Trinity Laban Conservatoire’s autumn 2018 programme will prioritise works by female composers in a bid to redress the gender imbalance within contemporary classical music.
Throughout the autumn season, 25 of the 37 works performed (68 percent) will be composed by women, with highlights including new music from Errollyn Wallen, Thea Musgrave, Kaija Saariaho, Imogen Holst and Nikki Iles.
The pieces form part of Venus Blazing, Trinity Laban’s programme celebrating women in music.
The series feeds into the conservatoire’s pledge to ensure that across its major performances – including orchestral concerts, operas, large ensemble, jazz and choral concerts – at least half of the music in the 2018-19 season will be by women composers.
The initiative is spearheaded by two key members of Trinity Laban’s Faculty of Music, Dr Sophie Fuller, programme leader of the Masters programmes, and conductor Jonathan Tilbrook, head of orchestral studies.
Fuller said: ‘When we announced Venus Blazing in March this year, the reception was predictable. There was a lot of positivity and encouragement – a lot of people wondering why this sort of initiative hadn’t been done before. But there are still those who continue to insist that there are no great works created by women and that women’s music isn’t performed because it simply isn’t good enough.
‘Our diverse programme for autumn, which spans countries, decades and genres, really proves otherwise. This is powerful, memorable, music performed by our brilliant students. It is music that is here to be heard and celebrated and, we hope, will help change people’s idea of what a popular concert programme should look like in the future.’
See the programme here.
Throughout the autumn season, 25 of the 37 works performed (68 percent) will be composed by women, with highlights including new music from Errollyn Wallen, Thea Musgrave, Kaija Saariaho, Imogen Holst and Nikki Iles.
The pieces form part of Venus Blazing, Trinity Laban’s programme celebrating women in music.
The series feeds into the conservatoire’s pledge to ensure that across its major performances – including orchestral concerts, operas, large ensemble, jazz and choral concerts – at least half of the music in the 2018-19 season will be by women composers.
The initiative is spearheaded by two key members of Trinity Laban’s Faculty of Music, Dr Sophie Fuller, programme leader of the Masters programmes, and conductor Jonathan Tilbrook, head of orchestral studies.
Fuller said: ‘When we announced Venus Blazing in March this year, the reception was predictable. There was a lot of positivity and encouragement – a lot of people wondering why this sort of initiative hadn’t been done before. But there are still those who continue to insist that there are no great works created by women and that women’s music isn’t performed because it simply isn’t good enough.
‘Our diverse programme for autumn, which spans countries, decades and genres, really proves otherwise. This is powerful, memorable, music performed by our brilliant students. It is music that is here to be heard and celebrated and, we hope, will help change people’s idea of what a popular concert programme should look like in the future.’
See the programme here.
