Guest blog: A deeper look at female classical composers of colour

Elizabeth de Brito - musicologist, host of The Daffodil Perspective podcast, and guest speaker at our recent event on programming women composers - shines a light on influential female composers of colour, and gives some tips on diversifying your repertoire.

Female composers have seen increased promotion in the past few years. There has been a great deal of work to create more gender balance in classical music, but this has largely been limited to white female composers. In the recent Making Music webinar on programming women composers, various resources were mentioned (such as the f-list for music, which includes some women composers of colour). But with the exception of Errollyn Wallen and Florence Price, every name mentioned at the event, aside from my contributions, was a white female composer.

Florence Price is an extraordinary composer and it’s incredible to see how much her work is being performed. But she’s exceptionalised among historical black female composers. And any other female composers of colour being programmed or discussed, apart from Europeans, are generally from the English-speaking world.

So, who else is out there? It can be difficult to find other composers, particularly when there is a language and an alphabet barrier.

I’d like to shine a light on five important female composers from around the world.

Chen Yi

Chen Yi is one of the greatest living Chinese composers (if not the very greatest). Chen Yi (born in 1953) was the first woman to receive a Master's in Music composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Chen Yi is based in the US, where she is Professor of composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Chen Yi writes for a wide variety of instrumentation and is renowned for blending Chinese and western composition techniques. In addition to her music for professional ensembles, Professor Chen has written pieces for developing musicians, including her 'Spring Festival' for concert band.

Modesta Bor

Modesta Bor (1926-1998) was an influential 20th century Venezuelan composer, pedagogue and choral director. She was an important champion of musical nationalism. Many of her pieces were infused with folk idioms, as well as including arrangements of Venezuelan folk songs. Modesta Bor held many academic roles during her career, including Head of the Music Department at the Central University of Venezuela. She also won several National Prizes, including the prestigious National Prize for Music in 1991: the highest musical honour in Venezuela. Her output includes over 100 choral works, a breathtaking viola sonata and numerous solo piano pieces.

Michiru Oshima

Michiru Oshima (born 1961) is a Japanese composer, writing music for over 100 films and 200 TV series, both anime and live action. Most recently, she composed the music for Star Wars: Visions. In addition to writing for film and TV, Michiru Oshima has written a number of video game scores as well as straight classical music. Her classical music includes two symphonies and concertos for saxophone and viola, and she also contributed a violin encore for Hilary Hahn’s In 27 Pieces project. Michiru Oshima’s piece ‘Kazabue,’ the main theme from the TV series Asuka, has been arranged for almost every instrument and combo imaginable, including concert band, clarinet, violin, flute trio and orchestra.

Edewede Oriwoh

Edewede Oriwoh is a Nigerian composer based in the UK, known for writing choral music, including several liturgical works. She has also written music for flute, piano, violin and chamber music. Oriwoh’s chamber piece ‘Play’ was recorded on Ensemble Chaminade’s 2019 album The Other Half of Music, featuring female composers from around the world. She has made appearances on BBC Introducing and been performed by the Vox collective. Oriwoh is also the founder of AfricanComposers.com, a website promoting African composers.

Chiquinha Gonzaga

Chiquinha Gonzaga (1853-1947) was a great Brazilian composer. She wrote the first carnaval march, ‘O Abre Alas’, and was the first pianist of choro music. Gonzaga became Brazil’s first female conductor in 1885, premiering her opera A Corte Na Roça, and fought for copyright protection and more. Chiquinha Gonzaga’s music includes many piano works, vocal works and guitar music. Gonzaga’s music has been arranged for various instrumentation and ensembles. These include concert band arrangements of ‘O Abre Alas’, ‘Gaucho’ and ‘Lua Branca.’ Her piece ‘O meu Sertão’ has been arranged for choir as well.

So, how to programme female composers of colour? It can be very difficult to know what’s good, and who’s important.

Top tips

Analyse your current programmes and knowledge. Are you focusing on white female composers? How many composers of colour (besides Florence Price and Errollyn Wallen) do you know? Are any of them from Asia, Africa or South America? Knowing where you are now will give you a basis for where to head next.
Instead of assuming there aren’t any, just have a look. Assume there are some. Wherever in the world you go, you will probably find a handful (at the very least) of brilliant, fascinating, trailblazing female composers to programme.
Use the internet. There are a number of online databases specialising in various sections of diverse repertoire. Music by Black Composers has directories for both living and historical composers, sortable by gender and nationality. The publisher Theodore Front has sections for Asian composers and Latin American composers, including subsections for Asian and Latinx women composers. Donne Women In Music’s Big List of female composers has a subcategory with 395 Black, Asian and ethnically diverse composers.
Start with the composers that are easiest to find on online music retailers and sheet music services. There are a great number of composers that already have several recordings, dissertations and websites about their work - many more than you might think. While it’s not the ultimate benchmark for importance and quality, it can be a pretty good indicator, and you need a starting point. If there are three dissertations about a composer then you can bet her music is worth hearing!
Finally, head to some of the resources highlighted in the recent Making Music webinar or consider investing in a diverse repertoire consultant, such as myself, to assist you in tracking down suitable music for your group.

For more information contact Elizabeth at info@thedaffodilperspective.org

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