AS VICE-PRESIDENT of classical music publisher G. Schirmer, Inc., Susan Feder '76 enjoys an unusual perspective on world history. The affairs of nations and individuals often inspire composers, who need music publishers to protect their works. At Schirmer, Feder oversees and nurtures a collection of artists with such credits as Music for Prague 1968, From the Diary of Anne Frank, and X (The Life and Times of Malcolm X).
"It's fascinating to see the choices people make," observes Feder. "Aaron Kernis's Second Symphony was a response to the Gulf War. Bright Sheng's H'un was a memorial to the Cultural Revolution in China, which he lived through."
Through her work, Feder had an on-the-scene role in this summer's handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule. She found herself there because the Association for Celebration of Reunification of Hong Kong commissioned Schirmer composer Tan Dun to write music to be played at handover events, with a full premiere several days later. A native of China who now lives in the U.S., Tan created a 65-minute work called Symphony 1997 (Heaven Earth Mankind) that featured cellist Yo-Yo Ma, a children's choir, orchestra, and "bianzhong"--a set of 64 Chinese bells made 2,400 years ago.
"I negotiated the contract with the association on the composer's behalf and oversaw the production and promotion issues. Schirmer was the hub of a very complicated wheel," notes Feder.
The wheel had numerous spokes, each a major project. Live excerpts from the work were to be played just after the handover, on the morning of July 1, with prerecorded excerpts played at a sound-and-light show that night. Tan would then conduct the world premiere on July 4, followed by a repeat performance the next night at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. On July 5, Sony Classics released the Symphony 1997 CD to capitalize on the intense media interest in Tan and the handover.
Ominous articles in the American press about the handover ratcheted up the tension level as Feder juggled artistic, promotional, legal, and logistical challenges. The thorough preparation paid off, however, once Feder arrived in Hong Kong. "Because of the five-day holiday there and the fact that conductors are better looked after than composers, I actually had less to do than usual," she says. The pace eased and she could experience the historical moment, one marked by "a tremendous national pride and optimism" by Hong Kong residents that contrasted sharply with the gloomy American view. "On the night of June 30, Tan Dun, Yo-Yo Ma, and I were partying at the Regent Hotel watching the handover on a TV monitor," she recalls.
The reception of the music gave Feder a great sense of accomplishment. Its mix of modern and traditional elements enthralled the audience, and capped a development process that Feder and her colleagues have nurtured for five years, ever since Schirmer signed Tan when he was a graduate student at Columbia University, "creating music unlike anything we had heard before."
Participating in the handover was the latest musical interlude for Feder. Trained in violin as a child, she majored in music and the European Cultural Studies program at Princeton. She taught music for a year in Rome, then did graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Feder began working as program editor for the San Francisco Symphony in 1979, hired by Mi-chael Steinberg '49 *51 when he became the symphony's artistic adviser. She became editorial coordinator of the New Grove Dictionary of American Music in 1981. In 1986 she joined Schirmer as director of promotion and became vice-president two years later.
The confluence of work and history began soon after. Because Schirmer had a contract with the Soviet copyright agency, VAAP, Feder was able to visit Russia and Armenia in 1988, during the heady days of glasnost. Accompanying Schirmer composer John Adams and others, she found Russian musicians felt free to discuss their work openly with foreign colleagues. She could see the nation changing, noting, "Later, I watched the breakup of the Soviet Union through the perspective of its leading composers." As an example, she cites Giya Kancheli, a Georgian now living in Europe, whose recent works have titles suggesting the difficulties he has endured: Life Without Christmas, Left So I Would Not Have to See, and Land Without Color.
Enveloped by classical and popular music in Schirmer's New York offices all day, Feder herself has eclectic tastes, preferring "good music of all kinds," from jazz to Indian music. She is married to Todd Gordon, a lawyer and legal publisher; they have two children. The family lives in Irvington, New York, where they are restoring a 150-year-old carriage house.
--Van Wallach '80