Arriving in New York , Gauthier struggled to find a niche in an already crowded music scene . She put on a performance in Vaudeville entitled Songmotion , which combined Javan music with dancers . New York was already home to many North American and European musical performers , so Gauthier focused on her Javan musical repertoire , which she combined with knowledge and skill in modernist western singing . Gauthier began giving annual recitals at Aeolian Hall , and in November 1917 her performance there caught the eye of many leading composers . She developed her own reputation quickly , known as a " ... sensitive purveyor of interesting , untried songs " . She gave renditions of three songs by Maurice Ravel . Her performance then also included American premieres of Stravinsky 's Three Japanese Lyrics and Griffes ' Five Poems of Ancient China and Japan . The performance was a great success , and she began to receive invitations to perform premieres of songs by contemporary composers . Stravinsky arranged to have Gauthier to premiere all of his vocal pieces .