Women Composers 1179 Views
Encounters with Women Composers
6 September 2025
During the 2024-25 concert season I became increasingly aware that, whilst professional orchestras are beginning to programme more works by composers who are women, the amateur orchestra scene which is so active in the UK is still deeply ensconced in the Western Classical canon which consists of works almost entirely by male composers.* This awareness came about partly through informal monitoring of social media such as UK Amateur Orchestras Facebook posts but also through my own practice as an oboist and conductor with amateur ensembles in the North West of England.
In my rather nerdy way, I have kept a list of works I have performed since I began playing orchestral repertoire at school over 40 years ago. Decades passed before I encountered an orchestral work by a woman composer but now, I believe we are entering a new era. So I was perplexed that between September 2024 and August 2025 I was involved in the performance of 128 works of which only five were by women composers. I played Farrenc’s Overture no. 1 with Wirral Orchestra, conducted by Neill Jackson. The other four works I was able to programme with ensembles I conduct and therefore have some degree of artistic control. These were:
Lili Boulanger D’Un Matin de Printemps
Mel Bonis Ophélie
Alice Mary Smith Andante for clarinet and small orchestra
Germaine Tailleferre String Quartet (second movement) in an arrangement I made for wind ensemble
It struck me that whilst there is much being written in academic circles about historical women composers – their lives, their work, the reasons why they have been forgotten and why their work needs to be reassessed – and support networks are increasingly bringing work by living women composers to our attention, it might be interesting to other artistic directors of amateur orchestra if I were to document my own encounters with works by women composers by asking:
- where/how did I first come across a particular piece?
- why was I attracted to it?
- how did I obtain the score/performance materials?
- what did I learn from studying the piece?
- what was it like to rehearse?
- what sort of reception did it get?
So this blog is a series of reflections on encounters with works by women composers which I have performed, programmed and conducted. I hope it will be of some practical use to other musicians who wish to explore this repertoire.
*The repertoire of 111 professional orchestras across 30 countries for the 2023-2024 season revealed only 7.5% of works were composed by women with further interesectional under-representations. [Di Laccio et al (2024) Equality & Diversity in Global Repertoire: Available online at https://donne-uk.org/research/]
