Women Composers

Like in many other fields dominated by men, for centuries women musicians have had to overcome endless difficulties in order to create their art, share it with the world, and be recognised for their creations.

Discriminated by their gender, and often under the shadow of men in spite of their talent, for centuries women were expected to learn to play an instrument. But, regardless of their talent or even their prodigy, they were not encouraged to make a career out of it. 

Their music was often discarded as 'too feminine', and even successful, talented women musicians often had to sacrifice their careers in order to tend their families, their perceived 'natural' priority. 

Although throughout history there were many efforts to include women in music – such as the all-female music ensemble at the Ospedalle della Pieta, the Concerto delle donne, or the Conservatoire Femina-Musica, to name a few – for centuries the prevailing social conventions imposed severe limitations to women who wished to pursue a career in the field, especially if they did not belong to the nobility.

Fortunately, as times changed and women expanded to other fields, music was not the exception. And in spite of all these hurdles, the list of women musicians that has arrived to us is amazingly long, revealing unsuspected and often unheard levels of musical quality.

Here we invite you to discover – or re-discover!– twelve of the most brilliant women composers of all time.

1.-Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179)

Although surely there were women composers in ancient times, the first one from which we have surviving records is Hildegard von Bingen.

The youngest child of a Saxon family of lower nobility, she was offered as an oblate to the church, as it was the tradition at the time, entering the convent at around age 12. But even before this, Hildegard had already reported seeing visions, events which remained throughout her life and bestowed her an air of holiness. 

She followed the liturgical forms of antiphons, responsories, sequences and hymns, and often supervised the copying of musical manuscripts. Nearly 80 of her works survive to this day, including the morality drama Ordo Virtutum. 

Hildergarde’s musical style is bold and unique, full of dramatic harmonies and long notes with brief intervals, hard to sustain by untrained singers and which, in fact, require to be trained in a special singing technique.

In 1994, her work was updated in the Angel Records CD Vision: The Music of Hildegard von Bingen, mixing the vocals of Emily van Evera and Sister Germaine Fritz with arrangements of world music and electronica performed by Richard Souther. Although the musical purists cringed, the effort reflected the musical tendencies of the moment and revived her legacy, bringing her music to a new generation of listeners.

O Viridissima Virga (5:14)

https://youtu.be/nVm8ZMnpxKI?si=V2exS4J4zTnQ02tE

Vision - O Viridissima Virga (3:22)

https://youtu.be/8kf6myNBGyo?si=iCVjvhFkmaSxATAk

Abbess, visionary, poet, dramatist, herbalist and composer, after a thousand years from her birth, Hildegard von Bingen still stands out as one of the greatest composers in music history.

2.- Tarquinia Molza (1542 – 1617)

Born in Modena, she was the eldest of nine children. 

Like many women of her time and before her, Tarquinia’s intelligence and talents flourished thanks to her father’s decision to bestow her the same education as men received. Thus, from an early age she received lessons in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Philosophy, Mathematics and Astronomy from reputed teachers up until the age of sixteen

For her fortune, after she married in 1560, her husband, Paolo Porrino, agreed that she should continue her studies. Unfortunately, her husband died when Tarquinia was 37. 

In her new status as widower, she was recruited to become the lady-in-waiting to Duchess Margherita Gonzaga d'Este. At court, Tarquinia expanded her musical talents, becoming a famous singer, musical performer, conductor, and composer. 

She was considered a great virtuosa, playing the viola bastarda, viola da mano, clavier, and lute. In another rarity of her time, Tarquinia was trained in the distinctly different male and female singing styles, and her contributions to vocal music helped to develop the madrigal of the late Renaissance. 

She also took part in the famous ensemble Concerto delle donne.

Tarquinia Molza - Eran le vostre lagrime nel viso (2:30)

https://youtu.be/VPBq3BF1cWg?si=E-BjcEcr5SlO_tI1

In 1589, Tarquinia was accused of having an affair with the Flemish composer Giaches de Wert. Since minor nobility was forbidden from involvement with the servant class, Molza was dismissed from her position, but continued her work in the arts and sciences, composing music, writing poetry and scientific papers.

3.- Maria Anna Mozart (Nannerl) (1751 - 1829)

Although eclipsed by her world-famous brother, Nannerl Mozart was a musical genius in her own right. In fact, it was not Wolfgang the first of the Mozart family to impress Europe by his quality as musician and composer, but her sister, Maria Anna.

Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl and also known as Marianne, was a child prodigy and outstanding harpsichordist. 

As a child, she toured extensively alongside her brother Wolfgang, performing to great acclaim in Munich, Vienna, the Netherlands, London, and Paris. One of the reviews of 1763 read : “Just imagine a girl 11 years of age who can perform on the harpsichord or the fortepiano the most difficult sonatas and concertos by the greatest masters, most accurately, readily and with an almost incredible ease, in the very best of taste”.

However, by 1769, Nannerl then aged 17, no longer qualified as child prodigy and interest in the duo waned. 

Although her father was aware of her musical talent, a career in music for women was ill regarded, and marrying was considered her only option of financial support. Thus, while her brother continued to tour and perform, building himself up a musical career, Nannerl had to stay back in Salzburg with her mother. 

Foreseeing her limited options and wary of her future, Leopold had trained Nannerl to become a music teacher, an ‘appropriate’ occupation for women of her rank.

Having been taught exclusively by her father, Nannerl followed his reputed musical method and became an authority in his technique, often helping his father with his students.

Married at age 33, Nannerl continued composing songs and still had occasional opportunities to perform. In 1781 she traveled to Munich to attend the premiere of Wolfgang's opera “Idomeneo”, with a side trip to Augsburg to perform with him. She later was invited to become the only female member of an amateur orchestra organized by the young Count Prokop Adalbert Czernin, as well as other opportunities to perform in Salzburg.

Through her correspondence with her brother, we know that Nannerl composed musical pieces, although none of them survive to this day. In one of his letters, Wolfgang wrote, "My dear sister! I am in awe that you can compose so well, in a word, the song you wrote is beautiful."

It is known that Nannerl assisted Wolfgang in her musical training as well as her compositions until he was 11. Therefore, some of the early compositions attributed to Wolfgang, such as his Sonata in C for piano (K.19d) written in 1765, have now disputed authorship due to technical differences with Wolfgang’s typical musical style and score errors that may indicate these were transcribed from harpsichord scores. 

These clues have made many musicologists believe that these compositions were in fact Leopold's or Marianne's.

Wolfgang Amadeus & Maria-Anna Mozart 

Violin & Harpsichord Sonata No.1 (K.6) (12:33)

https://youtu.be/3S2e4qDOhhs?si=eUcKbefC7ux7tFuq

After the death of her husband in 1801, and despite being financially stable, Nannerl returned to teaching. She also resumed her performing career, most notably with concerts at the Prince Ernst von Schwarzenberg's palace. More than a thirty years after her career as a musical prodigy had been quelled, positive press reviews again appeared.

Nannerl played a fundamental role in the preservation of Wolfgang’s body of work, and after his death, she pushed aside her differences with her sister-in-law, Constance, to work alongside her in a biography of Wolfgand, with the aim to organize his entire work.

Her life inspired the 2010 French Film Nannerl la Soeur de Mozart, and has appeared in several biographies, documentaries, and fiction novels about her famous brother.

4.- Fanny Mendelssohn (1805 - 1847)

Fanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn , also known as Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Fanny Hensel, was a gifted musician and composer. 

From an early age, she and her brother Felix received a thorough musical education from their mother, and later from the composers Ludwig Berger and Carl Friedrich Zelter. The latter wrote to Goethe that Fanny ‘could give you something of Johann Sebastian Bach. This child is really something special.’ 

Although praised for her superb piano technique, Fanny rarely performed outside her circle of family and friends.

However, despite her family's reservations and the strict social conventions of the time about women in the arts, Fanny composed often, and during her lifetime six of her songs were published under her brother's name. 

In 1846 she took a courageous leap and published a collection of songs as her Opus 1. 

Most of Fanny’s works are Lied für Klavier (Song for Piano) and other piano pieces, since she felt that, never having studied or played string instruments, her technical abilities did not extend to more complex compositions such as chamber music or choral works. 

In fact, she expressed this insecurity to Felix on a letter when, after completing her string quartet, she wrote, "I lack the ability to sustain ideas properly and give them the needed consistency. Therefore, lieder suit me best, in which, if need be, merely a pretty idea without much potential for development can suffice."

Despite her own self-deprecation, musicologists agree that Fanny was more experimental with her lieder than her brother, and that her works have a "harmonic density" that serves to express emotion.

Fanny Mendelssohn - Piano Trio, Op. 11 (6:04)

https://youtu.be/4kPBHuvKPuQ?si=hmF9TVz2tI9IFTPb

In total, Fanny Mendelssohn composed over 450 pieces of music, which include a string quartet, a piano trio, a piano quartet, an orchestral overture, four cantatas, over 125 pieces for the piano, and more than 250 songs (lieder).  

In a famous anecdote, Queen Victoria once declared that her favourite piece by Felix Mendelssohn was his song ‘Italien’, only to discover later that it had actually been composed by his sister Fanny. 

Despite living under the shadow of her brother for most of her life, Fanny and Felix had a supportive relationship, often citing each other as musical inspiration. 

In 1847, Fanny died of a stroke at the age of 41, while conducting one of Felix’s oratorios, leaving us to wonder what wonderful music she would have written had she lived longer.

For a full list of her compositions, check: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Fanny_Mendelssohn

5.- Emilia Giuliani-Giuglielmi (1813-1850)

Daughter of the famed Italian guitarist and composer Mauro Giuliani with her Viennese mistress, Anna Wiesenberger, Emilia began to play the guitar at a very young age, under the instruction of her father. 

In 1828, at age 15, Emilia played her debut concert with her father in Naples. Unfortunately, Mauro died the following year. By then, in addition to the social constraints of the time in regards to women in music, interest in guitar music throughout Europe had waned, and she struggled to make a career.However, her talent was evident, and she toured widely throughout Central and Southern Europe, making a considerable impression on those who heard her perform, even sharing the stage with Franz Liszt. 

She married aspiring opera composer Luigi Guglielmi, and continued composing and touring Europe to great acclaim. Unfortunately, although she was judged a notable musician by audience and critics alike, Emilia failed to attract a large following or a substantial market for her compositions. While on a tour in Hungary, she became ill with fever and died at the young age of 37.

Luckily for us, some of her music has survived, to the delight of contemporary audiences, and her talent has been vindicated.

Emilia Giugliani-Guglielmi - Prelude Number 3 (1:51)

https://youtu.be/XIsPUtUTBXs?si=tBG-F8F2y-aWBUbC

Although it’s tempting to compare her composition to those of her father, their unique quality make them stand on their own.

While Mauro’s composition are anchored in classical Viennese harmony, Emilia’s work is rich in character, embracing dissonance, chromaticism, and other new techniques, creating inventive techniques, such as a tremolo-like technique to mimic the effect of notes held longer than usual. 

Her Six Preludes op.46 are a unique contribution to the classical guitar repertoire

6.- Clara Schumann (1819-1896)

The Romantic era saw the rise of many women in the arts, including the Bronte sisters, George Sand, and Clara Schumann. 

In fact, Clara was one of the first female musicians in history to enjoy a long and reputed career.

Born Clara Josephine Wieck, she started receiving basic piano instruction from her mother at the age of four. She later took lessons from her father, who followed his own method, which included the piano, violin, singing, theory, harmony, composition, and counterpoint. 

In 1828, at the age of nine, Clara made her official musical debut to considerable success. That same year, Clara met another gifted young pianist who had been invited to the same musical evening, Robert Schumann, who was nine years older and who would become her husband 12 years later.

Clara started composing music from an early age, including her Variations on a theme by Bellini and bravura Piano Concerto in A minor, written at just 16. 

At age 18, Clara already gave recitals in Vienna to great acclaim. An anonymous music critic wrote: "The appearance of this artist can be regarded as epoch-making... In her creative hands, the most ordinary passage, the most routine motive acquires a significant meaning, a colour, which only those with the most consummate artistry can give."

Although burdened by her duties as wife to a renown composer and their 8 children, Clara managed to establish herself as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, enjoying a 61-year concert career (incredibly long for any musician, let alone a woman musician), and in the meantime exerting her artistic influence on the piano recital format and repertoire by lessening the importance of purely virtuosic works. 

Clara Wieck-Schumann, Ballade op. 6 no. 4 (6:04)

https://youtu.be/1dSC3By6-mg?si=GVw314zSrHu2D8xN

Clara’s compositions reveal a unique musical vision, are full of virtuosity, technical dexterity and vivid emotion, and include solo piano pieces, a piano concerto, chamber music, choral pieces, and many songs. 

She gave the public premieres of many works by her husband and by Brahms, with whom the Schumanns were close friends. 

After Robert's death at age 46, Clara continued touring and performing in Europe for decades. She also edited the publication of her husband’s works, thus preserving his musical legacy.

In 1989, her effigy adorned the German 100 Mark banknote before it was replaced by the Euro. When the currency was changed a commemorative 0 Euro banknote with her effigy was released.

7.- Pauline Viardot (1821-1910)

Born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline García Sitches in Paris, she was the daughter of Manuel García, a Spanish tenor, singing teacher, composer and impresario, and the Spanish soprano Joaquina Sitches. 

She started her musical training under the tutelage of her father, who gave her piano and singing lessons. She also took piano lessons with Franz Liszt, as well as counterpoint and harmony lessons with Anton Reicha, the teacher of Liszt and Hector Berlioz. 

As part of a family of musicias, Pauline traveled widely from an early age, and by the age of six she was already fluent in Spanish, French, English, and Italian. She made her professional debut as a musician in Mexico City as a pianist, accompanying her brother-in-law, the violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot.

After her father's death in 1832, her mother took over her singing lessons and forced Pauline to focus on her voice instead of the piano, a decision which Pauline always regretted. However, she remained an outstanding pianist all her life, - a quality attested by Franz Liszt, Ignaz Moscheles, Adolphe Adam, Camille Saint-Saëns, among others- and she often played duets with her friend Frédéric Chopin.

Under her mother’s instruction, Pauline became a professional mezzo-soprano, and she also began working as vocal coach, creating her own pedagogical techniques and even rehearsal pieces.

Although Pauline began composing when she was young, her early pieces were mainly written for herself, and later as private pieces for her vocal technique students, in order to help them develop their vocal abilities. However, her works caught the attention of renown musicians and even Franz Liszt declared that, with Pauline Viardot, the world had finally found a woman composer of genius.

Pauline Viardot - 6 morceaux pour violin et piano (18:37)

https://youtu.be/D_rz6dnOYA4?si=LbKz5dISt6wJNs0m

Between 1864 and 1874 Pauline wrote three salon operas – Trop de femmes (1867), L'ogre (1868), and Le dernier sorcier (1869), all to libretti by Ivan Turgenev – and over fifty Lieder. Her two salon operas – Le conte de fées (1879), and Cendrillon (1904) – were to her own libretti.

In addition to her musical genius, Pauline is credited with the preservation of the original manuscript of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”.

As a little girl, Pauline travelled with her family to New York City, where her family gave the first full performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni in the United States, in the presence of the librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte.

Years later, in 1855 when she was in London, Pauline purchased Mozart's original, handwritten manuscript of Don Giovanni. She kept it as a treasured relic in her home, where it was admired by prominent artists like Rossini and Tchaikovsky. 

In 1892, she donated the manuscript to the Paris Conservatoire, where it is now preserved and digitally accessible through the Bibliothèque Nationale de France's Gallica division. 

Pauline continued composing and coaching well into an advanced age, leaving a formidable legacy to the music world. 

8.- Teresa Carreño (1853 - 1917)

Known as the «Valkyrie of the piano» for her fierce keyboard skills, María Teresa Gertrudis de Jesús Carreño y García de Sena began her musical studies at the age of five, following the musical exercises composed by her father, which included the most important technical difficulties of the keyboard. 

As she progressed,  Teresa continued her musical studies with the pianist Jules Hohené, Georges Mathias and, once in New York, with Louis Moreau Gottschalk. 

At the age of six, Teresa published her first work, dedicated to her teacher, entitled "Gottschalk Waltz", which sold out three successive editions in a single year.

In 1862, when Teresa was only nine years old, her family moved to New York, where she immediately began giving small private concerts to family friends. Shortly afterwards, that same year, Teresita Carreño gave her first public concert at the Irving Hall in New York, and was met with favorable reviews. 

The young prodigy gave five more performances, including a successful performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. 

In the fall of 1863, Teresita gave a private concert at the White House invited by then-US President Abraham Lincoln.

At the age of 13, Teresa traveled to Paris where she met famous composers such as Rossini, Gounod, and years later Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Vivier. In the room of Madame Erard, Teresa had the opportunity to play with Franz Liszt, who was amazed by her performing abilities. 

Soon, news tours in Latin America and the United States were added to her European tour. 

In addition to her career as a concert pianist, Carreño distinguished herself as an outstanding mezzo-soprano, as well as being an important piano teacher, counselor, and tutor of important artists, being one of the first to adopt the works of one of her students, the American composer and pianist Edward MacDowell, and also frequently performing works by his contemporary, the Norwegian composer and pianist Edvard Grieg.

With her broad musical genius, Carreño composed approximately 75 works for solo piano, voice and piano, for chorus and orchestra, and for instrumental ensembles. 

Teresa Carreño pointed out that the general culture of an artist was indispensable for the projection and development of his art. Therefore, she insisted on the importance of observing nature and studying human beings as creators, as well as having a knowledge of architecture, narrative and poetry.

Teresa Carreño - Serenade for String Orchestra 

U.S. Marine Chamber Orchestra (4:30)

https://youtu.be/5aDaOaoaX5c?si=R1DEUOOqMd9IXldz

Teresa Carreño is often considered the leading pianist in Latin America, and she is certainly one of the most important pianists in the world of the late 19th and early 20th century

9.- Nadia Boulanger (1887 – 1979)

Born in a family of renown musicians, Juliette Nadia Boulanger lived under the shadow of her famous sister, Lili Boulanger, but her own musical talent eventually shone through, becoming the teacher of some of the most renown musical figures in the 20th century, such as Daniel Barenboim, John Eliot Gardiner, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, Astor Piazzolla, and Aaron Copland.

From the age of 7, Nadia began preparing her Conservatoire entrance exams, lessons in which she was joined by her younger sister Lili. Nadia finally entered the conservatory at age 9.

In 1900, when Nadia was 13, her father died and money became a problem for the family. Nadia continued to study at the Conservatoire to become a teacher and thus contribute to her family's support. She left the Conservatory in 1904, winning a first prize in harmony, and started teaching. 

Although, Nadia was a keen composer, and her work – strongly influenced by Debussy – was encouraged by Raoul Pugno and Gabriel Fauré, several consecutive failures in winning the musical competitions she took part in made her focus on her teaching, where she found success and satisfaction. 

In 1907 she was appointed to teach elementary piano and accompagnement au piano at the newly created Conservatoire Femina-Musica, and was also appointed as assistant to Henri Dallier, the professor of harmony at the Conservatoire. 

In 1908, she won the Second Grand Prix at the Prix de Rome competition for her cantata, La Sirène. That same year, Boulanger and Pugno collaborated on composing a song cycle, Les Heures claires, which earned enough praise as to encourage them in their collaboration.

In 1912, Nadia made her debut as a conductor, leading the Société des Matinées Musicales orchestra. In 1913, her sister Lili won the coveted Prix de Rome composition prize, the first woman to do so. 

During the First World War, Nadia continued teaching and composing, but not without struggles. Although the Conservatoire Femina-Musica had closed during the war, a new music school in Paris was founded, the École normale de musique de Paris, and Nadia was invited to join.

In 1918, Lili died, leaving a profound sense of loss in Nadia. However, she continued teaching as her main source of income, now at the French Music School for Americans, as professor of harmony. However, by 1924 she gave up composing altogether. Her friend Gabriel Fauré considered this a mistake, but Nadia was adamant, declaring, "If there is one thing of which I am certain, it is that I wrote useless music."

After her mother's death in1935, Nadia felt finally free to take over new teaching opportunities across the Atlantic in the United States, where she found her greatest success.  

Nadia Boulanger was the first woman to conduct many major orchestras in the United States and Europe, including the BBC Symphony, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé orchestra in Manchester, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She also conducted several world premieres, including works by Copland and Stravinsky, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist.

Her compositions include vocal work, chamber and solo works, orchestral, and collaborations with Raoul Pugno.

Nadia Boulanger - Soir d'hiver (1915) (3:41)

https://youtu.be/ctt-H-NtBNk?si=d-XG8xdCRIWQ95Ph

During her life Nadia was awarded many honors, among them: Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur (1932), Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1962), Médaille d'Or of the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France (1975), Grand officier to the Légion d'honneur (1977), Order of the British Empire (1977), Order of St. Charles of Monaco (1977). 

But some of the best honors came from her former students. Quincy Jones claims that she once told him: "Your music can never be more or less than you are as a human being"

10.- Florence Price (1887-1953)

Florence Beatrice Price was born to a mixed-race family in Little Rock, Arkansas. This origin meant that she had to work harder than all her peers in order to achieve success. 

Her mother was a music teacher, and began giving Florence lessons in piano and composition when she was still a toddler. Florence gave her first public piano performance at the age of 4, and by the time she was 11, she had her first original piece published. Later, she graduated from high school as valedictorian at the age of 14, all of which reveals her extraordinary genius. 

In 1902, Florence continued her musical studies at the New England Conservatory, and took private lessons.

Due to her mixed race and the prejudices of the time, she followed her mother´s advice and passed for Mexican rather than revealing her coloured ancestry, in order to gain acceptance at the Conservatory. There she studied piano and organ performance, being the only student in her class to graduate with a double major, and later continued her studies in composition with the Conservatory’s director, George Whitefield Chadwick

After her graduation in 1906, Florence continued developing her compositions and began to earn acclaim for her piano and organ pieces.

In 1923, she rose to national fame when her Symphony in E minor won the prestigious Wanamaker Competition.

In 1933, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiered her Symphony No. 1, thus becoming the first non-white female composer to have her work performed by a major American orchestra.

Florence Price - Symphony No. 3 in C Minor (4:57)

https://youtu.be/jMKDIKai_pI?si=2SM0B_Sj0HN9Fp1H

Among many other outstanding works, Florence Price wrote the arrangement of “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord”, sung by the renown contralto Marian Anderson in her historic performance at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939.

In her compositions, Price applies distinct harmonies, rhythms, and instruments inspired from all the cultural sources that have given the United States its particular sound, describing its rich musical idiosyncrasy, which transcends race, gender, or creed. 

Aside from large-scale orchestral works, Price was also a prolific composer of songs, and of other musical pieces. However, despite the acclaim of her work, most of her 300 compositions are yet to be published and discovered by audiences.  

11.- Laurie Anderson (1947)

Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is not only an avant-garde musician and composer, but also a ground-breaking artist, and filmmaker, and her background is as eclectic as her music.

Although she began her musical studies in violin at a young age, her first college degree was in Art History. Later, she obtained a Masters in Sculpting, but after graduation she began to produce performance art projects which focused on language, new technologies, sound, and visual imagery. 

A path that she has continued, mixing performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects, always adapting cutting edge technologies in the pursuit of artistic expression. 

In 1981, her experimental song "O Superman" reached #2 on the UK singles chart, launching her to relative fame and providing her with rare commercial success for an avant-garde artist.

A year later, she released her debut studio album “Big Science”, which has since been followed by several other productions exploring and stretching the limits of sound, the human voice, visuals, and new technologies.

In addition to being a virtuoso violinist, percussionist, keyboardist, and singer, Laurie is also one of the few women pioneers in electronic music, having invented or developed many of the experimental musical devices that she uses in her recordings and performance art shows. 

For instance, she created a tape-bow violin that uses recorded magnetic tape on the bow instead of horsehair and a magnetic tape head in the bridge, which creates particular sounds.

Laurie Anderson’s Violin (7:13)

https://youtu.be/GkUIVVPNEOs?si=JIpfOHYMXdwGSyRb

In 1997, Laurie collaborated along Interval Research in the development of a "talking stick", a six-foot-long (1.8 m) baton-like MIDI controller that can access and replicate sounds.

In addition to her artistic work, Anderson has also participated in documentaries, films and videos as performer, presenter, director, and/or producer.

As a musician, she has a long list of collaborations with a wide array of musicians, such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Nona Hendryx, Patti LaBelle, Lou Reed, Kronos Quartet, and many more.

Throughout her career, Laurie has been nominated for 6 Grammy awards, obtaining one, along with many other recognitions for her outstanding and unique artistic achievements.

12.- Anne Dudley (1956)

Anne Jennifer Dudley is a critically-acclaimed composer, arranger, conductor, producer, and keyboardist, and it’s very possible that you may have heard her music –  more than once.

Trained as a classical musician, she earned a Masters in music from King’s College London in 1978. However, in 1983 she joined the synth-pop group “The Art of Noise”, which pioneered the used of samplers and electronica.

Some of their hits include "Beat Box" (1984), "Moments in Love" (1985), "Close (to the Edit)" (1984), and "Paranoimia" (1986), an inventive track which includes a monologue by the A.I. character, Max Headroom. In 1988, the group had a top-10 hit with their Tom Jones collaboration, "Kiss".

In addition to working with The Art of Noise, Anne also began working as a session musician, arranger, and later as a producer, all of which allowed her to expand her musical expertise. 

Anne’s musical versatility has allowed her to work comfortably both in the classical and pop genres, always providing her distinctive mark, such as the string and orchestra arrangements for A-ha's hit song “Hunting High and Low”, which she produced. 

In fact, her long list of collaborations include artists such as Rod Stewart, Robbie Williams, Marc Almond, Seal, Debbie Harry, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and many more.

In the late 1980s, Anne expanded her expertise by starting to compose music scores for film and television. In 1998, she won an Oscar for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score for “The Full Monty”. 

Dozens of films bear her music, including, “Buster”, “The Crying Game”, “American History X”, “Monkeybone”, and “Tristan & Isolde”. Some of her compositions for television shows include “Kavannagh QC”, “The 10th Kingdom”, “Poldark”, and “The Velveteen Rabbit”.

In 2001, Anne became the first women in the BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association. 

In 2012, she served as music producer for the film version of “Les Misérables”, a capacity that included arranging and composing new additional music for the film.

But aside from composing for others, Anne Dudley has also carved herself a career as a solo artist, releasing several albums.  

Anne Dudley - Prelude and Chaconne (4:41)

https://youtu.be/_k_8VLglZQE?si=buTCQuUyY266lhcR

Her music declares her strong classical foundation, often using a classical orchestration background, but her harmonies are usually mixed with modern elements, which bestows them a distinct character.

To learn more about Anne Dudley, visit her official website: https://www.annedudley.co.uk/

To Learn More

From composers to singers, conductors and musicians, there are hundreds of women in music history! If our little list inspired you and you wish to learn more about other women musicians, visit the Donne Women in Music Foundation website, which in addition to working to create more opportunities for women in music, includes a “big list” of over 5000 women in the music world:

https://donne-uk.org/donne-foundation/

Sources: Wikipedia, BBC Music, Donne, Classicalguitarcorner

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