By Robert Lewis
COLUMBUS, Miss. (Take 30 News)---The Poindexter Music Hall at the Mississippi University for Women was filling up with people in the days leading up to Spring Break for the purpose of enjoying the fourth annual International Music by Women Festival. This event’s purpose was celebrate women composers in the field of music. The works performed included both present and past composers.
Julia Mortyakova is the event Creator and artistic director.
“I thought MUW would be the perfect place to host this because we were the first public institution of higher education for women in the country, so it just seemed like the perfect place to host an event dedicated to highlighting women’s contributions to music," Mortyakova said.
The term international didn’t just refer to just the women composers but also to the various performers who were from a little bit of everywhere. There were performers from as close as Mexico and Canada but also as far as Germany, South Korea, and China.
Julia hopes to keep this tradition going for years to come in order to pay respects to the composers before today’s time as well as the women composers for the future.