After Hadrian - the Whistling Hens

Whistling Hens® was founded by soprano Jennifer Piazza-Pick and clarinetist Natalie Groom to perform and commission music by women composers to create a financially and artistically equitable future for women in music. The duo’s name was plucked from a quote by a male music critic who wrote in the New York Times in 1918, “women composers are at best whistling hens.” A duo with “finesse and creative brilliance” (International Alliance for Women in Music Journal) and programming so engaging that “my daughter stopped reading Harry Potter to pay attention,” Whistling Hens creates performance experiences that integrate exceptional music, advocacy of women composers, and music history and education. Since its founding in 2018, Whistling Hens has premiered 41 pieces and commissioned 16 compositions, 10 transcriptions, the Whistling Hens Women Composer Coloring Book, and inspired 26 dedicated works. Whistling Hens has released two albums, Big Crass Monster (2025) and Reacting to the Landscape (2022), presenting numerous world premiere recordings featuring many of their commissioned works. ********** After Hadrian by Sarah Marze, text adapted from the poetry of Jane Hirshfield - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poet... The phrase “little soul” is attributed to the only poem we have from Hadrian, the Roman emperor from 117-138 ad. Little soul little stray little drifter now where will you stay all pale and all alone after the way you used to make fun of things (Hadrian, “Little Soul,” translated by W.S. Merwin from Poetry (April 2006). Copyright © 2006 by W.S. Merwin.) The cycle of eight poems, which Hirshfield calls the “little soul” or “after Hadrian” cycle, explores the story of someone reflecting on a loss of a close friend. Details in the poetry suggest the person lost struggled with a disease that affected the memory and brain. The piece is a set of eight related miniatures that set only the first few lines of each poem.