A GROUNDBREAKING musical project which challenges the lack of female representation in composing will hold its world premiere in Glasgow in May.
Final rehearsals for Composeher are underway ahead of the concert at Glasgow City Halls on May 27 this year, with tickets now on sale.
Composeher - which will debut seven 10 minute works of choral music by female composers from Scotland, England, Australia and the United States - was originally expected to take place in 2021, but was delayed as a result of the pandemic.
It was devised by the Glasgow School of Art Choir in response to research revealing the huge gender inequalities in the granting of music commissions.
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The Counting the Music Industry Research (2019) revealed that, of the 12,040 writers of music represented by UK publishers, just 14 per cent were female.
The GSA Choir responded in 2019 by fundraising and commissioning seven female composers to produce brand new pieces of music which will be showcased at the Composeher event.
The participating composers are Dee Isaacs, Cecilia McDowall, Pippa Murphy, Sarah Rimkus, Ailie Robertson, Rebecca Rowe and Jane Stanley.
Jamie Sansbury, musical director for the GSA Choir, said: “Since the choir was founded in 2012, we have sought to commission and champion new work.
“We love working with composers and sharing their work with our audience. When we realised how significant the gender imbalance was for women in the industry, we wanted to do our bit to address this.
“We could not have imagined at the outset just how amazing the Composeher project would be.
“The works that have been created are fantastic and explore a whole range of topics that we all care about from a passion for the natural world, to the impact of war and loss.
“This will be an evening with rich rewards for our audience. We want to make this an evening of celebration and the ensemble is truly excited to be bringing these works to life.”
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The GSA Choir was founded in January 2012 by Mr Sansbury, who was then a third year student at the art school.
It has gone from having just 16 members when the choir performed its inaugural concert to now performing with around 110 singers drawn from current students, alumni, teaching and support staff.
The Composeher project has already been hailed by Dr Anna Beer, cultural historian and the author of Sounds and Sweet Airs, as creating a “platform for music created by women, here and now, and for the future”.
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Dr Beer will host a pre-performance panel session with some of the composers, which will be free for all ticket-holders.
Mr Sansbury said: “Everyone in the GSA Choir wants to extend their thanks to the composers for creating such wonderful work for us to perform.
"This is by far our biggest and most challenging project, and we are loving every moment of it.”
Composeher has been delivered with support from Creative Scotland, the GSA, Glasgow Women’s Library, Graven and Spreng Thomson.
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