ABO 'Sirens' Fund - Walpurgis, Smyth, Tailleferre, Chaminade, Howell

In 2016 the Association of British Orchestras (ABO) received a gift from Diane Ambache for a new fund, 'Sirens' to raise awareness of the music written by historical women all over the world. The first round of annual grants, have been announced with music by Maria Antonia Walpurgis (1724-1780), Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944), and Dorothy Howell (1898-1982).

The Philharmonia Orchestra performs German aristocrat-musician Maria Antonia Walpurgis’s Sinfonia to Talestri, Queen of the Amazon in their flagship Key Stage 2 concert and engagement project Orchestra Unwrapped. The London Philharmonic Orchestra will include Ethel Smyth's Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra in the 2018/19 season. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will perform works by Germaine Tailleferre and Cécile Chaminade in three performances in Liverpool and Preston in 2018, conducted by Jessica Cottis. Southbank Sinfonia and conductor Rebecca Miller will celebrate Dorothy Howell, whose music was championed by Henry Wood at the Proms, but was then lost to obscurity until recently her manuscripts were re-discovered.