Join us for an intimate performance by Duo F.A.E: Violinist Charlene Kluegel and Pianist Katherine Petersen in the living room of the historic Schweikher House.

Dissidents of the Gilded Age 

In the restrictive sphere of the Victorian era, a woman was expected to have one goal in life: to marry, and thus be confined to the interests of her home, her husband, and his career. The salons, as gathering places for women, became an important and powerful venue for artistic expression and the exchange of ideas outside of the home. It is from these drawing rooms and salons that the suffragette movement was developed and organized. Dame Ethel Smyth (UK) and Amy Marcy Beach (US), two of the most groundbreaking female composers of the late 19th and early 20th century both came into contact with the suffragette movement in these salons. Dame Ethyl Smyth was the most involved in the movement, becoming equally famous as a representative of the suffragette and a musician. Amy Beach, who later in life became an active suffragette, became a symbol for how women could succeed out in society, frequently rebutting claims that women could not compose. Smyth’s and Beach’s popularity in Europe and North America is the musical representation of the immense international efforts to introduce women’s suffrage in the 20th century. Dissidents of the Gilded Age honors the women who fought for women’s suffrage around the world, and who made it possible for Kluegel and Petersen to have artistic voices today. Global universal suffrage has nearly been fully achieved in 2021, and this project celebrates the realization of these women’s dreams.

Doors open 2:30, performance at 3pm. Light refreshments will be served.