Whistling Hens

About the Artist

Whistling Hens was founded by soprano Jennifer Piazza-Pick and clarinetist Natalie Groom to perform and commission music by women composers and create a financially and artistically equitable future for women in music. The duo hatched at the centennial of a quote by a male music critic who said of Lili Boulanger in 1918, "women composers are at best whistling hens.” From 2018 to 2022, Whistling Hens has commissioned twelve works, seven transcriptions, and a women composer coloring book, as well as given fifteen premieres. Their work invites listeners to reflect on the impact male privilege has had on traditional music programming and question the status quo of gender inequality in the classical music community. Whistling Hens has been awarded Chamber Music America's esteemed Classical Commissioning Grant (2022) with composer Kate Soper, as well as CMA's Residency Partnership Program Grant (2020), which brought a series of interactive, collaborative, and socially conscious programs to seniors at Collington Retirement Community during the pandemic. The Hens have been awarded numerous other grants and have performed and presented at universities, festivals, and conferences around the country.

Artist's Statement

Whistling Hens is a soprano and clarinet duo that performs music by women composers. Most of the Hens' programming is classical music but also includes contemporary classical, folk, and jazz. Programs are typically 60-75 minute programs no intermission, with about 85% of the time spent playing and the rest of the time between pieces spent teaching people about the music, explaining weird or new sounds they might hear, and sharing about who the women composers are so that audience members walk away from the show being able to name at least one female composer.