Congratulations to DMA conducting student Anya Pogorelova who is the winner of the 2022 Martha Jane Starr Library Research Award. Anya was awarded $1,000 to support her research project, which she describes as such:
“The primary goal of my research is to create a comprehensive and publicly accessible database of chamber wind composers and their contributions to the repertoire. In order to produce the most accurate database, emphasis will be placed on searching for historically underrepresented and/or silenced composers. This population includes, but is not limited to, composers of ethnic descent, female and gender non-conforming individuals, and other minorities who are traditionally underserved. In addition to cataloguing all available materials, I will also be commissioning and performing the wind music of living composers with the purpose of rebalancing the repertoire in my field and in classical music as a whole. While I acknowledge that this type of archival work does not guarantee any new findings, my complementary artistic work is a vital component of this project as it ensures the development of new repertoire, expands contemporary resources, and promotes 21st century composers and performing artists.”
In 2016 The UMKC Libraries won a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant, which established an endowment to grant one UMKC graduate student each year with an award for research using the LaBudde Special Collections for research in women, gender, and sexuality studies.
Congratulations, Anya!