Sarah Hagen’s Wonder Women

Originally published on social media on February 3rd 2024

I feel so honored and excited to have Sarah Hagen’s Wonder Women performance be the first performance featured on this new blog. Sitting in her audience today was an absolute pleasure! Sarah is incredibly talented, witty, and her inner and outer beauty shined throughout her performance. As a feminist myself, I think that the work she is doing is very important:

Sarah is introducing the majority of her audience to female composers that are often forgotten by history and music. I consider myself to be someone who knows a good deal about classical music, yet I had not heard of the majority of these 18th and 19th century names. Sarah curated her program exquisitely, and as she would say, “sandwiched” the pieces she played to bring out all the nuances and flavors of the music while complimenting each other.

Whether you are a classical music person or not, I recommend taking any opportunity that comes your way to see her perform. Sarah has a way of combining music, history, and comedy in a way that is heartwarming, thought provoking, and all around fun. There is also a lot of feminist commentary that the world just needs right now.

My favorite comment that Sarah made was about how the highest compliment that could be given to a female composer and/or musician during the 18th and 19th century was that she “played like a man.” Not only is it hilarious, but it’s also true and perhaps might still be true today, and we need to ask ourselves why we have allowed this to happen, and what we can do to change that cultural stereotype and language.

I had a chance to meet Sarah after the performance, and she was SO KIND and genuine. As she, my mom, and I talked, I could tell she was actually listening…what a treat! We need to continue to support people like Sarah and the work she does!

To purchase a CD and learn more about Sarah, visit: https://sarahhagen.com/