by Tera de Marez Oyens as published in the IAWM Journal, February 1994, pp. 23.
From November 9 to 11, 1993, I was the guest of the Escola de Musica of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro for the occasion of the First International Festival of Women Composers in Brazil. Sonia Maria Viera, the dean of the Escola de Musica, had started the preparations in July, but she met many difficulties. There was no money. Brazil is a typical "macho" country, where the idea of women composers is not very well accepted, and there was illness, and disillusionment, but Sonia persisted! She phoned and wrote letters and talked and convinced, and in the end succeeded in realising her dream, organizing three interesting days filled with music. Many Brazilian women composers were represented, and performers were mostly recruited from the staff and students of the Escola de Musica. The focus of the festival was Brazilian music: other countries were relatively under-represented, in spite of the fact that a choir from the Technical University in Kosice, Slowakia, happened to give a concert during the festival, and was thus included in the program although there were no women composers on their repertoire.
It became obvious that there is almost no contact with Women in Music groups from other countries, and that one of the reasons is undoubtedly the language problem. There are only a few people who speak anything other than Portuguese, and my lecture had to be translated sentence by sentence. My trying to generate some interest in the ILWC by handing out folders to the audience did not have much effect, because most people couldn't read the material. It crossed my mind that perhaps we should have these folders available in many languages for cases like this! However, Sonia Viera translated everything, and she certainly saw the importance of contact with the ILWC.
It was understandable that the level of the compositions which were performed varied greatly. For many of the women, it was the first opportunity to have their work heard in public, and the organizers wanted to include as many compositions as possible on the program. In spite of the differences in level, there was a warm, friendly atomosphere with respect and attention for colleagues, exemplified by Sonia Viera, who kept a cool head, a friendly smile and a warm heart amidst all the happenings when things threatened to go wrong. She was everywhere, calming excited people, holding a microphone into the harp for a better sound effect, making last-minute decisions, and listening with genuine interest to many problems.
In the three days of the conference, there were six lectures and ten concerts which contained all kinds of chamber music. Every afternoon there was a debate, the contents of which escaped me because of the language. The variety of subjects covered in the lectures, which Sonia Viera translated for me, gave a view of the broad spectrum of musical life in Brazil. The French composer Graciane Finzi spoke about women composers since the 19th century. There were lectures about making music with psychiatric patients, about Brazilian folklore, about a composition based on the poem "Poema Sujo" by Ferreira Gullar, in which research was done about the meaning of time. Maria Antonieta Silva e Silverio gave examples of group lessons in which she arranged compositions for the instruments available (a lot of pianists had to play percussion) and we heard some compositions composed especially for these groups. Nilceia Baroncelli, author of Mulheres Compositoras, a kind of anthology of women composers, spoke about two early Brazilian women composers: Dinorah de Carvalho (1893-1978) and Esther Schiar, who committed suicide in 1978. The music of Carvalho sounded interesting and far more audacious than most of the music that was performed during the festival. The author Eli Maria Rocha told about the history of her book on Brazilian women composers, which took her 5 years to write.
It was a pity that the audience at the lectures was small, a result of the fact that there was no money for promotion. However, there had been some support for this first festival: the French composer Graciane Finzi had been able to come thanks to help fom the Association Française d'action Artistique and the Ministere des Affaires Étrangers, and my trip was sponsored by the ABN/AMRO Bank in Rio de Janeiro.
Of course there were the small catastrophies which belong to such an occasion: music falling on the floor, lights going out, too much noise from the other halls due to the doors having to be open to get some air movement in the very hot temperature, and these were only the mishaps I noticed! But despite everything, the performers played on undisturbed, and it was obvious they had practiced with dedication music which for them must have been mostly new and unfamiliar.
Works by about 50 composers were performed, and that in itself was an important achievement! All music was Brazilian, with the exception of compositions by Graciane Finzi and myself, but during my lecture I played some music by Ellen Taafe Zwillich, Nancy Van de Vate and Sofia Gubaidulina. From the works by Brazilian composers I remember vividly Vera Terra's Urbs for percussion and tape, Maria Antonieta S. E. Silverio's Tres movimentos for piano solo, Patricia Regadas Nunes' Suite monastica for flute and cello, Marisa Resende's Breves for flute, clarinet, trumpet, double bass and piano, and Rosane Almeida's Trio No. 1 for violin, viola and cello. Of course there was a lot of other good music, but after so many concerts and new impressions, it is impossible to name all the compositions.
It was exciting to be present at the first gathering of the Brazilian women, and to feel that things will begin to move there. And I was happy to be able to assure them of the interest and willingness to help from all the members of the ILWC.