Research Guides: Diverse Music Score Initiative: Women from Around the World

Women Composers from Around the World

As Towson University is celebrating Women's History Month, The Albert S. Cook Library's Performing Arts will have a display titled "Women Composers from Around the World", to give recognition to 8 remarkable women from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds whose musical innovations have paved the way in the music industry and are continuing to inspire future generations of female musicians. The physical display will be up on Friday, March 8, 2024 (located on the 4th Floor of the Library). Majority of the titles that will be featured were purchased through the Diverse Scores Collection Initiative funded by the Library's DEI Action Grant.

In this section of the guide, you find the composer's biography, music scores from the new collection, Spotify playlist, live performances of their works, and interviews.

Credit: Naomi Graham, a Theatre student and library worker planned the "Women Composers from Around the World" display.

Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)

Margaret Bonds was an African American composer and pianist during the 20th century. Bonds was a composer, pianist, and educator best known for her arrangements of spirituals and jazz-infused style. Bonds taught piano, composed vocal music, and collaborated with prominent artists like Langston Hughes. Her works include spirituals, musical theater pieces, and orchestral compositions reflecting her ethnic identity and social themes.

To learn more information about Margaret Bonds, Click her image on the left.

1. Two works for solo piano / Margaret Bonds ; John Michael Cooper, editor.

2. African dance : for two voices and piano / Margaret Bonds ; text by Langston Hughes ; John Michael Cooper, editor.

Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981)

Mary Lou Williams, an African American composer, was best known as a jazz pianist whose style evolved with the times. She endeavored to help struggling jazz musicians in need and grew deeply involved in the Roman Catholic Church, even composing three jazz masses and other religious anthems. Williams’s prodigious talents as a jazz pianist helped her to break down stereotypes of both gender and race.

To learn more about Mary Lou Williams, Click her image on the left.

Zodiac suite : in twelve movements / composed and arranged by Mary Lou Williams ; edited by Jeffrey Sultanof and Rob Duboff.

Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)

Louise Farrnec was a French composer, pianist and tacher, showed talent at an early age. She trained in composition and orchestration with Reicha at the Paris Conservatorie. She lived in a time where women musicians attained prominence mainly as performers, and in a cultural environment which valued only theatre and salon music, she merits recognition as a pioneering scholar and a forerunner of the French musical renaissance of the 1870s.

To learn more information about Louise Farrnec, Click her image on the left.

Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)

Barbra Strozzi was an Italian composer and singer during the 15th century. She began her professional composing career in 1644, dedicating works to various patrons. Strozzi's compositions mainly include ariettas, arias, and cantatas for solo voice and continuo, showcasing Marinist love poetry. Her style, influenced by the seconda prattica tradition, is characterized by lyrical vocal sound and contrast in musical form. Strozzi's music, suitable for lyrical soprano voices, often reflects her own experiences and emotions.

To learn more about Barbra Strozzi, Click her image on the left.

1. Lagrime Mie, Lamento, Op. 7.04 : For Soprano and Continuo

2. The two-voice madrigals & duets. Part 1, Equal voices : from opus 1, opus 2, and opus 3 / Barbara Strozzi ; edited by Richard Kolb.

3. Joys abiding : an annotated anthology : soprano and baritone duets by historical women composers / edited by Chuck Dillard, Dana Zenobi, and Oliver Worthington.

Jennifer Higdon (1962-present)

Jennifer Higdon is an American composer and flutist. Higdon’s orchestral music features extensive use of percussion, which governs the fourth movement of her Concerto for Orchestra. Additionally, her style is noteworthy for its use of open fifth intervals and attention to tone color accomplished primarily through unorthodox string soli, which are highly prevalent in her most popular work, blue cathedral.

To learn more about Jennifer Higdon, Click her image on the left.

1. The grace of presence : for solo vibraphone / Jennifer Higdon.

2. Trumpet Songs: For Trumpet and Piano

Tania León (1943-present)

Tania León is a Cuban American composer and conductor of mixed descent (French, Spanish, African, Chinese). She studied music in Havana before moving to the USA. She has had a successful career as a pianist, conductor, and composer, with notable associations with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. Her compositions blend American influences like jazz and gospel with elements from her Cuban and African heritage. Her works are known for their technical complexity, dense textures, angular melodies, and colorful orchestration.

To learn more about Tania León, Click her image on the left.

1. Momentum : for solo piano / Tania León.

2. Bailarín : for solo guitar = für Gitarre solo / Tania León.

Du Yun (1977-present)

Du Yun is a Chinese American composer and performing vocalist. Yun was born and raised in Shanghai, China, and currently based in New York City, works at the intersection of opera, orchestral, theatre, cabaret, musical, oral tradition, public performances, electronics, visual arts, and noise.

To learn more about Du Yun, Click her image on the left.

1) Dinosaur scar / Du Yun.

Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-present)

Sofia Gubaidulina is a classical composer from Soviet-Russia. Her compositions feature a mix of traditional and avant-garde elements, utilizing diverse instruments and languages. Gubaidulina's music explores dichotomies, symbolism, and numeric patterns, with a focus on expression and silence. She has collaborated with renowned artists and received numerous awards for her innovative and unique approach to composition.

To learn more about Sofia Gubaidulina, Click her image on the left.