Caroline Shaw, Anna Clyne
There’s a lot to listen to as we enter February 2026!
On January 26th, Bachtrack released its classical music stats for 2025. They have named Anna Clyne and Caroline Shaw as two of the top 10 most-performed composers of 2025. The editors have noted that women composers have made notable gains since 2016: in 2016, seven women were among the top 250 most performed composers, both living and dead. By 2025, their numbers had risen to 30 out of the top 250, with eight of them among the top 100 most performed. The most performed women composers were all familiar names to readers of Feminist in the Concert Hall: Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, Kaija Saariaho, Rebecca Clarke, and Hildegard von Bingen. Living composers also formed a substantial portion of music performed, and more than a few women were counted in their ranks. Caroline Shaw and Anna Clyne were two of the top 10 most performed, but Jessie Montgomery and Gabriela Ortiz both also saw significant gains in the number of pieces performed. Hopefully we’ll see the trend continue in 2026!
Patricia Leonard, composer
Gaia Flagello, composer
On February 7th, ROCO (Houston, TX, formerly the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra) performs its concert “Do You hear What I Hear?” at the Church of St. John the Divine in Houston. Featured on the program are two new ROCO premieres: Patricia Leonard‘s piece Persistence of the Dream and Gala Flagello’s Droughts and Downpours for string orchestra. Leonard’s piece is a ROCO commission to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (Elsewhere on the program are Duke Ellington’s New World A-Comin’ featuring soloist ROCO pianist Audrey Andrist, and Jason Stephens’ ROCO-commissioned rescore of Antonin Dvořák’s New World Symphony.)
Patricia Leonard composes primarily opera and musical theater in New York City and the surrounding area; she is graduate of both the Boston Conservatory and The Juilliard School. Among her numerous awards and affiliations, she was honored to be one of the “Founding Ladies of Music” as part of the “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman” Quilt Concert for the Women’s Suffrage anniversary, alongside acclaimed women composers including Joan Tower and Thea Musgrave. Gala Flagello is a composer and educator “whose work is inspired by a passion for lyricism, rhythmic vitality, and fostering meaningful collaboration.” Her music has been performed in 39 U.S. states, seven countries, and at conferences across the world.
This performance will be livestreamed free at ROCO.org, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch.
Mette Henriette, composer
On February 8, the Kensington Sinfonia (Calgary, Canada) will perform its program “Past as Prologue” at St. Stephen’s Church in Calgary. The concert features Das Dage by Sámi-Norwegian composer Mette Henriette, Adoration for string orchestra by Florence Price, and Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds. The 2025 winner of the Kensington Sinfonia Concerto Competition, Katrice Shu, will also perform her chosen piece (“Summer” by Vivaldi, paired with Max Richter’s re-imagining of “Spring” by the same, featured in the first season of Shondaland’s Bridgerton.) Henriette is a composer, improvising saxophonist, bandleader, scriptwriter, and actress. Her work draws inspiration from contemporary sounds and methods, Sámi cosmology, and the landscapes of Northern Europe. Adoration (Price) and Rounds (Montgomery) are two of the most played works by these composers, especially by string orchestras—they have been fan favorites since their re-discovery in the last few years, and orchestras are quickly adding them to their arsenals of regular pieces. Tickets are available via Eventbrite or on the Kensington Sinfonia website.
Below is a recording of Montgomery’s Rounds, performed in 2025 by pianist Awadagin Pratt and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Na’Zir McFadden.
On Feb 20th the Parker Symphony Orchestra (Parker, CO) presents its concert “Awe-Inspiring American Women” at the PACE Center. The concert features work by five American women composers: Joan Tower, Carolyn Shaw, Valerie Coleman, Amy Beach, and Florence Price. The program will mix works for chamber groups and other section configurations found within the orchestra, such as the brass section, woodwind quintet, and strings-only orchestra, as well as the full ensemble. They begin with their chosen brass section feature, Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman n.1; continue with Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte for strings; and finish building the orchestra with Valerie Coleman’s Tzigane for woodwind quintet. The full ensemble then performs the third movement of Amy Beach’s “Gaelic” Symphony (the Symphony in E Minor, Op. 32) and Florence Price’s Symphony n.1. Together, these pieces offer a diverse and compelling sample of women composers’ work in the United States through much of its recent history.
Below is a recording of the final work, Price’s Symphony n.1, performed by the Chineke! Orchestra in 2020 under the direction of Roderick Cox as a part of the orchestra’s “Black Landscapes” concert.
On February 22nd, the Northshore Concert Band (NCB, Chicago, IL) will present its program “In Good Company” at the Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston, IL. Four of the six pieces on their concert areworks by women: Reena Esmail’s Tuttarana (originally for choir), Chen Yi’s Spring Festival, Christina Huss’s When an Angel Gets Its Wings, and Michele Fernández’s La Fiera Asturiana. (John Mackey’s Sheltering Sky and Slocum & Reed’s band arrangement of Elgar’s Enigma Variations will also be performed.)