When Sylvia Foodim Glickman (B.S. '54, M.S. '55) left Juilliard with two degrees in piano performance, she didn't know it was with a mission to champion the works of women composers. The advice of her teacher and mentor, Beveridge Webster, to "find your own voice" was to inform her choices throughout her life, but discovering that voice was a process that took years and continues today.

Glickman's time at Juilliard, and specifically her training with Webster, had a profound effect on her career beyond performance. "A young person looking at colleges generally looks for an all-around school," she explains, "but when you consider conservatories, you look for a master teacher." Beveridge Webster, she says, was "the kind of teacher who taught you to think. All of his students played differently, and he encouraged that." Webster's influence was with her when, as a Fulbright scholar at the Royal Academy of Music in London, she decided to take a composition course with Harold Craxton. Her first work, a suite for cello and piano, won the Hecht Prize in Composition.

Sylvia Glickman Photo by Jonathan Wilson, The Philadelphia Inquirer

After her studies, Glickman performed internationally, continued to compose, and added teaching and research to her list of accomplishments. She has held positions at the New England Conservatory of Music, Franklin and Marshall College, and Haverford College (where she was pianist-in-residence and directed the chamber music program). She also married political science professor Harvey Glickman and raised three children. (They met en route to London for fellowships—hers in music, his in economics—and were married in 1956.) Glickman encouraged her children to find their own voices: all three studied music and have a deep appreciation for it, but made diverse career choices: sculptor/painter, lawyer, and doctor.

Glickman's focus on the music of women composers came about gradually, but seems inevitable; in many ways it is the culmination of all her interests. As a performer, she became curious about compositions by women and interested in playing them. As a composer, she came to understand the obstacles women face as they try to earn recognition in the industry. Her schooling had never shed any light on the subject: "Only one woman composer, Amy Beach, was even mentioned while I was at Juilliard."

Glickman came to realize that women got "short shrift" as composers—and with her family grown, discovered she had the time and inclination to do something about it. She learned to use a computer, took a series of four sessions on starting a small business offered at the Wharton Business School, and proceeded to found Hildegard Publishing (named for the 12th-century German composer, nun, writer, and visionary Hildegard von Bingen) on a shoestring budget from her home. Two years went into the preparation and planning: deciding what to publish and how, and compiling direct mailing lists (her only method of advertising at the beginning).

The first seven titles were printed in 1990—and 800 pieces of music were sold in the first three months. (Those included three antiphons of Hildegard von Bingen; a sonata by 18th-century pianist Marianna d'Auenbrugg; two sets of teaching pieces by Amy Beach; a volume of 17 piano pieces by American women composers from 1865-1915; works by 19th-century Polish pianist Maria Szymanowska; and Marcia Kravis's The Velveteen Rabbit, a children's musical play geared to the lower grades.)

Glickman herself prepared the masters for the initial print run, rented a duplexing copier, and bought a GBC binder. Finding herself swamped after "a few hairy weeks," she began sending out the masters to a copy shop that could save files and reprint on demand. (She still uses the original shop but has switched to staple binding, preferred by the libraries that form a large part of her customer base.)

It soon became apparent that the company filled a great need. Twelve new works were added the second year, including a few more contemporary composers. Hildegard's catalog today contains more than 500 entries (encompassing solo music for piano and other intruments; chamber music; choral music; and orchestral music) and is still growing. In October 2002, the Theodore Presser Company took over distribution for Hildegard Publishing, yet another mark of Glickman's success.

"There has been a historic 'old-boy' network, whereby older composers promote younger (traditionally male) composers. There is a way to go before women can link into this."

As dedicated as she is to helping women composers, Glickman is careful to publish music of only the highest quality. Doing otherwise, she says, would be a disservice to the music world (and the composers themselves). She receives about 100 unsolicited proposals each year, from living composers and from musicologists researching historical ones. Glickman and her senior editor (a musicologist) evaluate all music together, looking for well-crafted and memorable pieces: "For historical composers, we look for someone who was important in her period, practiced her craft well, and had an influence on others. The fact that her music survived indicates that she had contemporary supporters. For contemporary composers, we don't have the luxury of 'the test of time,' but we look for a connection to the history of the discipline, as well as something that stays with us after the initial hearing, demanding to be heard again."

Glickman says her ultimate goal is "to do [herself] out of a job," as more women composers' work enters the mainstream. Although there has been much progress, a great deal more needs to be made: "Lots of women study composition, but they have difficulty getting the promotion they need. There has been a historical 'old-boy' network, whereby older composers promote younger (traditionally male) composers. There is a way to go before women can link into this." Glickman is doing what she can to help. A recent offshoot of Hildegard Publishing is the Hildegard Institute, a nonprofit organization that sponsors research and concerts by the Hildegard Chamber Players (founded by Glickman in 1991). The institute is also sponsoring a recording featuring three pieces composed by Glickman commemorating the Holocaust.

Sylvia Glickman's advice to young artists is the same she received from Beveridge Webster in her student days. "If you want to try something, go for it. When you are in an artistic field, that is what you have to do and, if you fail, it is an experience you call upon as you grow." Glickman has found her own voice—and, in the process, has helped many other women find theirs.