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FULL Why Women Went West (Madsen) Fullerton CA 2022 Stacey Fraser
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Why Women Went West
- Composer: Madsen Pamela
- Libretto: Pamela Madsen (after Mary Austin Hunter) and Quintan Ana Wikswo. Additional texts by T.S. Eliot, Terri Niccum and W.B. Yeats.
- Venue & Opera Company: Meng Concert Hall, Fullerton, California, California State University
- Recorded: September 18, 2022
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Stacey Fraser
- Conductor:
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: CSUF College of the Arts
- Date Published: 2022
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Why Women Went West is the story of Mary Hunter Austin, who left her Midwestern hometown in the late 19th century for a pioneer life in California and New Mexico. This is not a bawdy Calamity Jane-type send up of the wild west, but rather a deeply personal journey of self-discovery and hard-won independence. The story is filled with all the challenges and trauma experienced by self-reliant women of the time. Through this process, Mary Austin became a feminist, conservationist, writer and advocate for Native American and Spanish-American rights. The program notes state that the opera “…chronicles Mary Austin’s escape from persecution to transformation of white women’s privilege and passion for preservation of nature, history and indigenous culture.”