The program features Clara Schumann’s iconic “Piano Concerto in A minor,” performed by guest artist Melody Quah, music from American composers Nancy Galbraith and Amy Beach and symphony member Cathy Collinge Herrera will perform an original composition for flute and orchestra. Additionally, the concert will feature an arrangement of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License,” a modern pop ballad, reimagined for orchestra, adding a contemporary twist to the evening’s program.

The concert, which comes during Women’s History month — having been observed since 1987 after being designated by Congress — kicks off the second half of its 96th season.

The salute brings much-needed attention to women composers, said Nick Palmer, music director and conductor.

“It’s interesting to note that only 5 percent of music performed by orchestras is by women composers. When half the people who perform in orchestras — and it may be more than half — we thought it would be cool to feature music just written by women composers,” he said, “and to show the variety of music that’s been composed over the last few centuries by women.”

The program features Clara Schumann’s iconic “Piano Concerto in A minor,” performed by guest artist Melody Quah (shown), music from American composers Nancy Galbraith and Amy Beach and symphony member Cathy Collinge Herrera will perform an original composition for flute and orchestra. Courtesy photo

Prior to 1900, music by women composers wasn’t commonly performed by orchestras.

Featured guest artist Quah, an assistant professor of piano at Penn State, calls Schumann’s concerto “an astonishing piece, especially considering that Clara wrote it at just 14 years old.

The brilliant passagework and sophisticated harmonies showcase her incredible talent as both a pianist and a composer, even at such a young age. It has been a joy to prepare.”

She calls Schumann among “trailblazers” who “paved the way for so many of us and it is an honor for me to bring her music to life in this special concert with the ASO. Having recently welcomed my second child, the challenges of balancing a performing and teaching career with raising a family are front and center in my daily life. At this stage in my journey, being part of this concert feels like both an embrace and a celebration of everything I am fortunate enough to do.”

Attendees will also be treated to an original composition by Collinge Herrera, an Altoona Symphony member since 2002.

The program features Clara Schumann’s iconic “Piano Concerto in A minor,” performed by guest artist Melody Quah, music from American composers Nancy Galbraith and Amy Beach and symphony member Cathy Collinge Herrera (shown) will perform an original composition for flute and orchestra. Courtesy photo

Dave Villani said he discovered his and Collinge Herrera’s shared interest in music composition about a year ago.

In his roles as a symphony board member and chairman of the programming committee, he recommended she perform “Celestial Suite for and Chamber Orchestra.”

“I really like its tonal qualities,” Villani said.

Collinge Herrera and the symphony will perform the first two movements which she wrote 40 years ago as a tribute to her

ongoing love of the day

Music director and conductor Nick Palmer says the salute brings much needed attention to women composers and shows “the variety of music that’s been composed over the last few centuries by women.” Courtesy photo

and night skies as well as her then-young son’s fascination with chord progressions.

“I love seeing different constellations and the moon — whatever phase it is in. When I was messing around with the jazz chord progression, there happened to be a crescent moon smiling in the sky and it was covered in a glowing haze. So I called the first movement ‘The Poem of the Pastel Moon.'”

The flute, she explained, provides the light of the moon and the accompanying strings with their complex chord construct is the haze.

The second movement, “Circling Saturn,” is described by the composer as a “mediation piece.”

She will alternate playing piccolo, the C flute and the Alto flute throughout the movements. Listeners will hear indigenous instrument influences, she said, which reflect her past studies and work in Peru as a Fulbright Scholar and principal flutist with the Peruvian National Symphony Orchestra. She continues to serve as an artistic ambassador through the U.S. Embassy in Peru. She also is principal flutist with the Nittany Valley Symphony. In the Altoona orchestra, she is solo piccolo/third flute.

Performing her own composition is “a special opportunity and an incredible honor for me, and to be counted among the other composers is very humbling.”

The upcoming symphony performance also includes a contemporary piece — Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License,” a modern pop ballad, arranged for orchestra.

“It’s a great way to bring in something new yet known by people who listen to music now,” Palmer said. “This is a great chance to hear music of the last 200 years. It’s an exciting opportunity to hear music written by women. It’s a rarity.”

Mirror staff writer Patt Keith is at 814-949-7030.

If you go

WHAT: Altoona Symphony Orchestra presents “Women of Note,” a concert in celebration of women in music

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. March 15

WHERE: Mishler Theatre, 1208 12th Ave., Altoona

TICKETS: $36 for adults, $16 students; call 814-944-9434 or visit https:mishlertheatre.vbotickets.com/events