Women in Parallel Empires

Créatrices/flûtistes Tessa Brinckman and Jane Rigler have co-composed Women in Parallel Empires, a 22-minute acousmatic video “space opera” in posthumous collaboration with Cécile Chaminade’s Sérénade aux étoiles (Serenade to the stars, 1911). Women in Parallel Empires explores how we might reclaim flute compositions by women composers dismissed from the Western canon, by re-assembling them within contemporary contexts, and addressing (and/or subverting) the concept of Empire, genius, and extraction in Western “art” music.

What does it mean to serenade to, and not extract from, the stars? 

This work was partially funded by the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Faculty Assembly Women’s Committee grant 2020-21 and premiered at the Center for New Music (San Francisco) in May 2021. This project has received numerous national and international awards and recognitions for our original music and experimental nature.

Watch/listen to the Women in Parallel Empires trailer below!

Booking

This video is now available to be featured at experimental film festivals. For more information and to feature this work please contact Jane Rigler (see contact page) or Tessa Brinckman

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing…”
Arundhati Roy, An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire (2005)