Summer Celebrations of Women's Work in Music

Catch up on our Repertoire and Conductor Reports, and look ahead to Festival Season

Our annual Repertoire Report and Conductors Report were published this past spring, only further reinforcing that America’s most wealthy and most esteemed orchestras are not taking inclusion and equity seriously. Though several ensembles had been making progress over the past few seasons - in the aftermath of the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements - it seems that their concerns were only symbolic. As a whole, these top orchestras are performing fewer works by women in the 2025-2026 season than were performed in the 2024-2025 season. The combined performances of pieces by Beethoven and Mozart are still more than all of the works by women composers together.

Concerning women conductors, a year over year comparison shows that things really haven’t changed in any significant way from last season. However, it is interesting to note that women conductors are more likely to perform works by women composers than their male colleagues.

Each year when we publish this information we receive questions about why we focus on these ensembles in particular (the top 21 U.S. ensembles by budget). Though we fully recognize and celebrate the work of regional and community ensembles who almost always have more diverse programming than these Titans (and let us know when an ensemble is doing great work in your community - we’d love to include it in our blog and calendar), it’s important to recognize the ways in which these ensembles programming is stagnating, and to call on these “top” orchestras - who have the largest audiences, endowments, and power - to use their resources for good. While smaller ensembles are often willing and able to perform outside of the typical canon (and WPA is happy to help with Performance Grants!), they often don’t have the resources to record these works, which the larger ensembles have more access to, nor do their performances get the publicity that the larger ensembles have at their command.

With all of this information, and considering the ways in which the current American administration has been pressuring organizations to conform, it is more important than ever to support our local organizations and encourage them to be inclusive in their programming and to celebrate the diversity of Western Art Music as well as to reject the ways in which the tenants of White Supremacy and Patriarchy continue to dominate the classical music world.

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Summer Concerts & Events

TIME:SPANS celebrates the works of 21st century works and takes place annually in New York City. This year’s festival will take place August 9-23 and will include:

• Violinist Mirande Cuckson playing works by Lidia Zielinska and Kaija Saarahio on August 11

• Ensemble Nikel performing works by Bekah Simms and Rebecca Saunders on August 13

• Sixtrum Percussion performing D’aure et du pluie - Jeau d’eau by Léa Boudreau on August 14, and Jennifer Higdon’s Splendid Wood on August 16

• The Bozini Quartet performing works by Cassandra Miller and Zosha Di Castri on August 15

• The Talea Ensemble performing Chaya Czernowin’s the divine thawing of the core on August 19

• International Contemporary Ensemble performing works by Tebogo Monnakgotla and Corie Rose Soumah on August 22

The Boston Early Music Festival will take place June 8-15, but only one concert features works by women. Trio Mediæval will perform the work of Hildegard von Bingen on June 11.

The La Jolla Music Society SummerFest takes place July 25-August 23 in La Jolla, California. This coming festival will hear:

• Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata on July 27

• Jessie Montgomery’s Peace on August 7, Concerto Grosso on August 8, and Starburst on August 23.

The Aspen Music Festival’s Festival Orchestra will perform many works by women composers, including: Jessie Montgomery’s Hymn for Everyone on July 27, Gabriella Smith’s Tumblebird Contrails on August 1, Anna Clyne’s Atlas on August 8, and Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral on August 10,

The Bard Music Festival, which takes place June 27-August 17. The SummerScape series will include the world premiere of a new ballet entitled Pastoral, based on Beethoven’s Symphony 6, but including music by Caroline Shaw. The Fisher Center LAB will also include a work-in-progress reading of a libretto by Suzan-Lori Parks based on Scott Joplin’s musical Treemonisha. Though much of the Music Festival is centered on the work of Martinů, on August 10 the Balourdet Quartet will perform Vítězslava Kaprálová’s String Quartet No. 1, and August 17 will hear Joan Tower’s Petroushskates, and songs by Iva Bittová.

Have an event you want to be included in a future Newsletter? Contact us below!

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