Welcome to another week of listening to women in music! There is lots to hear this week.
Karina Canellakis, conductor
Announced June 15th, the London Philharmonic Orchestra will extend their partnership with their Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis for an additional three years (through the 2029/30 season). Canellakis began her role with the LPO in 2021 and has led the orchestra in award-winning projects throughout the UK and Europe. Their recent tour with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter was nominated for an Opus Klassik Tour of the Year award; in 2025 they released a double CD of Tchaikovsky’s 5th and 6th symphonies on the LPO’s house label.
After winning the 2016 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Canellakis has been a guest conductor with leading orchestras across the United States, the UK, and Europe. She will continue her work with the LPO simultaneously with her role as Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Listeners will be able to see and hear Canellakis in action during the 2026/27 season with: her Lucerne Festival debut, Musikfest Berlin (with the RFO and Netherlands Radio Choir), the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and EIF choir at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Swedish Radio Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, and her Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva debut.
Lately, the La Maestra Competition has announced its 2026 finalists. Now in its fourth edition, the International Competition for Women Conductors “La Maestra” continues to pursue its goal for increasing women’s representation on the conductor’s podium and in musical leadership. It cites as its three goals: ” to champion the professional ambitions of women conductors, to unite the international musical community behind a strong commitment to gender equality on the podium, and to provide emerging conductors with the support they did not always receive during their training.” Finalists are: Molly Turner, Alizé Léhon, Jiajing Lai, and Mojca Lavrenčič.
On June 22 the world will celebrate the centenary of composer Ruth Zechlin (1926–2007). She studied at the Leipzig
Ruth Zechlin, composer
Academy of Music from 1943 – 1949, building her expertise in composition, choral conducting, and piano, and organ. Her prowess with keyboard instruments would lead to her reputation as a harpsichordist and cembalist. She moved to the newly-founded Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in East Berlin in 1950; in 1984 she became a full professor. There’s a streak of traditionalism in her work—particularly in homages to J.S. Bach—that hints at the limits imposed by Nazi ideology on her early training.
Three events are planned to commemorate the composer and her work across Germany this week: on June 22, “For Ruth Zechlin on her 100th birthday,” at the Händelhaus Halle; on June 23, “In Memory of Ruth Zechlin and Carl Maria von Weber,” at the Philharmonie Berlin; and from June 26 – 28, the “Symposium and concert: Ruth Zechlin 100 – Aesthetic and Political Constellations,” at the Schloss Belvedere in Weimar.
Below is a recording of Zechlin’s Venezianisches Cembalokonzert, for harpsichord and strings (1993) in three movements, performed by the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie and directed by Toshiyuki Kamioka.
Jagelski and Marlor, composers. Image credit: icareifyoulisten.com
On June 27, Protestra will present its concert “Founding Mothers” in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The concert will feature two premieres of works for orchestra by women composers, Danielle Jagelski and JL Marlor; it will also feature music by Amy Beach, Nadia Boulanger, Valerie Coleman, and Joan Tower, as well as Florence Price’s Symphony No. 4.
Amid the pieces by historical women composers t’s gratifying to see a piece that is not Price’s Symphony No. 1 appearing on the program. Audiences understandably love Price’s first symphony for its lyric tunes and lush orchestration; its premiere by the Chicago Symphony made her the first African-American woman to have her work premiered by a top American orchestra. It’s a fantastic work that ought to be programmed AND it’s not the only symphony worth listening to in her repertoire. I suspect (and hope!) that the popularity of Price’s first symphony is part of what prompted Protestra to look farther afield in her repertoire for music to include on their celebration concert. A. Kori Hill has produced a fabulous interview with both women, which can be reason I Care If You Listen‘s website.
From June 29 – July 1, the Boulanger Initiative will present a virtual course on music by women in the US: “Balancing the Narrative – Women Creating Music in the United States.” The Boulander Initiative course “goes head to head with the assumption that US-American music was written solely by men, and introduces you to the Women Composers of the United States: not as additions, but as essential voices in shaping the nation’s sound.” The virtual course will include sessions on early history and exploring women’s contributions to the foundations of music in the United States, the 19th and 20th centuries, and the recentpast/near future. Creators featured include: Crosby, Palmer Knapp, Crawford Seeger, Queen Lili’uokalani, and Ruthven Lang. Financial assistance is available for attendance.
Let us know who you’re listening to! Email us at info@wophil.org.