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Postcards from Erica February 2023

24 February 2023
Trying to find unaccompanied cello music by women composers? Look no further. I created my online “just-the-facts-ma’am”-style digital postcards to introduce listeners to new-to-you cello music and to help cellists, orchestra directors, cello teachers, and students seeking new repertoire, contest pieces, and supplemental literature.

Postcards from Erica That’s What She Said . . . Unaccompanied Cello Works by Women Composers

This month, anticipating Women’s History Month (March) and International Women’s Day (8 March), I put together a round-up of all of my postcards on women composers as a quick reference guide. Included are all of the postcards from my original “That’s What She Said” series, plus additions from my Black Composers series and special postcards for the “Soul Music: Unaccompanied Works Inspired by Hebraic Themes” collaborative effort between the London Cello Society (Selma Gokcen, Chair) and the Cello Museum. This is certainly not a complete list of all unaccompanied cello music by women composers, but it is an excellent resource for someone beginning a search for new material.

Below, I’ve listed the composers and their pieces, as well as ordering all of the works by the level of difficulty.

For your offline convenience, I’ve prepared downloadable files in letter (US) as well as A4 size. Please feel free to share the information with cellists and cello-lovers in your social and professional circles.

Download US Letter Size PDF Postcards from Erica Unaccompanied Cello Works by Women Composers

Download A4 Size PDF Postcards from Erica Unaccompanied Cello Works by Women Composers

Composers

  1. Eleanor Alberga  – March 2022 Postcard #2
  2. Amanda Aldridge – July 2022 Postcard #2
  3. Tanya Anisimova – September 2021 Postcard #3
  4. Leticia Armijo – September 2020 Postcard #2
  5. Ayala Asherov – September 2021 Postcard #1
  6. Lera Auerbach – December 2021 Postcard #3
  7. Grażyna Bacewicz – January 2021 Postcard #3
  8. Lauren Bernofsky – November 2021 Postcard #3
  9. Jessica T. Carter – September 2022 Postcard #1
  10. Andrea Casarrubios – March 2021 Postcard #3
  11. Yu-Hui Chang – April 2021 Postcard #3
  12. Deborah Cheetham – October 2022 Postcard #1
  13. Reena Esmail – January 2021 Postcard #2
  14. Elisenda Fábregas – December 2021 Postcard #2
  15. Elaine Fine – September 2020 Postcard #3, November 2020 Postcard #1, March 2021 Postcard #1
  16. Caitlin Foster – April 2021 Postcard #2
  17. Gabriella Lena Frank – Hebraic Themes Postcard #3
  18. Ilse Fromm-Michaels – November 2021 Postcard #2
  19. Monique Gabus – October 2021 Postcard #3
  20. Barbara Heller – May 2021 Postcard #1
  21. Hildegard von Bingen (transcr. Erica Lessie) – October 2021 Postcard #1
  22. Elena Kats-Chernin – October 2021 Postcard #2
  23. Ursula Keusen-Nickel – December 2021 Postcard #1
  24. Elizabeth Knudson – October 2020 Postcard #3
  25. Tania León – February 2022 Postcard #2
  26. Erica Lessie – July 2021 Postcard #1, August 2021 Postcard #1
  27. Ilya Levinson – Hebraic Themes Postcard #5
  28. Liz Davis Maxfield – September 2020 Postcard #1, July 2021 Postcard #2
  29. Jessie Montgomery – June 2022 Postcard #2
  30. Dorothy Rudd Moore – March 2022 Postcard #3
  31. Wilma Pistorius – December 2020 Postcard #1
  32. Florence Price – April 2022 Postcard #1
  33. Kaitlyn Raitz – March 2021 Postcard #2
  34. Elena Ruehr – December 2020 Postcard #2
  35. Nina Shekhar – May 2021 Postcard #3
  36. Sarah Kirkland Snider – December 2020 Postcard #3
  37. Wanda Sobieska – October 2020 Postcard #1, November 2021 Postcard #1
  38. Jane Stanley – August 2021 Postcard #3
  39. Hilary Tann – July 2021 Postcard #3
  40. Persis Parshall Vehar – November 2020 Postcard #3
  41. Gwyneth Walker – August 2021 Postcard #2
  42. Daijana Wallace – March 2022 Postcard #1
  43. Meira M. Warshauer – September 2021 Postcard #2
  44. Rain Worthington – October 2020 Postcard #2, April 2021 Postcard #1
  45. Ilse de Ziah – November 2020 Postcard #2, January 2021 Postcard #1, May 2021 Postcard #2

Works by Level of Difficulty

Beginner

  • Bright Eyes by Florence Price – April 2022 Postcard #1
  • Responsory fol. 476 1a-4a by Hildegard von Bingen (transcr. Erica Lessie) – October 2021 Postcard #1 (beginner or advanced, depending on the version)

Late Beginner/Early Intermediate

  • By the Fountain from Three Arabian Dances by Amanda Aldridge – July 2022 Postcard #2
  • A Cellist’s Garden of Verses by Elaine Fine – November 2020 Postcard #1
  • Cello Boogie No. 1 by Ilse de Ziah – January 2021 Postcard #1
  • Ferdinand by Elaine Fine – March 2021 Postcard #1
  • Fire Horse by Erica Lessie – July 2021 Postcard #1
  • Five States of Change (Wood, Metal, Fire, Water, Earth) by Wanda Sobieska – October 2020 Postcard #2
  • Looking for the Possible Embrace by Wilma Pistorius – December 2020 Postcard #1
  • Nayn by Erica Lessie – August 2021 Postcard #1
  • November by Liz Davis Maxfield – September 2020 Postcard #1
  • Resolves by Rain Worthington – April 2021 Postcard #1
  • Sounds & Signs by Barbara Heller – May 2021 Postcard #1
  • Yizkor by Ayala Asherov – September 2021 Postcard #1 (Andante – advanced; Allegro – late beginner/intermediate; Lento – advanced)

Intermediate

  • Ensueños del agua  by Leticia Armijo – September 2020 Postcard #2
  • Expecting by Jessica T. Carter – September 2022 Postcard #1 (mostly intermediate with a few bars that are advanced)
  • The Green Mountains by Gwyneth Walker – August 2020 Postcard #2 (mostly intermediate, with a few advanced passages)
  • Ike & Icky by Liz Davis Maxfield – July 2021 Postcard #2
  • Das Lied der Vögel: Variationen für Violoncello solo über ein katalanisches Weihnachtslied by Ursula Keusen-Nickel – December 2021 (except for the Adagio, which might be considered advanced level because of the double stops)
  • Permit Me by Deborah Cheetham – October 2022 Postcard #1
  • Prayer by Ilya Levinson – Hebraic Themes Postcard #5
  • She, In the Dark, Found Light by Kaitlyn Raitz – March 2021 Postcard #2
  • Solace in Darkness by Ilse de Ziah – May 2021 Postcard #2
  • Suite for Violoncello Solo, Op. 15 – by Ilse Fromm-Michaels – November 2021 Postcard #2 (Boureé and Gavotte)
  • Then Again by Rain Worthington – October 2020 Postcard #2
  • Varsha (Rain) by Reena Esmail – January 2021 Postcard #2

Late Intermediate/Early Advanced

  • Andantino by Wanda Sobieska – November 2021 Postcard #1
  • Déploration pour une amie défunte by Monique Gabus – October 2021 Postcard #3
  • Inch Strand by Ilse de Ziah – November 2020 Postcard #2
  • Lift by Elena Ruehr – December 2020 Postcard #2
  • Patina by Elena Kats-Chernin – October 2021 Postcard #2
  • Suite for Violoncello Solo, Op. 15 – by Ilse Fromm-Michaels – November 2021 Postcard #2 (Prelude and Aria)
  • Usunien I Mornië – Escaping The Darkness by Caitlin Foster – April Postcard #2
  • Winter Song – by Jane Stanley – August 2021 Postcard #3

Advanced

  • Baroque Suite for Unaccompanied Cello by Dorothy Rudd Moore – March 2022 Postcard #2
  • Cajón by Nina Shekhar – May 2021 Postcard #3
  • In Memoriam (September 11, 2001) – by Meira M. Warshauer – September 2021 Postcard #3
  • Kaprys Polski by Grażyna Bacewicz – January 2021 Postcard #3
  • Khazn’s Recitative: Elu D’vorim by Gabriella Lena Frank – Hebraic Themes Postcard #3
  • Responsory fol. 476 1a-4a by Hildegard von Bingen (transcr. Erica Lessie) – October 2021 Postcard #1 (beginner or advanced, depending on the version)
  • Ride Through by Eleanor Alberga  – March 2022 Postcard #2
  • Sephardic Suite by Elaine Fine – September 2020 Postcard #3
  • September 11 by Tanya Anisimova – September 2021 Postcard #3
  • Seven – Song of Isolation by Andrea Casarrubios – March 2021 Postcard #3
  • Shades by Daijana Wallace – March 2022 Postcard #1
  • Suite for Violoncello Solo, Op. 15 – by Ilse Fromm-Michaels – November 2021 Postcard #2 (Gigue)
  • Yizkor by Ayala Asherov – September 2021 Postcard #1 (Andante – advanced; Allegro – late beginner/intermediate; Lento – advanced)

Late Advanced/Professional

  • Cadenzas for solo cello for the Haydn Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major by Jessie Montgomery – June 2022 Postcard #2
  • The Cresset Stone by Hilary Tann – July 202 Postcard #3
  • Fandango – by Lauren Bernofsky – November 2021 Postcard #3
  • Four Pieces for Violoncello by Tania León – February 2022 Postcard #2
  • Homenatge à Pau Casals by Elisenda Fábregas – December 2021 Postcard #2
  • Rio del Tizon by Yu-Hui Chang – April 2021 Postcard #3
  • Two Ways of Being by Persis Parshall Vehar – November 2020 Postcard #3

Professional

  • The Reserved, the Reticent by Sarah Kirkland Snider – December 2020 Postcard #3
  • La Suite dels Ocells (Hommage à Pablo Casals) by Lera Auerbach – December 2021 Postcard #3

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Author

Erica Lessie, Researcher and Guest Curator Author

Erica Lessie is a freelance cellist in the Chicago area, working in a broad range of styles across many facets of the Chicago music scene. Erica has performed on the Oprah Winfrey show with both Whitney Houston and Seal, and has also appeared with Diana Krall, Andrea Bocelli, Peter Cetera, the Four Tops and Johnny Mathis. She is an auxiliary member of the rock band Tributosaurus and co-founder of Cherchez la Femme, a musical ensemble dedicated to presenting the arts expressed by women across the millennium. Ms. Lessie also developed Cellos of Unusual Shape, a solo presentation that explores the diversity of variant cellos. Currently, she teaches at DePaul University Community Music Division, Sherwood Community Music School at Columbia College and Chicago High School for the Arts. She has composed duets for flute/cello and piccolo/toy piano and is creating a collection of short pieces for solo cello. Ms. Lessie received a B.M. from Indiana University, where she studied cello with Fritz Magg and chamber music with Rostislav Dubinsky and James Buswell. At Florida State University she earned an M.M. and completed coursework for a D.M.A. She currently resides south of Chicago.