27th International Festival of Women Composers

festival poster

The 27th International Festival of Women Composers, organized by Dr. Miriam Zach who is Founder/Creative Director of the annual Festivals and the Margaret Zach International Women Composers Library, will be a concert with cohorts on Saturday, 4 March 2023 at 1:30pm in the Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall at the Department of Music and Theatre on the Iowa State University campus, and a service on Sunday, March 5 at 10am at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ames, Iowa. A concert at the M-Shop in the Memorial Union on the Iowa State University campus on Monday, 6 March at 7:00pm concludes the festival.

Here is a link to the concert program (PDF 114KB)

Legacy Concert

The Fall 2022 Organ Studio of Dr. Miriam Zach will be presented on Saturday, 12 November 2022 at 1:30pm in Martha-Ellen Tye Hall. Miriam Zach’s students are playing repertoire that she learned many moons ago with Jobst-Hermann Koch in Germany, including compositions by Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, and Josef Rheinberger.

The concert is in honor of Jobst-Hermann Koch (Lemgo, Germany)

Orgelkids Event

Dr. Miriam Zach and Dr. Stephen Smith with the Central Iowa Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (CIAGO) and Dr. Michael Elsbernd, Choir Director and Organist at St. John’s Lutheran Church, will assemble a working positive organ during an Orgelkids Event on Sunday, 1 May 2022, 2:30pm – 4:30pm at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 600 6th Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50309.

As part of the event, participants will also have the opportunity to learn about the organs used at St. John’s Lutheran Church. This event is free to attend, but registration is required. To register for the event, please email joshua@dmsymphony.org

Click on the image below for a PDF of the Orgel Kids flyer with all the information for the event.

Going Dutch-Benelux Organ Studio Recital

On Saturday, 23 April 2022 I will perform in the Martha Ellen Tye Hall with ten of my organ students an organ studio recital titled “Going Dutch/Benelux”   with 10 of my organ students. Below is the program (click on the page image). The poster above was designed by Devin Palmer with ideas by me from fond memories of being in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg (Benelux).

Program

26th International Festival of Women Composers

You are invited to our 26th International Festival of Women Composers this Saturday, February 26, 2022 at Iowa State University that Miriam Zach organized as Festival Founder/Creative Director.

This year’s annual international festival includes 500 years of music by 10 women composers from 4 countries, and 10 outstanding ISU Music Department violin, viola, voice, piano, and organ faculty and former and current ISU Music students of opera and organ.

The background of the poster above comes from the Maryamin mosaic (Syria, 4th century AD), which is one of our most important sources of the history of keyboard instruments. The left side of the image shows an organist playing with both hands, which suggests polyphony and harmony in the medieval era, almost 800 years before these were known in western musical thought and practice. The Maryamin mosaic is important as it links Eastern and Western musical thought. In the middle left of the image there is an aulos (double flute = ancient Greek instrument), and in the center a jal tarang (singing bowls of water) popular in India.

Here is the program (click on this link or on the image below):

Nine Lessons and Carols Performance

You are invited to “Nine Lessons and Carols” service at St. John’s by the Campus 2338 Lincoln Way, Ames, Iowa on Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 10am. We journeyed through Advent and Christmas in six languages and eight countries including Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United States.

See the program as a PDF below:

Scandinavian Organ Music Recital

Students in Dr. Miriam Zach’s organ studio will present Scandinavian music on Saturday, November 13, 2021, at 1:30pm in Iowa State University’s Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall in the Music Building.

The recital is sponsored by the ISU Department of Music and Theatre, Sukup Manufacturing Co. of Sheffield, Iowa, and the Central Iowa Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

A note of provenance: The painting used as the background of the poster above is Chez Moi (1887) by Norwegian visual artist Harriet Backer (1845-1932) who was the sister of musician Agathe Backer-Grondahl (1847-1907), one of the composers whose music will be performed on November 13th.

Below is a link to the program PDF