by Chris Lombardi

Thirty years ago, as the 1970s were coming to a close, a young pianist named Cynthia Powell had an impulse not so common among accompanists. "I started look into women composers, women's music — I wasn't yet sure why," Powell told WFC last week. That impulse, then sort of perpendicular to most of Powell's gigs accompanying church choirs and opera companies, feels prescient now to Powell, the founding music director of the Melodia Women's Choir in Manhattan, a 32-voice ensemble that has performed repertory from Bach to Meredith Monk, from Merkin Concert Hall and Symphony Space to Citicorp Center and St. Peter's Church in Chelsea. Now, Powell and the five-year-old chorus, brainchild of arts management consultant Jennifer Clarke, are rehearsing for a milestone concert: the November 14 premiere of a new work commissioned specially for Melodia, based on text by U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan. Overall, Powell told WVFC, she feels blessed every time she shows up for rehearsal. (Below, watch Melodia sing Allison Sniffon's "Hear Me With Your Eyes," Melodia's first commissioned work, at Merkin Concert Hall in November 2006.)

Read more, and see performance video at Women's Voices For Change