News to start your week!
WQXR had a blog post this week highlighting historical figures who also wrote music. Included in their list is Catherine the Great – though she was a librettist, not a composer. What a shame to not include at least a few other female historical figures who composed, like: Anne Boleyn; Princess Amalie of Saxony; Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia; Duchess Maria Antonia, Princess of Bavaria; and Liliuokalani, the last reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Fiona Maddocks of The Guardian interviewed Hannah Kendall before the world premiere of her composition, Spark Catchers, at the BBC Proms on August 30. Kendall, a British composer, is already making a name for herself in the UK and beyond. Learn more about her music, background, and the continued challenges women and people of color face in classical music here.
Wired profiles the work of electronic composer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Learn more, and listen in to her work, here.
What did we miss? What are you reading? Let us know!