PEORIA– Composer Stephanie Ann Boyd knows she’s lucky to have been born at a time when women have more choices.
Not that long ago, thesocially acceptablepath for women was much narrower –leading primarilytoward marriage and motherhood.While composing“HerStory: A Musical Tributeto Betty Friedan,” a piece thatwillhaveitsworldpremiereat aPeoria Symphony OrchestraconcertNov. 20,Boyd beganthinking abouthowthe feminist’swork affected her own life.
“My grandmother was the first composer that I knew,” said Boyd. “Not very many people have heard her music. After she went to musicschool,she married my grandfather and raised three amazing kids. She composed music for herself in the summertime.”
Boyd, 31,has been able to take thatfamily talentto a much broader audience. Her compositions have been played by symphonies across the U.S.and around the world.Two years ago, PSO music directorGeorge Stelluto asked her to compose a piece to celebrate the 100thanniversary ofthe birth of Friedan, a Peoria native.
“We met at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago two years ago,” said Boyd. “He asked what sort of music I write, and I told him that I write about women’s memoirs and the natural world.”
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Stelluto was looking for a composer to write apiecefor the 2020-21 season, becauseFriedanwas born Feb. 4,1921.That concert was canceled due tothe pandemic and rescheduled for this year.
Inspired by 'The Feminine Mystique'
Betty Friedan,a graduate ofPeoria High School, wasone of the early leaders ofthefeminist movement of the 1960s and '70s.She wrote a best-selling book called “The Feminine Mystique,”which gave voice to millions of American women frustrated with thelimitationsimposed on theirgender. The book helped spark a new wave of public activism thatled to greatergenderequality, according to the National Women's History Museum.
Like many people with revolutionary ideas, Friedan was a controversial figure.She has not been well-celebrated in her hometown – or nationally, for that matter.Many womenwhoare,today,abletoplota life course once reserved for menhave Friedan, in part,to thank for this opportunity,but manyare not well-educated about heror her work.
“When I first started researching for thisproject,I was pretty horrified that I hadn’t become aware of her work until George said, ‘Do you want to do this?’” said Boyd. “So then,immediately,part of me gets extremely motivated by the fact that I justwant tomake a piece of art that is going to be a good and effective vehicle, a cathartic vehicle,for her message and life.”
Boydwrote music inspired by the text of“The Feminine Mystique.”Friedan’s words will be sung bymezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung. Deborah Rutter, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for thePerformingArts in Washington, D.C., will narratethe work.
“She’s coming all the way here because of this project,” said PSO conductorStelluto. “And Michelle DeYoung, world-famous mezzo-soprano, when I told her about this project, she said, ‘I want to be involved with it.’So,around the country,Friedan has got a great appreciation.”
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Few existing pieces honor historic women
“HerStory: A Musical Tribute to Betty Friedan” is about 30 minutes long. When planning the evening’s program, Stelluto thought it would be appropriate to also play some other pieces honoringhistoricwomen. He was shocked to find thatthereare none.
“We couldn’t find anything that was written about historic women, like Susan B. Anthony or other historic American women," Stelluto said. "So,I was like,well, the subject matterStephaniewrites aboutare women and women’s issues, so those are the companion pieces I’m going to use. Her writing is so beautiful, and the content of what she writes about was so poignant to this particular concert.”
Twoadditionalworksby Boyd will be played Nov. 20:“Sybil,”a violin concertothe composerbegan when she was just 19 years old,and “Sheltering Voices,” a piece written to raise awareness of the issue of domestic violence. It wasoriginallyperformed with a choir made up of women from a women's shelter in Boston.
Boyd is thrilled to have a program filled completely with her work.For a modern composer, it’s pretty much unheard of.While there is a push these days to include the work of new composers in symphony programs, it’s the old, familiar titles thattend to sellconcert tickets. When a symphony does include the work of anew composer, it’s typically a short piece, said Boyd.
“Sothe fact that the Peoria Symphony commissioned this new piece, which is pretty substantial, and then also decided to fill out the rest of the program with my work, is groundbreaking,”she said.
The decision came from a desire tobotheducate and celebrate, said Stelluto, who has been surprised by how many young women have never heard of Betty Friedan.
“I was talking to a rather high-achieving young woman from Peoria who was going off to an Ivy League school after she graduated from high school here in Peoria. Whenshe came backhomerecently,I told her about this project,she said, ‘I can’t believe it took me going to an Ivy League school to find out that Betty Friedan went to my high school.’ Somehow,it’s just been lost in a certain generation,” said Stelluto.“SoI think it’s a really great opportunity to celebrate Betty, to celebrate women, and to celebrateStephanie.”
Leslie Renken can be reached at(309) 370-5087orlrenken@pjstar.com. Follow heron Facebook.com/leslie.renken.
