 |
celebrating three hundred years of music by women |
(if the location of the music is known, the entry concludes with a Publisher or email address) 
AMANDA ALDRIDGE (1866-1956)British opera singer, teacher, and composer under the name Montague Ring. Predominantly in the then-fashionable romantic parlour style, her nearly 30 songs (1907-1924) were extremely popular in Europe in the early twentieth century; her publishers included Chappell & Co, Boosey & Co, and Ricordi. She had a long performing career, and taught such singers as Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. She was the daughter of the African-American Shakesperian actor Ira Aldridge (1807-1867). Titles of the songs include: Azalea; Bagdad Suite; The Fickle Sogster; Four Moorish Pictures; Three African Dances; Two Little Southern Songs. There were also works for chamber orchestra. Youtube has some listed under Montague Ring. Northwestern University Library has some of her manuscripts in their Special Collections. 
ELFRIDA ANDRÉE (1841-1929)Swedish; she was the first woman organist and telegraphist in Sweden, the first to compose chamber and orchestral music and the first to conduct a symphony orchestra. She used her influence to revise a law enabling women to hold the office of organist, and in 1861 was employed as an organist in Stockholm. She was a typical feminist, and her motto was 'the education of womankind'. She composed over 100 works, in the style of contemporary Scandinavian composers incorporating influences by Schumann and Mendelssohn. Works include: Piano Quintet in e minor; Piano Quartet in a minor; 2 String Quartets; 2 Piano Trios; 2 Violin Sonatas; 2 Organ Symphonies; 2 Masses; various songs. web - swedish musical heritage; musicroom.com; editionsilvertrust.com; di-arezzo.co.uk 
SALLY BEAMISH (b1956)British composer and violist; in 1990 she moved to Scotland to develop her career as a composer, later returning to the South. Her music embraces many influences, particularly jazz and Scottish traditional music, and is performed and broadcast internationally. She has written for such soloists as Stephen Isserlis, Tabea Zimmerman and Colin Currie, and her music is championed by the BIS label. She was one of the PRS 20x12 Cultural Olympiad composers and was Composer of the Week in February 2012 on BBC Radio 3. Her commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden, premièred in September 2013 was commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Works include: Songs & Blessings, 1991, from the Ambache Recordings Seven Sisters CD; The Wedding at Cana (strg 6tt, 1991); Monster, (opera, 2002). Little Morag (children's choir, 2007); Reed Stanzas (Proms, 2010); 5 Poems from the Forest, (narrator & strg 5tt, 2011); Dance Variations (Percussion Conc No 2, 2011); Spinal Chords (2012); Variations of a Theme of Benjamin Britten (2013). Hive, harp & orch (2020). A Christmas Carol, (2025). Contact: email - sfbeamish@btinternet.com web - www.sallybeamish.com; Awuya film about sleeping sickness on youtube 
ANTONIA BEMBO (1643-1715)Italian; she studied with Francesco Cavalli, and sang for Louis XIV in Paris; he awarded her a pension. Her music dates from 1697 to after 1707, and includes sacred and secular vocal compositions, which she dedicated to Louis XIV and other members of the royal family. Her music is notable for fine vocal writing, clever word painting, attractive dissonances, and some quirky instrumental writing. Works include: chamber pieces on Italian, French and Latin texts; two Te Deums; a 5 voiced Italian Serenata; Motets; a setting of Psalm XIX; opera Ercole amante (1707; CD CPO 5557282); and Les Sept Psaumes de David; (1707). Furore-verlag.de. (2 CDs La Donna Musicale). Book: Desperate Measures, The Life and Music of Antonia Padoani Bembo, Claire Fontijn, 2006, OUP. Further information contact: La Donna Musicale: email ladonna@ladm.org. web - www.classicalm.com/en/composer/1566/Antonia-Bembo 
MEL BONIS (1858-1937)French; her family had no interest in music, and married her into a life in bourgeois society. However, she studied with César Franck and won Conservatoire prizes. She wrote prolifically and her music often has colourful titles. Among the orchestral works are Los Gitanos, 1904, and Suite Orientale Op 48 (1900). Chamber works include several pieces for the flute combined with one or two other instruments. There are a large number of pieces for the piano, several having titles with Greek references. Works include: Suite en forme de Valse Op 35 to Op 38/2; Fantaisie for Piano et Orchestre Op 72/2; Septet Op 72/1, Cello Sonata Op 67; Violin Sonata Op 112; Piano Quartet Op 124; solo piano: from Impromptu 1881 to Le Songe de Cléopâtre Op 180/1, 1909; songs range from Sur la Plage 1884, to Chanson catalane Op 137, 1931; her choral music illustrates her religious interest: Messe a capella, Op 164, and Ave verum Op 166/1. Scores published by Furore-verlag.de, Edition Kossack, and Durand-Salabert-Eschig. Many of her works have been recorded: see Mel Bonis Association. Ambache Recordings Liberté, Egalité, Sororité has Scènes de la Forêt for flute, horn & piano (1907; Robb/Dilley/Ambache). web - www.mel-bonis.com 
DOREEN CARWITHEN (1922-2003)English; she won all the composition prizes at the Royal Academy of Music, and was the first composer chosen from the RAM for the J. Arthur Rank Apprentice Scheme in 1947 to study film music. She wrote the music for 35 films; in 1947 her Concerto for Piano and Strings, was the only work by a woman performed at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in London; (Faber Music). Her second String Quartet won a Cobbett Award in 1952. Carwithen was secretary and then wife to William Alwyn (1905-1985). She wrote the Suffolk Suite for Framlingham College to perform when royalty came to open their new concert hall. Her music has been recorded on Chandos Records, Somm Recordings, and Lyrita. Works include: String Quartet No 1 (1945); One Damn Thing After Another (1947); Concerto for Piano & Strings (1948); Bishop Rock (1952); String Quartet No 2 (1952); Five Diversions for Wind Quintet (1953); Suffolk Suite (1964). Contact: Info from William Alwyn Foundation: +44 (0)1480 456 931; WAF publications. Review Musicweb International. 
CÉCILE CHAMINADE (1857-1944)French; best known for her tuneful, romantic character pieces and mélodies; many were inspired by dance, notably the Scarf Dance (1888). In 1908 she wrote an article for Étude magazine entitled 'How to play my best known pieces'. By marrying a publisher, her works were widely available, and can now be found on Furore.verlag.de, Silvertrust Edition, enoch-editions.com and Dover Edition piano music. Her American tours made her so popular that numerous Chaminade Clubs were formed to showcase her work. On visits to London she was a welcome guest with Queen Victoria, who awarded her the Jubilee Medal in 1897. Her two Piano Trios were Op 11 in G minor (1881) and A minor, Op 34 (1887), which combine delicate lyricism with powerful energy, and illustrate she was not only a charmer. She was the first woman to be awarded the French Légion d'Honneur (1913). Her music is attractive and accessible; larger works include the dramatic symphony Les Amazones, and the mythological ballet Callirhoë, 1888. She wrote the Concertino, Op 107, for the flute Concours exam at the Paris Conservatoire 1902. Her CD recordings have been issued by Hyperion, Deutsche Grammophon, Brilliant Classics and ASV. The scholarly biography by Marcia Citron (b1945) was published originally by Greenwood Press in 1988 (now Bloomsbury Academic). review - Musicweb International. 
REBECCA CLARKE (1886-1979)English; as one of the first female professional viola players, Henry Wood selected her to play in The Queen's Hall Orchestra in 1912. As a composer, she is best known for her chamber music, most particularly her Viola Sonata, which won a competition sponsored by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge in 1919; the dark tone colours make it an emotionally intense work, with thick harmonies and complex rhythms. Her Piano Trio (1921) is another powerful work; Coolidge also sponsored her longest work, the Rhapsody for cello and piano (1923). Her String Quartet has a particularly expressive slow movement. Among her 52 songs are settings of Yeats, such as Shy One (1912); 'The Seal Man' is an atmospheric, declamatory setting of Masefield (1922). The weightiest of her 11 choral pieces is 'Psalm XCI'; Shelley's 'Music, When Soft Voices Die' is also notable. She has been called the best female composer of the inter-war years. Publication difficulties made her uncertain about a woman doing this; now her work is published by OUP, Hildegard.com and Boosey & Hawkes. CDs are on Naxos, Lyrita, Signum Classics and Somm Recordings. Works include: Morpheus (1918); Viola Sonata (1919); Chinese Puzzle (1921); Piano Trio (1921); Rhapsody (1923); Dumka (1941); Music, When Soft Voices Die (1907); A Lover's Dirge (Shakespeare; 1908); song The Seal Man (1922). Contact: Rececca Clarke Society contact web - www.rebeccaclarke.org 
MADELEINE DRING (1923-1977)English composer and actress; her music was typically light and entertaining. She loved music and theatre equally, and brought these enthusiasms together in incidental music for the stage, where she frequently sang and played the piano. As well as writing a good deal of instrumental and vocal music, she also composed an opera and a dance drama, and music for film and television. Published by Boosey & Hawkes, Thames Music, Emerson Music and Josef Weinberger; there are several recordings. Works include: Three Fantastic Variations on Lillibulero, 1948. Festival Scherzo, 1951. Airs on a Shoe String, 1953. Danza Gaya, 1965. Trio for flute, oboe and piano (1968) on the Ambache Recordings Seven Sisters CD. Five Betjeman Songs, 1976. Seven Shakespeare Songs. The opera Cupboard Love is on Classical Vocal Reprints. Ro Hancock-Child (b1957) wrote about her: Madeleine Dring, her Music, her Life, goodreads. CDs: Complete Oboe Music. Cabaret Songs of Madeleine Dring. Scores: Thames, Ricordi, Alfred Lengnick, Hal Leonard, Emerson Edition, Joseph Weinberger 
SOPHIE DUNÉR (b1969) Swedish; she studied with Hal Crook, Tom McGagh & Mili Bermejo at Berklee College of Music & Stockhausen Music Course. Her music may be described as a blend of the romantic and the spiritually elevated with a dissonant, bold and satirical edge, having her roots in jazz. As producer Michael Haas (b1954) has it: "It's not fusion, it's Dúneresque - a newly created genre!" Influenced by Stravinsky's jazz period and also compared to Tim Burton (b1958). The City of My Soul includes 20 songs. She is a four-time award winner from The Arts Council in Sweden. Works include: The City of Dizzy (2017); The City of My Dreams (2009); Kairo (2007); Red Sailor Girl (2007); The Rain in Spain (2000); Captain Crunch (2000); The Multiple Useful (2000); Happy People (2000); Silent Revolution (1997); Jack the Ripper (1995). Further information contact: Sophie Dunér: email - Thecityofdizzy@gmail.com web - sophiedunermusic 
DOROTHY GOW (1893-1982)English; she studied with Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music and with Egon Wellesz in Vienna. Starting with the Fantasy String Quartet in 1932, the Macnaghten-Lemare concerts regularly included her chamber music, which was appreciated for its great beauty and individuality. Three Songs for Tenor and String Quartet received good reviews in 1934. Her <Prelude and Fugue (1931) for orchestra was broadcast by the BBC in the same year. Her best known work is the String Quartet in One Movement; it was first performed by the Aeolian Quartet in 1947 and published by OUP in 1957. Her last work to survive her own self-criticism was a Piece for Violin and Horn, broadcast by the BBC in 1972. Her music can be found in the British Music Collection. Her Oboe Quintet (1936) was revived on a 2006 Oboe Classics recording by George Caird (b1950). An enthusiastic listener wrote "Dorothy Gow produced an overwhelming torrent of fabulous harmony and intricate sound patterns that suddenly made complete sense of serial music." Score in British Library. Here's part of the Quintet Moderato, on this recording Gow, from the collection on the CD An English Renaissance. 
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA (1931-2025)Russian; she is a profoundly religious person, much influenced by J S Bach, Webern and Jung. She has received numerous awards, including in 2013 being the recipient of the Biennale de Venezia 'Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for the Music'. She has written scores of scores, including film scores; in other work, she frequently uses unusual combinations of instruments. Her music is now much published, recorded and commissioned, and she was given the Gold Medal in the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards in November 2019. Sikorski, Zen-On, G Schirmer, and Hal Leonard publish her music. Works include: Offertorium, Violin Conc, 1980. Zeitgestalten, (Figures of time, orch) 1994. Stimmen .... Verstummen, Symph, 1986. Cantata The Canticle of the Sun of St Francis of Assisi (vc, chamber choir & perc, 1997. St Johannes Passion, soli, choirs & orch, 2000. 4 String Quartets and numerous other chamber works. web - www.bruceduffie.com/gubaidulina.html and Boosey.com. 
JULIANA HALL (b1958),American; she studied with Dominick Argento, Martin Bresnick, Leon Kirchner, and Frederic Rzewski. Known primarily as an Art Song composer, Hall's music has been widely performed in many countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and broadcast on BBC, NPR, Radio France, Radio MonaLisa, and Radio Arts Indonesia. Hall received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1989 and among her commissions are two from the Schubert Club of St. Paul, Minnesota for song cycles for soprano Dawn Upshaw (b1960) and baritone David Malis (b1957). Dedicated to setting texts, her works include many song cycles: Night Dances (1987); Letters from Edna (1989); Peacock Pie (1989); Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush (1989); Winter Windows (1989); Fables for a Prince (1990); Death's Echo (1992); Propriety (1992); Two Birds (1995); Love's Pilgrimage (2000); One Art (2003); Seeker of Truth (2006); The Poets (2007); Songs of Innocence (2009); Upon This Summer's Day (2010). Instrumental compositions: Ding Dong Bell (2007); A Certain Tune (2009); Crucifixus (2010); Orpheus Singing (2010); Two-Bit Variations (2010); The Ballad of Barnaby (2011); and The Dream of the Rood (2011); Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (2020, Wallace Stevens). CD recordings are on Albany-Troy, MSR Classics, Blue Griffin and Stone Records. Contact: email - JH@JulianaHall.com; web - www.JulianaHall.com Scores: ECS Publishing. 
VÍTZĚSLAVA KAPRÁLOVÁ (1915-1940) Czech; studied in Brno, Prague and Paris; Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959) was an important teacher and friend. Stylistically she mixed a concise polytonality with her own melancholic melodic expression. She conducted the BBC SO in her Military Sinfonietta at the 1938 International Society of Contemporary Music Festival in London. She composed an extraordinary amount in her 25-year life. Her work is published by Schott-Music.com; Koch International, Centauer, and Grand Piano have recordings of her music. Works include: January (1933); Piano Concerto in D minor, Op 7 (1935); Suite en miniature (1935); Military Sinfonietta, Op 11 (1937); Ilena, Op 15 (1938); Trio for Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon (1938); Waving Farewell (1938); Suita Rustica, Op 19 (1938); Partita for Piano & String Orchestra, Op 20 (1939); Concertino for Violin, Clarinet & Orchestra, Op 21 (1939). Contact: email - society@kapralova.org; web - www.kapralova.org. Book The Kaprálová Companion, by Karla Hartl & Erik Entwistle. 
NICOLA LEFANU (b1947) English composer; she has composed over 100 works, which are widely played, broadcast and recorded; her music is published by Novello and Edition Peters. She has been commissioned by the BBC and international festivals. Her catalogue includes vocal and chamber music and nine operas. She was Professor of Music at the University of York from 1994 to 2008. Works include: Columbia Falls (orch, 1975); The Old Woman of Beare (Sop & Ensemble, 1981); Blood Wedding (opera, 1992); 3 String Quartets (1988, 1996, 2010); Rossetti Songs (women's voices, 2008); Dream Hunter (opera, 2011).Wind-blown Seeds (Str Orch, 2012). Hokaido Road< (opera, 2014). The Crimson Bird (sop & orchestra) 2016. In the Forests of the Night, 2020 (saxophone & orchestra). Here's part of her Variations for Oboe Quartet (1968) LeFanu, from the collection on the CD Janet Craxton. Contact through the web - www.nicolalefanu.com 
ELISABETH LUTYENS (1906-1983) English composer who published 160 works, many with University of York Music Press. These include 13 string quartets; Number 6 shows rhythmic freedom and independence of parts. She developed 12-note technique in O saisons, o châteaux!, Op 13, (1946). Her autobiography A Goldfish Bowl was published in London in 1972. As well as other chamber works (Quincunx 1959), and orchestral music (Vision of Youth, 1970), she composed 3 full-length operas (Time Off? Not a Ghost of a Chance! Die Befristeten; Isia and Osiris, 1967-1970). Martin Smith (b1962) has recorded 3 CDs of her piano works for Resonus Classics. Scores UYMP. Contact through the web - Lutyens Trust. 
CECILIA McDOWALL (b1951) Cecilia McDowall has been described by the International Record Review as having 'a communicative gift that is very rare in modern music'. Commissions include one from the BBC (for the winner of the BBC Radio 3 2008 Choir of the Year) and works for the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia. She has written much choral music which is performed worldwide as well as orchestral and chamber music. Her works are regularly broadcast on BBC radio and readily available on CD. Her Three Latin Motets have been recorded by the renowned Phoenix Chorale (Chandos 5066); this recording, Spotless Rose, won a Grammy award (2009) and was nominated for Best Classical Album. She was composer in residence at Dulwich College and has been signed by Oxford University Press as an Oxford composer. 2014 Commissions included a work for the BBC Singers, Westminster Cathedral and a new chamber opera on the subject of WW1, Airborne. She won the British Composers Award 2014 for choral music with Night Flight. In 2020, she received the Ivor Novello Award for 'outstanding music collection' for a 'consistently excellent body of work'. Works include: Le Temps Viendra (1998) on the Ambache Recordings Seven Sisters CD; Great Hills vn/2 fl/str, (2007); Playground (1999); 4 Shakespeare Songs sop/strgs (1999); A Fancy of Folksongs (2003); A Canterbury Mass (2007); Deep Waters childrens opera; Go Fish (2000). Published scores OUP & Gemini publications. Contact: email - mcdowall@ceciliamcdowall.co.uk; web - www.ceciliamcdowall.co.uk or www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/alumni profile McDowall 
HÉLÈNE de MONTGEROULT (1764-1836) Hélène de Montgeroult was one of the best keyboard players of her time; as a composer she is considered to be the bridge between Mozart and Chopin.. Part of an upper-middle-class family; when imprisoned in 1793, reportedly she escaped being guillotined by improvising on La Marseillaise, bringing the tribunal judge to tears. Montgeroult was a friend of Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824) and taught Johann Baptiste Cramer (1771-1858). Until 1820 she hosted a Salon in which Ignaz Moscheles (1894-1870) played in 1821. Appointed in 1795, she was the first female professeure de première classe (piano) at the Paris Conservatoire. She wrote Sonates and her Cours complet pour l'enseignement du fortpiano comprenant 114 études is still influencing French pedagogy, by being on the Conservatoire syllabus. Videos Études on Youtube. web: Clare Hammond CD on BIS. IMSLP: Cours complet. Score: Sonate, Op 2 Hildegard.com. Book: Jérôme Dorival: Symétrie: La Marquise et la Marseillaise Article: Hélène de Montgeroult and the art of singing well on the piano; University of Nebraska Press. 
THEA MUSGRAVE (b1928) Scottish composer; she studied with Hans Gal (1890-1987) and Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). She has written over a dozen operas and theatre works, many taking historical figures as their central characters. Her output covers a wide range, from full-length stage works to simple a cappella choral motets, from brass band music to educational piano duets. She has been commissioned by the Royal Opera House Covent Gardern, Scottish Opera, and the Los Angeles Music Center Opera. Her music is published by Chester, Novello, and Schirmer, and there are recordings on the Lyrita and NMC labels. She has received the Koussevitsky Award (1974) and 2 Guggenheim Fellowships (1974-75 & 1982-83). She was awarded a CBE in 2002. The world première performance of Musgrave's Trumpet Concerto received The South Bank Sky Arts Award in 2020. Works include: Chamber Concertos (1962, 1966, 1967); Concerto for Orchestra (1967); Mary, Queen of Scots (1977); Christmas Carol (1979); The Last Twilight (1980); Harriet, a Woman called Moses (1984); Pierrot (1985); Echoes Through Time (1988); The Seasons (1988); Song of the Enchanter (1990); Wild Winter (1993); Simón Bolívar (1992); 5 Songs for Spring (2011); Trumpet Concerto (2019). Publisher contact: email - promotion@musicsales.co.uk; web - www.TheaMusgrave.com or www.schirmer.com/composers/musgrave 
JULIA PERRY (1924-1979) American composer and teacher; Perry combined her classical and neo-classical training with her African-American heritage, having studied at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, and at the Juilliard School of Music. Her teachers included Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) and Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975), and she was awarded 2 Guggenheim Fellowships (1954, 1956). She studied conducting at the Accadamia Chigiana in Siena in 1956 and 1957, was a visiting Artist at Atlanta College, and taught in Tallahassee. Her music is noted for its use of dissonance and unusual rhythmic techniques. Her Stabat Mater of 1951, for contralto and string orchestra, incorporates dissonance within a tonal setting. Of her 4 operas, the 3-act The Slypmlegades was based on the 17th century Salem witchcraft panic. Her Requiem for Orchestra is also known as Hommage to Vivaldi, as the themes were inspired by Vivaldi. The 1960 Homunculus C. F. is scored for 8 percussion instruments, harp, and celeste/piano, and refers to the miniature human form. Free at last, and I'm a Poor Li'l Orphan incorporate black spiritual music. Much of her music is published by Galaxy Music Corporation, Hildegard.com, and Carl Fischer Music, and Peermusic Classical. Works include: Is there anybody there? (1947); Ruth (1950); The Selfish Giant (1964); Symphony No 6 (1966). Black Women Composers, Mildred Denby Green (1983); Twayne Publishers, Boston, USA. Towards a work list for Julia Perry Kendrah Leonard. 
JOCELYN POOK (b1960) British composer and violist; Jocelyn is one of the UK's most versatile composers having written for stage, screen, opera house and concert hall. She has established an international reputation as a highly original and versatile composer, winning numerous awards and nominations including an Olivier and two British Composer Awards. Pook is perhaps best known for her score to Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, which won a Chicago Film Award and a Golden Globe nomination. Pook graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1983, where she studied the viola. She then embarked on a period of touring and recording with artists such as Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, Laurie Anderson and PJ Harvey. Since then, Pook has also worked with some of the world s leading directors, musicians, artists and arts institutions - including Martin Scorsese, Royal Opera House, BBC Proms and English National Ballet. She tours extensively with The Jocelyn Pook Ensemble, performing repertoire from her albums and music from her film scores, and has chaired and been a judge on various panels including the British Composer Awards, Ivor Novello Awards and BBC Proms Young Composers Competition. Works include: Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Portraits in Absentia (1999), Time Out (L'Emploi du Temps, 2001), Gangs of New York (2003), Speaking in Tunes (2003), The Merchant of Venice (2004), The Government Inspector (2005), Brick Lane (2007). Wonderland (2007/14) on the Ambache Recordings Seven Sisters CD; Ingerland (2010), Desh (2012), Hearing Voices (2012), iTMOi (2013), Trees, Walls, Cities (2013), Drawing Life (2014), Lest We Forget (2014). In 2018, Pook won a BAFTA for the 2017 TV film version of the stage play King Charles III. Contact: email - info@jocelynpook.com; web - www.jocelynpook.com 
ZENOBIA POWELL PERRY (1908-2004) American composer, pianist, organist and teacher. University: a number of historically black colleges and universities. Her music incorporates some jazz and folk influences into a classical language. Reflecting the social and geographical setting of the Underground Railroad in the 1850s, her 1987 opera Tawawa House was revived in 2014 by Townsend Opera; the House was where freed and runaway slaves lived and worked. She received many Awards, and her music has been performed by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and the Detroit Symphony. Zenobia Powell Perry Scores and Music Manuscripts are at Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, Chicago. Works for orchestra, bands, and a Mass. Samantha Ege recorded The Piano Music of Florence Price in 2021 (Resonus Classics); Deutsche Grammophon issued Symphonies 1 and 3 in 2022; Cambriamusic.com included various song cycles on their CD 1138. Randall Goosby (b1996) recorded the Violin Concertos for Decca Classics. 
RHIAN SAMUEL (b1944) Welsh composer and teacher; she was educated in Britain and the United States. She is Emeritus Professor at City University, London, where until 2009 she taught composition and supervised doctoral research into the music of women composers. She now teaches composition part-time at Magdalen College, Oxford. She co-edited with Julie Anne Sadie The Norton/New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers (1994). She co-edited The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. Her music is published by Stainer and Bell; the CD of Clytemnestra is on BIS; and a CD of her chamber music, Light and Water, is on the Deux-Elles label. Works include: orchestral music Elegy-Symphony (1980 for the St Louis Symphony Orchestra); Clytemnestra (1994; soprano & orchestra); Tirluniau/Landscapes (2000 BBC Proms - BBC National Orchestra of Wales); Tiruniau (Landscapes, 2000); Ribbions and Streamers (2019, flute, viola, harp). Contact: email - r.samuel@city.ac.uk; web - www.rhiansamuel.com & Stainer & Bell. 
SUSIE SELF (b1957) English; she studied with Stephen Dodgson, Alan Ridout and John Cage. Her works have been performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Brighton, Buxton and Barcelona Festivals, and on BBC Radios 3 and 4. She received a special commendation in the 2004 Nancy Van de Vate International Composition Prize for opera for her music theatre piece based on Jung's life. Works include: Heron (1999); What does a Wizard do? (2000); Heroic Women (2001); White Crane Spreads Wings (2001); The Vicar of Stiffkey (2003) Magnificat/Nunc Dimitis (2004); South Wind at Clear Dawn (2003); Great Wave; Amida Waterfall; 1st symphony (for soprano & symphony orchestra); Three John Drinkwater poems (2004); Memories, Dreams, Reflections (for mezzo & symphony orchestra; 2004); Fast (2020); Stabat Mater (2024). Contact: email - SelfmadeMusic@aol.com; web - selfmademusic.org 
MARIA SZYMANOWSKA (1789-1831) Polish pianist, composer, and teacher; in 1822 she was appointed court pianist to the Tsar of Russia in St Petersburg; she later toured extensively in Europe, and was one of the first professional virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. Her stile brillant typified the era preceding Chopin. She composed more than a hundred pieces, many of them short virtuoso works. Most were published in Leipzig by Breitkopf & Härtel. Hummel and Field dedicated piano pieces to her; Goethe is said to have fallen madly in love with her. Critics described her as a musician who defined romanticism in her compositions and her playing. Her piano Études, Nocturnes and Mazurkas were written some 6-8 years before those by Chopin. Hildegard.com publish several piano works. Works include: Caprice sur la Romance de Joconda (1819). 24 Mazurkas. Numerous short piano pieces (Mazurkas, Valses and Études), and songs; Sérènade for cello & piano (1830). CDs on Verlag Dohr CD, Ecstacy Records, and Grand Piano. web - Maria Szymanowska Society More web information - Polish greatness 
BARBARA THOMPSON (1944-2022) English composer and saxophonist; she had a classical training at the Royal College of Music, while also being inspired by the jazz work of Duke Ellington and John Coltrane. In 1977 she formed her own group Paraphernalia, which has toured and recorded extensively. She was awarded an MBE for services to music in 1995. Her performer's understanding of communicating with an audience gives her compositions a popular directness and dynamism. Works include: Concerto for Three Saxophones & Symphony Orchestra (23'; 1987); Love Songs in Age (50'; 1995); Rhythm of the Gods (50'; 1998); 3 Saxophone Quartets (2001-3); Journey to an Unknown Destination (50'; 2003); Theme & Variations on Mack the Knife, for alto sax & string quartet; Je Ne t'aime pas for sop sax & string quartet; Taking No Prisoners for bass marimba & grand piano ; (4'; 2003); Tuba Concerto; for E♭ Tuba & Big Band; (2004); Mirages Concerto No 2 for Saxophone Quartet & String Ensemble (2004); Skat, for Piano & Strings (14'; 2004). The Ambache Chamber Ensemble have recorded her Green, on the Oboe Classics CD Melodic Lines. Contact: email - bt@temple-music.com.; web - www.Temple-Music.com 
Dr SHIRLEY J THOMPSON, OBE (b1958) English composer, conductor and violinist of Jamaican descent. Thompson has composed a body of solo and instrumental works for the concert hall, as well as music for TV, films and the theatre. She began to focus on full scale orchestral work with New Nation Rising, A 21st Century Symphony; in 2004 it was performed and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, to celebrate one thousand years of London's history. In 2007 she was commissioned to write music for the opening of the Parliamentary exhibition The British Slave Trade; Abolition, Parliament and People. She has received many honours and awards for her work. Thompson was the first female executive of the Association of Professional Composers. She is Reader and Head of Composition and Performance at the University of Westminster. Works include - Orchestra: Viola Concerto, Oslo Odyssey; 100 days of Barack Obama; 3 Movements for Strings. Dance music: Push. Vocal Spirit of the Middle Passage. A New Nation Rising: A 21st Century London Symphony, 2004. PUSH, ballet, 2005, performed worldwide. The Heroines of Opera including Sacred Mountain Suite: Incidents in the Life of Queen Nanny of the Maroons; The Woman Who Refused to Dance; Women of the Windrush; Dido Elizabeth Belle. Chamber: Blue for You, solo cello & string quintet; String Quartet No 1. Instrumental: Blue Iris, solo cello. Web - Shirley J. Thompson 
ERROLLYN WALLEN (b1958) Born in Belize and moved to England aged 2. Her prolific output includes twenty operas, orchestral, vocal and chamber works. She composed a re-imagined Jerusalem for the Last Night of the Proms 2020. Faber published her book Becoming a Composer in 2023. In 2024 she was appointed Master of the King's Music; she is the first black woman to serve in this position. Her first orchestral commission was a Concerto for percussion and orchestra, written for percussionist Colin Currie (b1976) and premièred by him during the finals of the BBC Young Musician competition in 1994. Leeds Lieder 2023 commissioned the song cycle Night Thoughts for Dame Sarah Connolly (b 1963) and Joseph Middleton (b 1981). Wallen was appointed Master of the King's Music in 2024 by King Charles III, in his first appointment to the post; she is the first black woman to serve in the position. The BBC commissioned The Elements for the First Night of the Proms 2025. CD recordings of her music are available on NMC, Pentatone and Resonus Classics. Scores published by Peters Edition. Contact: email info@errollynwallen.com. Web Works. 
JUDITH WEIR (b1954) Scottish; her music has been commissioned, performed and broadcast internationally. As resident composer for the CBSO in the 1990s, whe wrote several works for chorus and orchestra. Folk music from the British Isles and beyond has influenced a group of string and piano compositions. She is the composer and librettist of several operas, such as A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987) and Miss Fortune (2011). She was visiting distinguished research professor in composition at Cardiff University from 2006 to 2009. Weir was appointed a CBE in 2005 and received the ISM Distinguished Musician Award in 2010. She served as Master of the Queen's Music from 2014 to 2024. In 2023 she was commissioned to compose Brighter Visions Shine Afar for the coronation of King Charles III. Works include: Missa del Cid (1988); The Vanishing Bridegroom (1990); Blond Eckbert (1993); Piano Concerto (1997); woman.life.song (2000); Bright Cecilia, Variations on a theme of Purcell (2002); Tiger Under the Table (2002); The Voice of Desire (2003); Piano Trio Two (2004); Wake your Wild Voice (2008); Magnificat & Nuc Dimitis (2011). Contact: email - judithweir.com Publisher - Chester Music 
MARGARET LUCY WILKINS (b1939) English; she was Principal Lecturer in Music at the University of Huddersfield from 1976 to 2003. She has received many awards, including a Scottish Arts Council Award for Composers, and an Arts Council of Great Britain Award for Young British Composers. Her works have been performed at International Festivals in many European countries, and in the USA and Canada. She displays a strong dramatic, gestural and visual approach to sound. Sonic architecture is a feature of her musical aesthetic; her music explores spatial elements. British Music Collection has several of her works. Works include: Struwwelpter (15'; 1973); Burnt Sienna: Etude for String Trio (11'; 1974); 366" for solo trombone (7'; 1986); Symphony (22'; 1989); Musica Angelorum (11'; 1991). Rituelle (7 mobile groups; 16'; 1999); Trompettes de Mort (4 brass & piano;10'; 2003) Contact: email - margaretlucywilkins@btinternet.com. web - Wilkins biography 
GRACE WILLIAMS (1906-1977)Welsh; she studied with Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob in London and Egon Wellesz in Vienna. Most of her major works were written in response to commissions from the BBC, the Royal National Eisteddford and Festivals at Cardiff and Swansea. Her music includes Welsh folk melody and is shaped by the rhythms of old Welsh poetry and oratory; Her Four Illustrations from the legend of Rhiannon (1939) drew on Welsh culture and legend. CDs on Chandos, Lyrita, Ty Cerdd and Naxos. Works include: Fantasia on Old Welsh Nursery Tunes (1940); Sinfonia Concertante for Piano & Orchestra (1940); Symphony No 1 (1943); Sea Sketches for String Orchestra (1944); The Dancers (1951); Penillion (1955); Symphony No 2 (1956); Missa Cambrensis (1971); Ave Maris Stella (1973). Information: Welsh Music Information Centre: telephone +44 (0)29 2063 5648; Tŷ Cerdd - Williams. Principal publisher: Oxford University Press: telephone +44 (0)1865 556767; Williams at OUP Carillons (piano reduction) is on Youtube here. Score on Curiad.
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