This season we are celebrating women in music in our concerts. Even though the orchestra has been in existence for over 40 years and has played a huge amount of repertoire during that time, there has so far only ever been one piece composed by a woman on the programme, so we felt it is time to address that! Each of our evening concerts includes a piece from the pen of a female composer and we hope you enjoy discovering them. 

Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was a successful composer and member of the women’s suffrage movement – she composed the suffragettes’ anthem and famously conducted the song with a toothbrush through her prison cell window! Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003) had huge success composing for films with Rank Organisation. Amy Beach (1867-1944) was an American pianist and composer, and the first American woman to publish a symphony.