Flutist Megan Shanley Alger has commissioned Luna, for amplified alto flute and electronics. Inspired by the amazing women who contributed crucially to the Apollo 11 moon landing, the title of this piece refers to Luna, goodess of the moon in ancient Roman mythology.Female members of the Apollo Space Program included Bobbie Johnson, Judith Love Cohen, Ann Dickson, and Ann Maybury. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. From mathematician/engineer Ethel Heinecke Bauer to mathematician and ‘human computer’ Dorothy Jean Johnson Vaughan, these are an amazing group of women who rose far above the constraints that society placed on them as women. We are in their debt!
This project is part of Meghan Shanley Alger’s Making Waves commissioning project, itself an effort to continue breaking the bounds that have kept so many women composers and performers from reaching their potential. Having come of age as a composer during the 1970’s-80’s, and having served as President of American Women Composers, I have experienced these bounds myself, and am especially pleased by Ms. Alger’s project. She has commissioned a diverse groupAshi Day, Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, Shara Lunon, Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Annika K. Socolofsky in addition to myself.