Re: Female Compsers??
Of course there have been and are female composers. Theyve just been less successful than their male counterparts, at least in terms of what gets played and recorded. And theyve been around for a long time. Looking for names, one can always go all the way back to Hildegard von Bingen in the Middle Ages. Id say there are more at least reasonably successful women composers now than in prior centuries, and indeed some are very good. I count Sofia Gubaidulina among the elite composers working today, and Augusta Read Thomas, Kaija Saariaho, and Gloria Coates, to name three, all write individual, well-crafted works that get played and recorded. For instance, Ms Thomas has attracted the attention of Pierre Boulez, who has led the premieres of some of her works, and Ms Saariaho works routinely with Esa-Pekka Salonen. Ms Gubaidulina is an A-lister who writes for and collaborates with people like Valery Gergiev, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Yuri Bashmet. Her St John Passion is a masterpiece as far as Im concerned, as is her Viola Concerto.
