10 Contemporary Women Composers You Should Know
If you’re familiar with the history of classical music, you may know that historically classical music hasn’t been the most welcoming field for women, and there is a long way to go before women classical composers of today are performed and recognized at the same level as their male peers. That said, here are some of our favorite contemporary women composers shaping the future of classical music, right now.
We hope you’ll give these compositions a listen, and fall in love with this music as we have. Want to share your thoughts? Get in touch via email: info@allclassical.org
Gabriela Lena Frank
Currently serving as Composer-in-Residence with the storied Philadelphia Orchestra and included in the Washington Post’s list of the 35 most significant women composers in history (August, 2017), identity has always been at the center of composer/pianist Gabriela Lena Frank’s music. Born in Berkeley, California (September, 1972), to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Gabriela explores her multicultural heritage most ardently through her compositions. Inspired by the works of Bela Bartók and Alberto Ginastera, Gabriela is something of a musical anthropologist. She has traveled extensively throughout South America and her pieces reflect and refract her studies of Latin American folklore, incorporating poetry, mythology, and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own.
Recommended Listening: Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout
Caroline Shaw
A New York-based musician, vocalist, violinist, composer, and producer, who performs in solo and collaborative projects. She was the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 for Partita for 8 Voices, written for the Grammy-winning Roomful of Teeth, of which she is a member. Recent commissions include new works for Renée Fleming with Inon Barnatan, Dawn Upshaw with Sō Percussion and Gil Kalish, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s with John Lithgow, the Dover Quartet and many more.
Recommended Listening: To the Hands: No. 6. I Will Hold You
Angélica Negrón
Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón writes music for accordions, robotic instruments, toys and electronics as well as chamber ensembles and orchestras. Her music has been described as “wistfully idiosyncratic and contemplative” (WQXR) and “mesmerizing and affecting” (Feast of Music) while The New York Times noted her “capacity to surprise” and her “quirky approach to scoring”. Angélica is currently working on a lip sync opera titled Chimera for drag queen performers and chamber ensemble exploring the ideas of fantasy and illusion, as well as the intricacies and complexities of identity.
Recommended Listening: Sueño Recurrente
Read other posts by Arianna Avena
JOY Program Director & Marketing Manager
