International Women's Day

Today (8 March 2015) is International Women's Day, and this fact seems to have caught the imaginations of various musical institutions. BBC Radio 3 is devoting the whole day to music by female composers with Barbara Strozzi as Composer of the Week and a concert by the BBC Symphony Orchestra of contemporary women composers. The lunchtime concert comes live from the Royal College of Music which is having its own programme of events (see my preview) including the premiere of a new piece by Judith Bingham, a public master-class from Imogen Cooper, student workshops with percussionist Genevieve Wilkins and composer Anna Meredith, an exhibition and college alumnae Amy Green and Charlotte Harding present Over 100 years of Women and the Saxophone.

Over at St John's Smith Square, the Amadè Players celebrate International Women’s Day with the women’s charity Associated Country Women of the World. The concert will showcase some of London’s most young period performers, joined by soprano Ailish Tynan in music by Vivaldi from his time at the Ospedale della Pietà. An all female choir (as at the convent) will perform Vivaldi's Gloria, recorder player Olwen Foulkes performs the rarely-heard Concerto in C minor, RV441 whilst violinists Katie Holmes and Dominika Fehér play the double concerto in A major, RV522.

The all-female choir combines members of The Amadè Players’ Professional Practice Scheme (aged 20-24) and young professional singers, brought together specifically for this performance. They also sing the less well-known Kyrie in G minor, RV587.