were orchestras that would have entire seasons with no female composers on them. So, I\u2019m reacting against the number zero. I\u2019m not saying to these orchestras you need to have a 50-50 split\u2014even though an accurate representation of our population would be 51 percent female\u2014I\u2019m just advocating for having someone<\/em> on the season who is not white and male.

I think classical music has this genius problem, where genius trumps all. And that classical music is somehow above the fray and untouched by these earthly concerns about gender and race and racism. And we are not! This is music made by people. This is a job. And when you don\u2019t represent people, you deny them jobs, work, artistic fulfillment; #MeToo has not really fully hit classical music or music academia yet.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News:<\/span> Despite the numbers, you survived and thrived. How?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I really drank the Kool-Aid of \u201990s riot grrrl<\/a> feminism, and I\u2019m so glad I did. My models early on were people like Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, these punk rock women who were very vocal against sexism and unequal treatment. I internalized that, and that is the core of my strength. I just held out hope that things would change. And I think, with #MeToo, they have\u2014a little bit. We have a language now to discuss these things. But things are not changing fast enough for me, and that\u2019s why I was motivated to start Luna Composition Lab and why I\u2019m very vocal about these issues\u2014and very motivated to help organizations that show a willingness and a desire to change.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News:<\/span> How often do you come across overt discrimination? I\u2019m sure they don\u2019t come out and say, \u201cWe\u2019re not booking any women composers this season,\u201d but\u2026<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Even if they\u2019re not saying it, the numbers don\u2019t lie. The kind of gender discrimination and sexism that I\u2019m fighting against is systemic. I\u2019m looking at the reasons we got here and what is perpetuating this very old-fashioned idea today. I\u2019m more interested in that than in getting revenge on the people who have slighted me to my face\u2014which, of course, has happened.

There\u2019re also things I would put in the category of a microaggression. Like, often I get these calls to be part of a season or for a new commission and I\u2019m very excited, and then they say, \u201cYeah, we really wanted this to be a concert of all women\u201d composers, and my heart sort of sinks. Or, \u201cYeah, we wanted a woman on this program.\u201d Are you asking me because you like the art or because I\u2019m filling some sort of quota for you? I usually say no once that has been brought up. I don\u2019t think these concerts of all women [composers] are helpful, because you\u2019re still \u201cothering\u201d those women.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News:<\/span> How did you push through that stuff early in your career?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was not a very joyful, supportive time. I did often feel I was pushing through something or overcoming something. Which is not good for a 17-, 18-, 19-year-old who\u2019s trying to go to college. You shouldn\u2019t have to feel that you\u2019re 17 times as good as your peers to have an equal shot at the opportunities they will have. That\u2019s not a healthy academic environment. I can say I really pushed and was really resilient, but it makes me kind of sad to say that, because that\u2019s not everyone\u2019s personality, and you shouldn\u2019t have to have that just because you\u2019re a woman. 

To be in a room with all men, maybe some who are making aggressive comments, comments under their breath in seminar, comments to my face about how they didn\u2019t like something I was doing. There was a lot of exclusion, where all the male composers would hang out together and I was alone. This happened a lot at BU because I was the only female student. They were all living in a dorm together and had this real camaraderie and support and they\u2019d listen to each other\u2019s music, and I was alone in a dorm. It\u2019s not OK. That\u2019s not OK for a 17-year-old. I felt like there was something wrong with me.

We are missing out on the voices of so many young women who may not be willing to put themselves through that. When I was in college and grad school, I often had the thought, what self-respecting woman would put herself through this situation? Do I need to just pursue something else?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News:<\/span> Now you feel empowered to speak out, though.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s great joy to have some years of composing under my belt and to have this reputation, so I can, for lack of a better term, call people out on things without fear of being just dismissed. No matter what you are doing, no matter how you identify, the arts is a very challenging field. And you\u2019re often clinging to every opportunity and trying to be friends with everybody, trying not to rock the boat. I\u2019m glad now that I\u2019m at an age where I can call things out for what they are.

I think this next generation is much better at this than my generation was. They\u2019re not afraid to call people out on these things. I think it\u2019s amazing that we have the language and these formats for it. For better or worse, social media is sort of an equalizer that most people have access to for their voice.

But if I\u2019m on a panel and there are no people of color on that panel, I will say something. Even if it\u2019s, \u201cNext year you need to broaden this, get a better representation on this panel.\u201d If I\u2019m teaching at a university\u2014I do a lot of guest-teaching around the country\u2014I\u2019m asking, \u201cHave you considered hiring any women in this department? Are there any openings?\u201d Because I notice again, it\u2019s, like, five white men. I can recommend people! I want to see these organizations succeed. I\u2019m not a burn-it-all-down kind of person. I want to help them. I can be that link.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News:<\/span> Tell us about Luna Composition Lab.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Luna Composition Lab supports women, nonbinary, and gender-nonconfirming composers aged 12 to 18. We select six composers a year from all over the country and connect them with prominent female, nonbinary, or nonconforming mentors in the field.

They work together, they have lessons every two weeks for nine months, basically October to May, and then the whole season culminates in a big festival in New York. We bring all the composers to New York, we have a big concert of their pieces, we take them on a tour of the Met, we do master classes, we go to concerts, we have networking events and pizza parties. It\u2019s a fast-forward button. They get to be on a concert in New York, at Merkin Concert Hall, and they have a community of peers they are instantly plugged into and a mentor who looks like them and has a shared experience. They leave the program armed with every tool they need to apply for college or competitions, if they decide to do that.

We\u2019re in our sixth year, and we\u2019ve already seen change happen as part of this program. Our students have gone on to some of the best schools in the country. And we\u2019ve seen the numbers go up in these undergraduate programs.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News:<\/span> This would have been a good program for teenage you.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Oh my God! Exactly! My life would have been so different. I would have felt so much less isolation. I had this idea that I had to do everything on my own. I had to think my way through it, which, looking back, is insane\u2014the idea that a 16-year-old from rural Pennsylvania would somehow know how to crack into the music community of Boston or New York City or Amsterdam.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Read THE INTERVIEW IN BOSTONIA<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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