My Doll Janie, Women Are…
COLLABORATION:
In 2020, Ellie Cherry composed this theatrical piece My Doll Janie for the Women Are... Project.
“Both the title and textual elements are drawn from the 1920 poem “Sun-Up and Other Poems” by Irish-born American immigrant and author Lola Ridge (1873-1941), who throughout her life was an ardent activist in race, class, and gender issues. Her tireless interest in equalizing the rights of oppressed demographics often permeated her art.”
ABOUT ELLIE:
Ellie Cherry recently graduated from Cornell University magna cum laude with a BA in Music, composing an opera based on Book 4 of The Aeneid of Vergil for her honors thesis. She will be heading to Glasgow in the fall to pursue a Masters of Music Composition at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She knew she wanted to dedicate her life to music when she began teaching herself piano at age 12, and she has since been an advocate for making the benefits of music education more accessible to a broader public. As both a performer and composer, Ellie sees music as a powerful medium for social change, a philosophy which has been instrumental in shaping her artistic voice. When she’s not sitting in windowless practice rooms gnawing on pencils, spilling coffee on staff paper, and shouting profanity at Finale, you’ll probably find her fishing in a stream or climbing trees.