We are delighted to celebrate International Women’s Day 2017 with this special edition playlist! Clear your listening schedules and settle in to explore a mammoth archive of music from many of the Australian composers (and some Canadians too) featured in monthly playlists spanning January 2015 through to March 2017.

Whether composing as one who just happens to be female, through to exploring gender, femininity and feminism through their works, the archive below attests to the diversity of women working in the compositional spectrum.

Keep kicking your goals, fellow women! The arts wouldn’t be half the diverse, unique, story-telling, mind-blowing, challenging and beautiful space it is without you. We’re behind you and encourage you to take an active role in a connected, supportive community. There is room for everyone here: ears are open. We can’t wait to listen to all the music you’re going to submit to us in 2017! Happy International Women’s Day!
– Lisa & Peggy

Are you keen to learn more or get connected? Here are our picks of some wonderful resources, projects and podcasts related to gender parity in music. Do you have a suggestion for a resource that’s not mentioned here? We welcome you to share it in the comments below.

Websites

• International Alliance for Women in Music
• Australian Music Centre
• Donne in Musica
• New York Women Composers
• Fraen an Gender
• Women in Music
• Women’s Audio Mission
• ANU: Women in Creative Arts Conference (Aug 10-12, 2017)
• Roselind Appleby: Women of Note

Social Media: Groups, Pages and Podcasts

• Women in Composition (Facebook group)
• Women in Composition (Twitter)
• Making Conversation: Australian Composers’ Podcast (Our very own, launching April 21, 2017!)
• Listening to Ladies (Podcast)
• Meet the Composer (Podcast)
• Women Creators (Facebook group)
• Audible Women (Facebook group)
• Pink Noises (Facebook page)
• Alliance for Women Film Composers (Facebook page)

Reality check: Are you friends with a living female composer? Have you performed works by women? Are there women on your panel? Can you name a female composer who won a Pulitzer Prize for music? If the answer to any these questions is no, there’s no better time than right now to do your research and connect with an amazing history of work and a vibrant present (start exploring the composer profiles below and reach out).

Lastly, we feel it is important to mention that this playlist is in no way exhaustive of the number of amazing women creating music in Australia. In fact, we feel we’ve barely even scratched the surface! With this in mind we ask that you take the time to get to know the work of the composers below and share this playlist with your friends, students and colleagues.  If you enjoy our playlists you may like to sign up to the Making Waves E-Bulletin.

If this archive hasn’t satisfied your appetite for new music by women composers, you might like to check out this 78 hr playlist on Spotify celebrating 1200 years of women in composition. Actually…you should definitely do that anyway!

Dedication

This playlist is dedicated to composer Catherine Mary Sullivan (1982 – 2016).

YOUTUBE

We’re delighted to include a bonus YouTube playlist on our newly released Concert Hub from our friends at Ensemble Offspring.  Their concert Arc Electric is being broadcast on ABC Classic FM, 8 March 2017, 8pm.  To tune in and for details, visit: http://www.abc.net.au/classic/content/2017/03/08/4627644.htm

Featured by Making Waves:

The ‘playlist’ button will bring up a track listing which you can use to skip back and forth between the works.  If you want to check out the playlist and works in more detail, there is a button at the bottom right of the picture taking you directly through to YouTube. Please be mindful that this is over an hour worth of video, and it will chew the data! If you were going to tune in on a mobile device without a large data allowance, please consider listening in over wi-fi instead.

BANDCAMP

Click the play button to stream audio, or the album title, ‘buy’ and/or ‘share’ links to proceed through to the Bandcamp page listing full album and recording details.

VIMEO

Click on the videos above to view, share and like each video over at the Vimeo platform, and follow composers and channels.  You can also hear these videos together as a Vimeo Album.

Spotify

Click through to discover the album that tracks are from, or find more recordings from the composers and performers. Please note: Spotify requires and account to listen in – there is a free tier and a premium tier but you might need to create a login and password, or use your Facebook details.

SOUNDCLOUD

To find out more about a musical work, click on the track name in the playlist and then again on ‘view track’.