FREE VIRTUAL EVENT
Friday, March 18, 1pm EST
On EXTENSITY’s Instagram, Facebook and Website
Acclaimed composer Mary D. Watkins discusses her extraordinary life as a pianist and composer, and her new work “Emmett Till, The Opera” (to be premiered March 22 and 23, ‘22 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre, John Jay College, NY) in a written interview with EXTENSITY, accompanied by a short video on her composition “Summer Days,” ahead of pianist Sarah Cahill’s performance of the piece on March 19, ‘22 for WOMEN NOW.
Read EXTENSITY’s full interview with Watkins and watch her video about “Summer Days” on this page, following her biography.
Mary D. Watkins is a prolific composer, arranger, producer, pianist, and recording artist. She has won critical praise and awards for her numerous symphonic works, film scores, songs, and pieces for classical and jazz instrumentalists. Soul of Remembrance is one of her most popular orchestral works. It has been recorded by the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble of Chicago (Albany Records 2009), and it has been performed recently by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, and many other orchestras. She has also composed three full-length operas on historical themes: Queen Clara (about Clara Barton, 2005); Dark River: The Fannie Lou Hamer Story (2009); and Emmet Till, the Opera (2019). She has recently completed a segment of an opera about mass incarceration for White Snake Projects, which premiered online in May 2021.
Watkins has a degree in classical composition from Howard University, and she has composed both classical and jazz music, often fusing the styles and incorporating other forms of American music including gospel, spiritual, and pop genres. She won a Female Composer grant from Opera America in 2020, and she has previously won composer fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Gerbode Foundation, Meet the Composer Foundation, California Arts Council and the City of Oakland. She received a 2021 Artist Legacy Award from the California Arts Council and she was recognized with a 2022 Composers Now Visionary Award. To learn more and watch video excerpts of her work, please visit www.marydwatkins.com.
Watkins kindly shared this brief video from October 2020, where she discussed "Summer Days" prior to pianist Sarah Cahill's premiere of the piece in San Francisco:
Mary D. Watkins Interview with EXTENSITY
March 10, 2022
We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mary Watkins about her rich life as a pianist and composer, her new composition “Emmett Till, The Opera” (premiering March 22 and 23, 2022 at the Gerald W Lynch Theater, John Jay College, NYC.), and her piano work “Summer Days,” which will be performed by pianist Sarah Cahill on Saturday March 19 as part of her concert “The Future is Female” for WOMEN NOW.
EXTENSITY: You were trained in classical music at Howard University, and have had a career as a jazz pianist. How has your experience in both of these genres informed your compositional and musical life?
Watkins: Yes I received a Bachelor’s Degree in music composition from Howard University. I simultaneously played in a jazz combo while attending school during the day. I played pop music as a young person in junior high and high school, and was the official pianist for a church choir and congregation from the time I was 12 years old. All of these experiences as an accompanist, solo pianist in addition to playing the violin in orchestra and cornet, and later the Tuba in band informed my approach to composition and orchestration.
EXTENSITY: You work within the genres of film and theater as well. How different is composing for these genres?
Watkins: Composing for theater is very different from composing for film. In film I must underscore. I need always to make sure I compliment the story and its images but never to detract. Most of the writing is in small segments, 47 seconds or 1:12 that will replay in some form of variation of the main theme.
EXTENSITY: On March 19, as part of our WOMEN NOW Festival, pianist Sarah Cahill will be performing “Summer Days,” which she commissioned you to write. Can you share your inspiration behind this piece?
Watkins: Once I got into the piece I found myself remembering hot summer days in Colorado where I grew up. My mom would let us put on our bathing suits and the neighborhood kids would congregate in our back yard and my mom would turn on the hose! We loved it, jumping and running through the streams of water, screaming with joy and laughter.
EXTENSITY: What are your motivations when writing a piece?
Watkins: My motivations when writing a piece is to share an experience on a visceral level.
EXTENSITY: Your composition “Emmett Till, The Opera” is a powerful re-telling of the murder of 14-year old Emmett Till in 1955. Given the seismic events of the past few years, this composition is newly prescient and a reminder of the difficult work that still must be done. Why did you decide to tackle his subject matter?
Watkins: I took on the challenge at this time because now is the time which has always been now to take on the subject of the physic, spiritual and physical damage of racism.
EXTENSITY: Are there ways in which being a Black woman has impacted your career? Are there challenges you’ve faced?
Watkins: I was so aware of the need to overcome bias against women as composers I didn’t get around to the fact that being a person of color was something much to deal with though I knew that the classical music world, if it noticed me at all, would insist that the music I or any African American composed was to be classified as jazz—implying that the same level of skill and intellect wasn’t required. For me, the first and most challenging hurdle was to prove myself as a composer of music that was worthy of being taken seriously.
EXTENSITY: What advice do you have for young people wanting to get into composition?
Watkins: Study the music you want to write. Listen to all kinds of music. Compose and don’t wait for someone to give you permission. Give yourself permission.
EXTENSITY: What projects are you working on right now?
Watkins: I’m working on the revision of my opera, “Dark River.” I got a grant from Opera America to downsize it and have a workshop performance once the revisions are completed. An exact date for its performance has not been set however, it will happen sometime in June of 2022.