Crosswinds News Features Anjelica Lindsey with feature: “Cherokee composer Anjelica Lindsey makes history giving voice to the ‘Oklahoma woman’”
Anjelica Lindsey is featured in a new story from Crosswinds News, a Native-focused newsroom covering communities, culture and issues across Indian Country.
Read the full feature at Crosswinds News
Written by Russell Sun Eagle, a Pawnee Nation citizen and Report for America corps member, the August 30 feature, “Cherokee composer Anjelica Lindsey makes history giving voice to the ‘Oklahoma woman,’” looks at Lindsey’s path from violinist to composer and recording artist, and the ideas behind her Oklahoma Woman Quartet.
Anjelica Lindsey and Oklahoma Woman Ensemble at All Souls Unitarian Church on March 1, 2025
Sun Eagle is a multimedia journalist with Crosswinds News whose work focuses on Native communities and stories in Oklahoma. He studied Cinematic Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts and is also known for his work in documentary filmmaking and podcasting. His reporting has included stories about Native artists, storytellers, community organizations, tribal affairs and cultural preservation.
In his feature on Lindsey, Sun Eagle traces the musical environment she grew up around, her beginning on violin at age 11, her years performing in orchestras and her continuing composition studies through Juilliard Extension. The story also follows the development of Oklahoma Woman Quartet, an 11-song cycle for voice and string quartet that explores the “Oklahoma woman” as an American archetype and perspective shaped by the histories of Indian Territory and Oklahoma.
The article comes at an important point in Lindsey’s work. Oklahoma Woman Quartet was premiered in Tulsa in 2025, and its full-length recording was released this summer. The work will continue into a major fall season, including Lindsey’s October 2–3 symphonic debut in Houston and a Tulsa Performing Arts Center Brown Bag It performance on October 7.
The Crosswinds feature also highlights Lindsey’s current focus on incorporating the Cherokee language into contemporary classical music, including upcoming performances of works for Cherokee-language soprano and string quartet.
“I’m really excited to get that language integration in my compositions out there,” Lindsey told Crosswinds.
Read the full story by Russell Sun Eagle at Crosswinds News:
“Cherokee composer Anjelica Lindsey makes history giving voice to the ‘Oklahoma woman’”
Thank you to Russell Sun Eagle and the Crosswinds News team for taking the time to tell this story and for giving space to contemporary Native classical music, Cherokee language and the ideas behind Oklahoma Woman Quartet.
