The need for greater programming of women composers is, of course, strong and obvious enough that nothing I could say could add to the argument. What little I can do to help the issue along I have done in the hopes that with information comes progress.
I intended to write a response to Alex Gardner’s column celebrating International Women’s Day last week, but my poetic muse got the better of me. The state of women composers in our community today is indeed an important one, as David Smooke’s column investigates, and it is a subject of which we need to be constantly reminded.
There have been several discussions and articles over the past few years that have touched upon this subject (examples here here, here, here, here, and here, and the various facets of the discussion are complicated and not entirely one-sided – the specter of choosing works for anything other than artistic merit is sure to start a fierce debate.
I, however, do not intend raise such specters with this column. The need for greater programming of women composers is, of course, strong and obvious enough that nothing I could say could add to the argument. What little I can do to help the issue along I have done in the hopes that with information comes progress. Having been the positions of programming works for ensembles as well as selecting guest composers for new music festivals, I understand that one of the challenges in ensuring a balanced program is finding the composers–the internet gives us so much information with so little filtering.
With this in mind, I have created a list of 202 women composers to help all those ensembles, soloists, pedagogues, and organizations that may want to increase their programming of women composers. I do not make this list with any intent of labeling any one composer as being better than another–it is simply a reference to assist those who are interested in learning who is out there. Hyperlinks have been included to allow for easy navigation to their websites. This list is just a start–I have collected names over the years and this is the fruit of that collection. I ask that if you know other names that should be added to this list, please add them in the comments section. I apologize ahead of time if I have left names off that are known to me–I’m quite sure there’s a least a few names that I neglected that will induce a facepalm.
In the future, I hope that this discussion fades into the realm of the unnecessary–until then, use this list with the best of intentions and I look forward to being informed of others who are not listed.
Eliane Aberdam
Julia Adolphe
Kati Agocs
Adrienne Albert
Elizabeth Alexander
Kathryn Alexander
Beth Anderson-Harold
Laurie Anderson
Kerry Andrew
Clarice Assad
Lera Auerbach
Jennifer Barker
Carol Barnett
Sally Beamish
Eve Beglarian
Jennifer Bellor
Lauren Bernofsky
Abbie Betinis
Lisa Bielawa
Betsey Biggs
Carla Bley
Rose Bolton
Victoria Bond
Susan Botti
Jenni Brandon
Charlotte Bray
Carolyn Bremer
Kirsten Broberg
Margaret Brouwer
Courtney Brown
Eliza Brown
Shih-Hui Chen
Mary Ellen Childs
Unsuk Chin
Kyong Mee Choi
Andrea Clearfield
Anna Clyne
Gloria Coates
Lisa Coons
Renée T. Coulombe
Cindy Cox
Chaya Czernowin
Tina Davidson
Tansy Davies
Maria De Alvear
Emma Lou Diemer
Kui Dong
Emily Doolittle
Alexandra du Bois
Du Yun
Melissa Dunphy
Adrienne Elisha
Conni Ellisor
Marti Epstein
Nomi Epstein
Roshanne Etezady
Amanda Feery
Lesley Flanigan
Cheryl Frances-Hoad
Gabriela Lena Frank
Heather Frasch
Ruby Fulton
Nancy Galbraith
Alexandra Gardner
Stacy Garrop
Erin Gee
Mara Gibson
Suzanne Giraud
Janice Giteck
Annie Gosfield
Helen Grime
Sofia Gubaidulina
Anne Guzzo
Amanda Harberg
Linda Tutas Haugen
Mara Helmuth
Jennifer Higdon
Edie Hill
Dorothy Hindman
Sarah Horick
Emily Howard
Melissa Hui
Wang Jie
Marisol Jimenez
Lynn Job
Allison Johnson
Jenny Olivia Johnson
Jennifer Jolley
Zoe Keating
Elizabeth Kelly
Anne Kilstofte
Leanna Kirchoff
Amy Beth Kirsten
Barbara Kolb
Laura Kopelwitz
Kristin Kuster
Joan La Barbara
Andrea La Rose
Lori Laitman
Bun-Ching Lam
Sally Lamb McCune
Libby Larsen
Hannah Lash
Elodie Lauten
Mary Jane Leach
Anne LeBaron
Tania León
Elanie Lillios
Elizabeth Lin
Deborah Lurie
Gilda Lyons
Caroline Mallonee
Bunita Marcus
Paula Matthusen
Beth May
Missy Mazzoli
Frances McKay
Cindy McTee
Anna Meredith
Jenny Bernard Merkowitz
Helena Michelson
Anna Mikhailova
Diana Mino
Meredith Monk
Beata Moon
Zae Munn
Thea Musgrave
Tamar Muskal
Angelica Negron
Amy X Neuberg
Olga Neuwirth
Ketty Nez
Loretta Notareschi
Allison Ogden
Elizabeth Ogonek
Pauline Oliveros
Tawnie Olson
Roxanna Panufnik
Andreia Pinto-Correia
Paola Prestini
Leanna Primiani
Leah Sproul Pulatie
Shulamit Ran
Jody Redhage
Andrea Reinkemeyer
Belinda Reynolds
Sarah Ritch
Erin Rogers
Jessica Rudman
Elena Ruehr
Kaija Saariaho
Kate Salfelder
Jamie Leigh Sampson
Eleonor Sandresky
Laurie San Martin
Maria Schnieder
Laura Schwendinger
Debra Scroggins
Amy Scurria
Sophia Serghi
Judith Shatin
Marilyn Shrude
Arlene Sierra
Alex Shapiro
Sarah Kirkland Snider
Christine Southworth
Suzanne Sorkin
Bernadette Speach
Laurie Spiegel
Jane Stanley
Jennifer Stock
Hilary Tann
Augusta Read Thomas
Molly Thompson
Anna Thorvaldsdottir
Dale Trumbore
Joan Tower
Nancy Van de Vate
Adriana Verdie
Lois V Vierk
Kirsten Volness
Aleksandra Vrebalov
Melinda Wagner
Gwyneth Walker
Jennifer Walshe
Meira Warshauer
Dalit Warshaw
Orianna Webb
Frances White
Liza White
Amy Williams
Julia Wolfe
Rain Worthington
Luna Pearl Woolf
Xi Wang
Carolyn Yarnell
Chen Yi
Bora Yoon
Nina Young
Pamela Z
Judith Lang Zaimont
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich