Peter somerford biography

As 2018–19 concert seasons launch this month, the scarcity of music by women composers in the calendars of major symphony orchestras highlights a persistent gender gap in the world of classical music.

Research by Drama Musica, a British independent record label that explores works by female composers, found that of a total of 3,524 works being presented by 15 of the world’s leading orchestras this season, only 82 (2.3%) were written by a woman.

The main season announcements from the Chicago Symphony and Philadelphia orchestras were both notable for their complete absence of female composers.

Such numbers may be disheartening, if not surprising, to advocates of diversity in programming, but there are signs that the industry is making moves towards gender equality.

For example, the BBC Proms and the Aldeburgh and Cheltenham music festivals are among more than 100 international festivals across different music genres that have signed up to the PRS Foundation’s ‘Keychange’ pledge