Paving the Way for Future Female Artists With The International Alliance for Women in Music

If you have been following my recent writings and recitals, you know I have a passion for female composers and musicians. Not only were their works groundbreaking and beautiful, but their determination and love for classical music have paved the way for the women musicians of today, including me.

From Francesca Caccini, the first woman to ever compose and publish an opera, to French musical pioneer Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, to Fanny Mendelssohn, who helped create the important genre of Songs without Words but never received credit, women have come a long way in the music industry but still have a way to go.

Because of this, I am delighted to be joining the board of the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM). I will be on the Development Committee, working on advocating and bolstering awareness for the organization and its mission.

If you aren’t familiar with the IAWM, it is an international membership organization dedicated to fostering and encouraging women in music, particularly in composing, performing, and research in which gender discrimination is an historic and ongoing concern. 

IAWM members try to increase the programming of music by female composers, to combat discrimination against female musicians, including as symphony orchestra members, and to include accounts of the contributions of women musicians in university music curricula and textbooks.

In addition to performers like me, IAWM also includes composers, arrangers, media artists, conductors, theorists, producers, musicologists, historians and educators. The diversity in specialization helps promote the mission of achieving gender equality. 

I am so honored to be part of this wonderful organization, as it adds to my personal mission of promoting works by women. Just like my mentors and predecessors, I want to pave the way for future female artists not only to have a platform to express themselves, but to thrive and succeed.