Women in Music UK Blog

Not just one update today but two .....  This is a generous offer from ISM who so brilliantly support musicians and composers with practical, networking and one to one expertise and help - follow the link below for full details.

To benefit from this outstanding offer please email [email protected] and I will send you the magic CODE! Obviously this is primarily for WiM members - however those of you  reading this blog - or on out twitter feed @WomeninMusicUK  are close in so ..... HURRY

"As a friend and partner of the ISM, we’d like to thank Women in Music for your support by offering your musicians an exclusive summer gift of 15% off ISM individual membership if they join as new members by 31 August.

With this offer your musicians would be eligible for full rate membership for £145.35 (usually £171) or graduate rate membership for just £63.75 (usually £75) for the first year - if they have graduated with their first music degree within the last ten years they can take advantage of our graduate discount. Students studying for their degree level qualification in music are eligible for student membership at just £15.

The benefits of membership include comprehensive insurances, expert legal advice and representation, award-winning professional development, free promotion and discounts on hundreds of products and services. You can find out more at ism.org. "

This looks interesting and an excellent initiative which more companies could be inspired to follow and empower girls and young women in areas where there are not good resources, much less an awareness of specifically supporting girls.

Take a look http://www.audiomediainternational.com/recording/audient-gear-donation-helps-expand-women-s-audio-mission/06736

Four of the five winners of the 2017 BBC Proms Inspire Competition for young composers are female.  A big congratulations to all the winners.  Women in Music is very pleased to see such a talented new generation of young women coming up.  It is very good, too, to see a gender balanced judging panel.  It really does make a difference. 

BBC Proms Inspire Day is the 14th August.  Watch or listen in if you can.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/proms-inspire-winners

One of Women in Music founder members, award winning composer and much more Shirley J Thompson was DJ Ritu's guest in the Heritage series on Resonance FM recently so Women in Music decided to share the link      https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/heritage-at-a-world-in-london-18th-july-2017/

DJ Ritu presents a special show with Shirley J. Thompson - prodigious composer, conductor, artistic director, educator and cultural activist. Here 'Heroines of Opera' features at Tete A Tete on 27 July 2017, while 'All the World is Better Meets The Woman Who Refused to Dance' is part of the Venice Biennale - Diaspora Pavilion from 13 May to 26 November 2017; and she is a featured artiste at the Black Sound Exhibition, Black Cultural Archives, 7 April to 4 November 2017. Visit www.twitter.com/socltweet for more information

Resonance 104.4fm & DAB in London   www.resonancefm.com

Alison Blunt is a composer, performer, writer, arranger, educator and long standing member and supporter of Women in Music.  News of her wonderful work can be found here:

Kyla Greenbaum was a founder member of WiM. She died on 15th June aged 95.

Wim member Jennifer Fowler says

Those of us from the early years will remember her well.

She used to host committee meetings sometimes, where we were all showered with generous quantities of food and drink. She was a formidable woman who was also kind and generous. I am very glad to have known her.

She was a very well-known pianist in her day - promoting difficult and virtuosic contemporary music during the war and after, often as a soloist at The Proms. Also, at the Myra Hess National Gallery concerts in the war. The obituary says her grand piano still had scratches where the ceiling collapsed on it as she was hiding underneath during a German bombing raid.

 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kyla-greenbaum-obituary-93nhb0mnn

Roxanna Panufnik's new people's opera, Silver Birch, with a libretto by Jessica Duchen, is to be premiered by Garsington Opera in July.  More information here.

http://www.garsingtonopera.org/performance/silver-birch

Another powerful and important article from NewMusicBox

http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/candy-floss-and-merry-go-rounds-female-composers-gendered-language-and-emotion/

For some years Women in Music (UK) has been doing a survey of the numbers of women represented in the BBC PROMS season. The Proms is the largest classical music festival in the world.

You can read this year's survey results here.

http://www.womeninmusic.org.uk/proms-survey.htm 

NOTE: Anyone is welcome to quote these statistics, but please mention the source. The figures for past Proms seasons are also available on the Women in Music (UK) website: http://www.womeninmusic.org.uk/

A great intiative by PRS Foundation supported the European Union

http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/2017/04/28/keychange/