Article: "Each for Equal Every Day", by Gabriella Di Laccio

Each for Equal Every Day
by Gabriella Di Laccio
It’s 8th March 2020: today we celebrate 2 years since the launch of the project DONNE, Women in Music on IWD 2018. The past two years have been a fascinating educational and inspirational journey for me. Never in a million years I would have expected the worldwide response that this project would generate.

As I look back at the initial video I posted two years ago 

I can feel that enthusiasm all over again, the eagerness to do my part, the excitement to start engaging with people with the strong intention of celebrating the incredible achievements of women composers, raising awareness about inspirational stories, amazing music and some fantastic role models who should be part of our history books. I can also remember the frightening feeling of making the website go ‘live’ in case everything would turn out to be a disaster. 

I am incredibly grateful for everything that I have learned through this project as an artist and as a person and I can tell you that I learned A LOT!

Most of all I learned how easy it is to bring diversity to concert programmes, how incredibly open the audiences are when listening to new repertoire, how fascinating it is to discover so much wonderful music and have the chance to share it with people worldwide when I perform.

Sadly, I was also reminded of the prejudice that is still so very present in our world and that to fight unconscious bias requires daily effort, a very loud voice and a LOT of resilience.

The official theme for IWD 2020 is #EachForEqual and as I write these words I ask myself “When will these words become a real part of our reality?”

Since the beginning of the month I have received over 40 invitations for conferences and talks about women and I have lost count of how many concerts featuring works by women happening this weekend, and this is only in London. 


Please don’t get me wrong as I totally understand the importance of today as we continue to celebrate women’s achievements in all fields while calling for gender equality.

But to create a massive podium for women on a single day is not enough: women need equality every day! And I would replace the word ‘women’ by BAME, LGBTQ, people with disabilities and any other minority group that is not fairly represented. They all need equality and inclusion. Every day!

Raising awareness for equality, inclusion and diversity can’t be a special celebration that happens once a year. These are daily actions that we should all take as individuals to challenge stereotypes, fight prejudice and make sure that we are creating a society where any person can see themselves in any position.

So, if you really want to celebrate International Women’s Day and support women in music:
take action!

● Write to radio stations and ask for more diverse music to be played;

● Write to your local orchestras, choirs and reassure them that you would be opened to hear new repertoire;

●  If you are a musician, make a strong point in researching more woks written by women to be included in your repertoire;

● If you are an organization take a conscious decision in being part of the ones who are creating real change;

●  Don’t wait for the 8th of March each year to think about gender equality.

Let's not repeat history, let's not have another century talking about the "forgotten women" because if they are forgotten, we are the ones who forgot them. And we are the ones who can make a difference.

Equality will not happen without each one if us doing our part. And in this moment the hashtag #EachForEqual can really be the answer. 

Each for Equal, Each for Diversity, Each for Inclusion. Not only today – but everyday!

Happy International Women's Day!

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

For two years the project DONNE, Women in Music has been celebrating and promoting women in music.

- We do that through our daily blog where we promote TWO WOMEN composers EVERY DAY.

- We do that by creating educational videos about women in music

- We do that by recording music by women

- We do that by creating an online platform with THOUSANDS of women composers for anyone to see and learn more.

Would you like to check the women represented on this blog so far? Watch the video below and celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion with us!

For us:
- Every day is a day of representation,
- Every Day is Equality Day,
- Every Day is Diversity Day,
- Every Day is Women's Day

If you enjoy the work we do, please subscribe to our channel, follow us on social media and help us and share the inspiration with others.

VISIT DONNE's WEBSITE:
http://www.drama-musica.com/Donne.html
SUBSCRIBE TO DONNE's YouTube Channel

FOLLOW US:

FACEBOOK    TWITTER     INSTAGRAM

Article: "On a Fair Representation of Women Composers", by Eric Ruijssenaars

On a Fair Representation of Women Composers
By Eric Ruijssenaars
Women composers are vastly underrepresented and underrated, and still also sadly unknown. It is generally assumed that there are few, or at least relatively few. This is of course a crucial question, when demanding a fair representation.
What could and should be our goal? What is a fair representation? What can we, women composers and their supporters, demand, in the concert halls, on classical radio channels and in the newspapers? 

The numbers
To try to answer this question we must look at the numbers of female and male composers. In the case of women composers that number quest can only begin with Aaron Cohen’s International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. In the second edition of this work, published in 1987, he got to more than 6000.

The importance of this book can hardly be overstated, but a closer look reveals that it must be far from complete. Cohen did his international research in a time when that was enormously difficult. There was no internet. Very little research had been done, worldwide, on which he could rely. It’s impossible to say how many he did not find.
Apart from that, it necessarily omits all the composers born after about 1965. That’s a giant amount meanwhile, still quite rapidly growing.
To put it otherwise, it is simply impossible to get to a complete list (let alone getting an idea of the number of women who published their works anonymously or under a male pseudonym). The further one gets researching women composers, the more the ‘end’ gets out of sight. The number of women composers is infinite.

A short history 
While it was never really made easy for women composers, the situation became only disastrous when the 33 rpm long play record was introduced in the 1950s. Classical music was introduced to many people, but the LP’s had 0% women composers. That’s how several generations grew up believing there weren’t any. We are still left with the remnants of it.  

It wasn’t only in classical music that women were erased from the history books. Only now we are hearing the stories of many overlooked excellent women in all walks of life.  There have always been women composers. On this DONNE365 blog we could earlier present a work from the 8th century, apparently the oldest surviving music by a woman. It’s important to be aware of this very long tradition too.

Conclusion
It’s shocking that, still, quite close to half of classical music gets little chance because it is composed by women. It’s a mystery too, knowing how good they are. Most of all it is a gross injustice, which must be fought against. Destroying the myth that there have only been few women composers is crucial in this struggle for a fair representation, because in reality there is no end to them. It’s fair therefore to demand nothing less than 50%.

Eric Ruijssenaars 
Email: ericruijssenaars@hotmail.com

Artigo: Todos por Igualdade - Todos os Dias! Por Gabriella Di Laccio

Todos por Igualdade - Todos os Dias!
by Gabriella Di Laccio
É 8 de Março de 2020: hoje comemoram-se 2 anos desde o lançamento do projeto DONNE, Women in Music no Dia Internacional da Mulher de 2018. Os últimos dois anos têm sido uma jornada educativa, fascinante e inspiradora para mim. Nunca em um milhão de anos eu poderia ter imaginado a repercussão mundial que este projeto iria gerar.

Olhando uma vez mais o vídeo inicial que publiquei há dois anos atrás, eu posso sentir novamente todo o entusiasmo, a vontade de fazer a minha parte, o desejo de conectar com pessoas do mundo todo e a forte intenção de celebrar as incríveis conquistas das mulheres na música, divulgar tantas histórias inspiradoras e mulheres modelos que deveriam e devem parte dos nossos livros de história. Também me lembro da sensação de muito medo ao tornar o site 'ao vivo', no caso de tudo vir a ser um desastre...
Estou posso dizer com toda a sinceridade que sou extremamente grata por tudo o que aprendi através deste projeto, como artista e como pessoa e eu posso dizer com muita certeza que eu aprendi MUITO!

Acima de tudo, aprendi como é fácil trazer diversidade aos programas de concertos, como as platéias são incrivelmente abertas a escutar um repertório desconhecido, como é fascinante descobrir tanta música maravilhosa e ter a oportunidade de compartilhá-la com pessoas do mundo inteiro quando me apresento.

Infelizmente, também fui relembrada de que o preconceito ainda é muito presente no nosso mundo e que para combatê-lo é necessário um esforço diário, uma voz muito alta e muita resiliência.

O tema oficial internacional do Dia Internacioal da Mulher de 2020 é #EachForEqual - o que se traduz mais ou menos como "Cada um por Igualdade". Enquanto escrevo estas palavras pergunto a mim mesmo "Quando é que estas palavras se tornarão uma parte real da nossa realidade?

Desde o início do mês de março recebi mais de 40 convites para conferências e palestras sobre mulheres e perdi a conta de quantos concertos com obras de mulheres acontecem neste fim de semana, e estou falando apenas em Londres. 

Por favor, não me interpretem mal, pois eu certamente entendo a importância do dia de hoje, quando continuamos a celebrar as conquistas das mulheres em todos os campos enquanto reivindicamos a igualdade de gênero.

Mas na minha opinião, criar um grande pódio para as mulheres num único dia não é suficiente: as mulheres precisam de igualdade todos os dias! E eu substituiria a palavra "mulheres" por todos os grupos de minoria na nossa sociedade que não são representados de forma justa e igual.  Todos eles precisam de igualdade e inclusão. Todos os dias!

A conscientização sobre a importância da igualdade, inclusão e diversidade não pode ser uma ação especial que acontece somente uma vez por ano. Estas são decisões diárias que todos nós devemos tomar como indivíduos para desafiar estereótipos, combater preconceitos e garantir que estamos criando uma sociedade onde qualquer pessoa possa se enxergar em qualquer posição.

Portanto, se você realmente quer celebrar o Dia Internacional da Mulher e apoiar as mulheres na música, faça isso com as suas AÇÕES:

- Escreva para a sua estação de rádio local e peça para que eles incluam mais diversidade na sua programação musical;
- Escreva para as suas orquestras locais, corais, teatros e deixe claro que você não vai abandoná-los caso eles incluam um repertório mais diversificado;
- Se você é músicista, faça questão de pesquisar mais obras escritas por mulheres para serem incluídas no seu repertório;
- Se você é uma organização, tome uma decisão consciente em fazer parte daqueles que estão criando mudanças reais de INCLUSÃO no meio musical;
- Não espere pelo dia 8 de Março de cada ano para refletir sobre a igualdade de gênero.

É importante que tomemos o cuidado em não repetir a história, que não tenhamos mais um século falando sobre as "mulheres esquecidas", porque se elas são esquecidas, somos nós que as esquecemos. E somos nós que podemos fazer a diferença.

A igualdade não acontecerá sem que cada uma de nós faça a sua parte. E neste momento a hashtag #EachForEqual pode realmente ser a resposta.

Todos pela Igualdade, Todos pela Diversidade, Todos pela Inclusão.
Não só hoje - mas todos os dias!

Feliz Dia Internacional da Mulher!

Composers of the day: March 8

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!

Donne 365 celebrates women in music every day!

Check here the composers of the day for March 8th.

08 MARCH

IVANA LOUDOVÁ - CZECHIA

Born 08 March

More about her

Find scores by Ivana Loudová:

SUSANNA HANCOCK - USA

Born 08 March

More about her

Find scores by Susanna Hancock:

HARRIET ABRAMS - UK

Born 08 March

More about her

Find scores by Harriet Abrams:

Check here last year's composers of the day

This Week on Donne 365: From 1st to 7th March

It has been an amazing week on #Donne365. Check out our RECAP to find out more about some outstanding women and their music!

Sunday, 01 March

Donne 365 celebrates women in music every day! Check here the composers of the day for March 01...

Click here to see the post

Monday, 02 March

Today’s MixTape has been curated by Classical Music Magazine, one of the leading publications about performing arts and music in the UK.

Click here to see the post

Tuesday, 03 March

Angélica Negrón is a Puerto Rican composer and multi-instrumentalist. She writes music for several instruments, including toys, electronics, and robotic instruments. She incorporates unusual sounds and instruments into her music...

Click here to see the post

Wednesday, 04 March

Check out our new ALBUM OF THE WEEK! Each week, we will post a different album that will make your Wednesday way easier!...

Click here to see the post

Thursday, 05 March

With Annette at Meersburg: “Mein Thurm ist köstlich, d. h. meinem Geschmacke nach einsam, graulich, – heimliche Stiegen in den Mauern...

Click here to see the post

Friday, 06 March

Donne 365 celebrates women composers everyday!
Every Friday in 2020 we will post the composers from the last 7 days. In these posts, you can also find the link to the composers we presented in 2019.

Click here to see the post

07 MARCH

MONTSERRAT CAMPMANY - SPAIN
Born 07 March

More about her

Find scores by Montserrat Campmany:

MAYA VERLAAK - BELGIUM
Born 07 March

More about her

Find scores by Maya Verlaak:

 Check here last year's composers of the day