Underrepresented Voices in Music

This article focusses on the collective experience of women within Western and non-Western musical traditions. For details of the lives and works of women musicians, see the articles on individual women.

Dawn Bennett, Sophie Hennekam, Sally Macarthur, Cat Hope, Talisha Goh - Journal of Vocational Behavior, Volume 113, August 2019, Pages 20-32

By Siriana Lundgren
Mar 4, 2019, Classical MPR

By Freya Parr
March 8, 2020, BBC Music Magazine

By Mohammed Fairouz
May 1, 2017, NPR

By Lara Pellegrinelli
October 29, 2010, Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR

By Hannah Thacker
2014, HumanHuman

By Manon Jessua
March 4, 2020, Music Industry Insights

Bedol, Laura. California State University, Long Beach, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2019. 13858477.

We are a community of composers and colleagues who strive to support and celebrate the work of women composers through advocacy and education.

BTFA is a community-based arts organization that builds community and mobilizes resources to support Black trans femme artists (artists who were assigned male-at-birth and now identify somewhere underneath the femme umbrella). We organize programming that centers and highlights Black trans femme artists, executive produce projects led by Black trans femme artists, and provide direct to support to Black trans artists.

Boulanger Initiative’s mission is to promote music composed by womxn through performance, education, and commissions. To work toward greater inclusivity, and to enrich our collective understanding of what music is, has been, and can be.

The International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) is an international membership organization of women and men dedicated to fostering and encouraging the activities of women in music, particularly in the areas of musical activity such as composing, performing, and research in which gender discrimination is an historic and ongoing concern.

IWBC’s mission is to educate, develop, support, and promote women brass musicians while inspiring continued excellence and opportunities in the broader musical world. Membership is open to all women and men who would like to support this effort.

The mission of LunART Festival is to support, inspire, promote, and celebrate women in the arts through public performances, exhibitions, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration; thus enriching our community and creating a welcoming space for learning and experimentation.

Women In the Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose purpose is to produce and sponsor programs that promote and affirm the creative talents and technical skills of women in the visual, performing, and fine arts.

Ring of Keys is an arts advocacy organization that promotes the hiring of musical theatre professionals - onstage and off - who self-identify as queer women, transgender, and gender non-conforming artists.

SITM is a nonprofit organization increasing the number of women working in music – songwriters, engineers, producers, artists and industry professionals.

We are a non-profit arts organization committed to educational and collaborative projects on the repertoire of African American, Women and under-represented composers through the promotion and production of recordings, concerts and other programs.

We celebrate the vast range of orchestral music by women, and encourage orchestras to program it! All around us people are suddenly aware of long-ingrained sexist practices, and questioning their entrenched status. We work to reveal the centuries of music by women, much of it lost to history due to gender bias – and help provide information and resources to make that music available.

Women In Jazz Organization intends to help level the playing field in Jazz, so that women and non-binary people have equal opportunity to participate in and contribute to Jazz, leading to an improved and more rich, diverse, and successful art form. WIJO is committed to honoring Black Americans as the creators of Jazz.

Women in Jazz South Florida, Inc. promotes women musicians locally, nationally and globally, through contacts, articles, interviews, newsletters, events, courses, clinics, workshops, lectures, research, history, archives, websites, film, audio and video recording, concerts, performances, and recognition.

Women in Music is the industry's leading non-profit working to advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts through education, support, empowerment, and recognition. Founded in 1985, WIM is now fueled by 100+ volunteers working daily to serve thousands worldwide, with chapters from LA to India.

DONNE, Women in Music is an inspirational project that celebrates, advances and amplifies women in music. We do that by raising awareness, providing useful resources, amplifying the voices of women, advancing and connecting with a wide community.

This is a database of excerpts and complete musical compositions by women composers. The music is categorized by theoretical concept for use in music education.

An online magazine devoted to the achievements of women in classical music, past and present.

Women in Live Music [WILM] is a European platform and online community for women working in live music.

In order to expose more band and orchestra directors to the music of living composers historically marginalized by race or gender, And We Were Heard seeks to match these composers with ensembles willing to rehearse and create high-quality recordings of their work.

The Ziegfeld Club, one of the first New York City performing arts charities to benefit women is thrilled to announce that they will offer the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award for the sixth consecutive year in a row. This grant is presented in partnership with New York Stage and Film. A prestigious grant in the amount of $10,000, The Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award aims to celebrate an emerging female composer or composer/lyricist who compellingly demonstrates outstanding artistic promise in musical theater composing and clearly demonstrates how the grant money & mentorship will further her artistic career.

Brass Chicks is a blog written for and by women who play brass instruments. It aims to create a space to share our personal stories, appreciate what other musicians are doing, and to perpetuate discussion of what it means to be a woman in this male-dominated industry. Brass Chicks is here to record our history, celebrate our present, and build our future.

BTFA executive produces projects led by New York City-based Black trans femme artists and works with those artists on distribution and community engagement around their productions. BTFA Productions funding is only available to projects led by Black trans femmes. Projects with Black trans femmes in supporting or assisting roles only are not eligible.

Record Labels, Booking Agencies, Collectives, Media/PR Agencies, Music Presenters, Artist Management & Services, Music Supervisors, Mastering Engineers, Publishers, Music Publications, Radio Shows and Podcasts, Music Lawyers, Music Business Managers & Accountants, and Festivals with people who are WOMEN, NON-BINARY, and/or GENDER NON-CONFORMING in leadership/ key decision-making positions.

It is open to all brass musicians of all ages; amateur, student and professional alike. Brass instruments that are qualified to compete include the trumpet, horn, tenor trombone, bass trombone, euphonium, and tuba. Winners receive prize money which is fundraised in conjunction with the Holiday Brass Concerts that occur annually in St. Louis, MO and Baltimore, MD.

Leeway Foundation's grantmaking programs, the Art and Change Grants and the Leeway Transformation Awards fund women, trans*, and gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers living in Greater Philadelphia (Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties), who engage in art and social change work.

Supports women working in professional audio and music production by highlighting their success and providing a place for them to connect, network, and share advice. SoundGirls.Org provides support, career development, and tools to help those working in the field advance in their career.

ALL U.S. orchestras, including previous winners of the WPA Performance Grants, are welcome to apply. Student and youth ensembles are particularly encouraged to apply. We are defining “orchestra” as an ensemble of ten or more performers featuring bowed string instruments of the violin family. Opera companies and choirs are welcome to apply for performances that include orchestral forces.

The Women Composers Readings and Commissions program is an initiative of the League of American Orchestras, in partnership with American Composers Orchestra (ACO) and supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

Established in 2017, Women in Music LA is a chapter of WIM that is dedicated to fostering equality in the music industry through the support and advancement of women. Providing knowledge, strategy & solutions to our members and the greater community is our driving purpose.

The young women composers camp aims to amplify the voices of young female-identifying and non-binary composers, to allow them access to a high level of musical training, and to work towards a more equitable and diverse composition field.

Directory of current AWFC members, listings include biographies, awards, and websites.

Caroline Shaw is 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.

A Database of ALAANA, Women, and Gender Non-Conforming Composers. Chamber Music America uses the acronym ALAANA to indicate composers who identify as African/Black, Latinx, Asian/South Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Native American

Extensive list of women composers from 2300 B.C.E. to the 21st century.

Discover the visions, the biography, songs and famous quotes of this legendary composer and saint.

Learn more about the fascinating lives and music of a selection of these talented composers. Photographs, biographies and works are listed below.

Our Works Diversity Database allows users to search for individual compositions with numerous search filters from among over 1,600 art songs by women as well as over 2,400 works for large and small wind ensembles and over 11,000 orchestral works by underrepresented composers.

Pulitzer Prize and three-time Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) taught herself to play flute at the age of 15 and began formal musical studies at 18, with an even later start in composition at the age of 21. Despite these obstacles, Jennifer has become a major figure in contemporary Classical music.

Founded in Toronto in 1998 by Karla Hartl, the Society's mission is to promote the music of Czech composer Vitezslava Kapralova (1915-1940) and to build awareness of women's contributions to musical life.

An index of over 1,000 composers, improvisers, and sonic artists.

The Women of Rock Oral History Project is a collection of digital interviews and written transcripts housed at the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College, documenting the lives and careers of women in rock music, focusing primarily on artists who have been left out of the popular rock narrative.

We’ve chosen to highlight those with the least visibility in classical and/or new music in the United States as a starting point: indigenous people, Black men, Black women, and all transgender individuals (which includes non-binary/genderqueer folks).

You will find a selected list of chamber music by women composers. Most works have online score and audio samples. Those marked with * have full length audio or video available for free streaming on our website.

This resource was created in June 2020 to amplify the musical art of underrepresented composers and artists who have written specifically for brass instruments. As an on-going project, this resource will continually be evolving.

The Kassia Database is a resource geared toward aiding singers, instructors of voice, pianists, researchers, and music lovers to discover and celebrate art song by women composers. The database includes songs from the Baroque period through the 21st century, and have been categorized by level, voice type, language, composer, and composer dates.

Orchestral Music by Women of African Descent (listed alphabetically)

The following list has been updated periodically since 1987. (An initial version appeared in The Double Reed, Journal of the International Double Reed Society, Winter, 1988, Volume 10, Number 3.)

Spreadsheet of piano music by underrepresented composers.

List of works that feature trumpet by women composers.

Formed in 2012 and combining four distinctive musical personalities into a unique collective, the Aizuri Quartet draws its name from “aizuri-e,” a style of predominantly blue Japanese woodblock printing that is noted for its vibrancy and incredible detail.

The Athena Brass Band is the first all-female brass band in the United States, named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. The band was formed in 2003, by Laura Lineberger, to to perform at the International Women's Brass Conference.

Based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, Calliope Women’s Chorus is the second-oldest feminist women’s choir in the country and the oldest group in the Twin Cities’ Queer Music Consortium.

Chione is a Twin Cities-based woodwind quintet comprised of innovative and cross-disciplinary women. The unique and evolving medium provides an outlet to explore and create new sounds while redefining and rediscovering lesser known music. Chione is committed to collaborating with professionals of all genres and creative outlets, with particular interests in commissioning new pieces and performing works by women artists.

Hard-charging. Powerful. Immersed in the history of their craft and in total command of their instruments. That’s DIVA – an ensemble of 15 extremely talented and versatile musicians who just happen to be women.

Earhart is a community dedicated to raising the female voice. This is a list of female, trans, & gender nonconforming musicians for hire.

An index of over 1,000 composers, improvisers, and sonic artists.

The PERSEPHONE CHAMBER ENSEMBLE is an all-female intergenerational chamber music group, comprised of piano, violin, viola, cello, and mezzo-soprano. It has performed to acclaim in recitals in Northern California.

SITM is a nonprofit organization increasing the number of women working in music – songwriters, engineers, producers, artists and industry professionals.

Praised for its “authentic, soulful, and orchestral sound”, The String Queens (TSQ) is a dynamic trio that creates stimulating musical experiences that inspire diverse audiences to love, hope, feel, and imagine! With an array of repertoire spanning from the Baroque era to the Jazz Age to today’s Billboard Hot 100 Chart, TSQ performs versatile programs that transport audiences through time and a multitude of musical genres.

This is an alphabetized list of notable all-female bands, of all genres, and is a spin-off list from the all-female band article. It is an overview of notable all-female bands that have their own articles.

Women's choirs come from all over the planet, and they sing music from around the world, too. Some of the groups are more traditional in their raison d'etre; simply to sing wonderful music; while others are a bit more specific, dedicated only to the works of women, to raising awareness of issues, or simply to celebrate their cultural origins.

Spreadsheet of women and non-binary dj's and producers, with their contact information.

The Daffodil Perspective is a revolutionary new radio show based in London, UK, rewriting classical music history with a more accurate and gender balanced account. The Daffodil Perspective is showing how women fit into our current version of classical music history and exploring the stories of these women, their music and monumental achievements. Each episode features at least 50% of pieces and airtime by women composers.

The Women of Substance Music Podcast features music by Female Indie Artists every Monday, Wednesday, Friday.