This week RNZ Concert joins with nearly 400 radio stations in 40 countries worldwide in celebrating the achievements of women composers and musicians in all genres.
Some of New Zealand's female composers: Top row: Claire Scholes, Victoria Kelly, Leonie Holmes (photo: Gareth Watkins), Claire Cowan, Bottom row: Tabea Squire (photo: Eustie Kamath), Helen Bowater, Eve de Castro-Robinson, Gillian Whitehead (photo: Gareth Watkins) Photo: supplied.
New visitors to the world of classical music might assume that it's a genre for men. Towering figures in composition (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms), performance (Isaac Stern, Vladimir Horowitz, Yo-Yo Ma), and conducting (Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Valery Gergiev) dominate the landscape of over 1000 years of music.
In that time, few female voices have been able to push their way through generations of societal pressures to be heard. But there's a sea change happening, and women are charging ahead on all fronts, from legendary performers (Martha Argerich, Kiri Te Kanawa, Anne Sophie Mutter) to composers (Judith Weir, Dame Gillian Whitehead, Kaija Saariaho), and finally conductors (Marin Alsop, Simone Young, Emmanuelle Haïm).
This week's celebration 'Women in Music Days' was initiated by the European Broadcast Union (of which RNZ Concert is an associate member) in conjunction with UNESCO's International Women's Day on the 8th of March.
To explore events around the world, follow #WomenInMusicDays in social media.
This week from RNZ Concert:
Pioneering Women (11 am in The Works) features great recordings of female composers, instrumentalists, conductors, and teachers.
Music Alive (8pm Mon-Sat) features live recordings of great performers and composers across the week, culminating in a rebroadcast of A Woman's Place - the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's 2018 celebration of 125 years of Suffrage in New Zealand.
Sunday is International Women's Day, and from 6 am to midnight, RNZ Concert will broadcast music composed and performed by women around the world and across the centuries, from the first opera written by a woman (Francesca Caccini) to New Zealand's most exciting and influential composers including Gillian Whitehead, Dorothy Buchanan, and Eve de Castro-Robinson.
Other programmes taking part this week on RNZ Concert include: Inside Out, Sound Lounge, New Horizons, Hymns on Sunday, Pick and Mix, Opera on Sunday, The Musical Omnivore, Made in New Zealand, New Music Dreams, and Silver Screen.
Available for you to enjoy at anytime on our website:
A wide array of talented women have made their contribution to New Zealand's musical life as composers, conductors, performers and teachers. RNZ Concert has spoken to many of them, as you can hear in this collection of interviews with NZ women in music on our website. You can also learn about some of our wonderful local pianists.
