Organisations Supporting Women Composers & Performers
It’s an important part of our mission to support women in all parts of the music industry. Here’s a selection of the organisations, ensembles, podcasts and websites supporting female composers and performers. If you enjoy our content, you can support us on Ko-fi, where anyone who feels like it can gift us the price of a coffee with no strings attached. Thank you.
Her Ensemble is the UK's first women's and non-binary orchestra. It was created in November 2020 by violinist Ellie Consta after she discovered that just 3.6% of the classical pieces performed worldwide were written by women. The group is passionate about channelling their talent and passion into creating meaningful change within the music industry, subverting outdated traditions and showcasing music by women and non-binary artists past and present in a way which is accessible to all regardless of age, race, gender or class. When performing, Her Ensemble opt for colourful suits over a gender-specific dress code.
DONNE is a charitable foundation founded by Gabriella Di Laccio that fights against gender inequality in the music industry. Its main goal is to celebrate, advance, and amplify women in music so that they are seen, heard, and appreciated for their talent, and leave a legacy of inspiration for future generations. Visit their site to find a big list of women composers, which features 5,000 composers and counting...
This is a brand-new collective highlighting successful female and non-binary role models to encourage young girls, women, and non-binary people to take up brass, percussion, and large and shiny instruments and to view this as a viable career path. Visibility is key in an industry that at present is extremely under-represented on the concert stage. Its founders are Beth Higham-Edwards and Letty Stott, who both play large instruments that haven’t traditionally been viewed as ‘feminine’ choices.
Women have always composed sacred music, but their output has often been omitted from established anthologies. Consequently, women are hugely underrepresented in this genre. The Multitude of Voyces anthology series presents 63 women composers spanning 800 years of music, across three printed volumes, with many historical works published for the first time, and several works composed specially for our volumes by both emerging and established composers.
The F-List is a directory of UK female and gender minority musicians, created by Vick Bain. It aims to empower women to start and sustain careers in music, and helps event and festival organisers discover female talent. Why is this needed? Well, research by the BBC suggests that only 8% of the artists headlining the UK’s major festivals in Summer 2021 were female, and Vick Bain’s own research shows that just under 20% of acts signed to labels are female. Female musicians across all genres can sign up and create a free listing on The F-List website.
Instagram, Spotify, Apple Music
A podcast by Ellie and Ben, music students at Royal Holloway, who are on a voyage of discovery to learn about the Western classical composers they don’t know so well. At the end of each episode they swipe left or right, deciding whether they should be included in a brand-spanking new canon. Listen to learn about composers Sofia Gubaidulina, Bright Sheng, Ruth Gipps, Morfydd Llwyn Owen, Madeleine Dring, Germaine Tailleferre and Florence Price.
Illuminate, founded by Dr Angela Elizabeth Slater, promotes the work of emerging women composers and performers, and gives a platform for historical repertoire by women composers to sit alongside new works. The Illuminate concert series provides opportunities for women composers to have their work performed, and commissions around 10 new works every year. Its 2021 season includes concerts in Brighton, Stafford, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, London, Manchester and Cardiff.
The Basilinda Consort is an early music ensemble founded in 2023 dedicated to exploring the musical lives of English Christian women religious. Focused on exiled English convent music, we explore the rich history of medieval and early modern English women as singers, players, composers, commentators, writers, and even bookbinders. From Tromba Marinas to Dutch ditties, we find the nooks and crannies of music history and bring their sounds to life.
Pianists Sandra Mogensen and Erica Sipes decided to pursue their shared interest in helping people explore the world of piano music composed by women. In order to make it easy to find this repertoire, they have sorted through the entirety of the great online resource, IMSLP, and have compiled the PMSW Directory. This online guide provides access to thousands of scores of pieces composed by women and information about each composer.
The Society of Women Organists (SWO) is a large and growing community of people dedicated to achieving an equal gender balance in the organ world. Their mission is to support all women organists, promote women's activities in the organ world and recruit girls and women of all ages and backgrounds to study the organ. They are inclusive, empowering, challenging and open-minded who believe in giving girls and women an equal chance to excel as organists and succeed in the profession.
EMPOWER: Women Changing Music is an initiative born out of the desire for fairness and gender equality in the music industry. EMPOWER showcases female composers and musicians, whose talents have been left in the shadows for too long, to ensure a move away from the dead white men who have taken centre stage in concert halls across the world. EMPOWER has given a platform for female composers to premiere new works at their events, which otherwise may not have made it to the stage.
97 Ensemble is a group of musicians aiming to raise awareness to the statistic that 97% of women aged 18-24 experience sexual harassment in the UK. They work closely with the charity Solace Women’s Aid and give performances in their women and children’s shelters as part of their mission to bring classical music to everyone. In April 2025, 97 Ensemble performed at the Houses of Parliament as part of Solace Women’s Aid’s 50th Anniversary.
Devoted to promoting women in classical music, the Tailleferre Ensemble is a UK- based chamber collective founded by oboists Nicola Hands and Penelope Smith. Since its inception in 2019 the group has gone from strength to strength. The ensemble’s work encompasses diverse instrumentation, time periods, and genres, with a particular onus on promoting underrepresented and underappreciated works and composers, both historical and contemporary. Their playing has been praised for its ‘extensive palette of timbres’.
Chords & Queens is a podcast that uncovers the untold stories of the world’s most captivating female composers—with a fresh, modern twist! Every week, they shine a spotlight on a trailblazing woman who reshaped the world of music, diving into her life, her legacy, and the timeless sounds she brought to the world. Hosted by composer and multi instrumentalist Jennifer Athan.
The Corelia Project is an initiative that strives to normalise inclusion and diversity in classical music through the performance and promotion of works by women and all gender-marginalised composers. It seeks to address the huge gender imbalance that still exists in the programming of classical music. The project website hosts a searchable database of chamber music aimed at musicians who are looking to discover repertoire by women. Its purpose is to make this music as accessible as possible by reducing the time required to research under-represented composers.
Vulva Voce puts performance at the forefront, combining movement, experimentation and improvisation to produce a truly dynamic show. They combine their musical influences of folk, contemporary classical, techno and beyond, to push the boundaries of how a string quartet can sound, perform and engage with an audience. At the heart of their performance is the empowerment of women's voices and stories. The music they play is entirely created by women and underrepresented artists from across history, including original music and specially commissioned works.
Hannah Fiddy is a creative entrepreneur, developing new audiences for classical music. She has created and promoted numerous concerts outside of traditional spaces, including warehouses, pubs, clubs, museums, hospitals, prisons and even in Primark. Hannah is also an interviewer, writer and guest lecturer, and runs the Avon Chamber Choir in Bristol. In a past life she founded London Flashmob, producing quirky events from wedding proposals to cultural pranks for up to 1,000 people.
Follow Hannah on Twitter @Hannah_Fiddy.
