Changing the focus

St John’s Smith Square young artist Christina McMaster joins forces with colleagues including Lena Napradean and Ayanna Witter-Johnson for a concert in celebration of International Women’s Day. Titled ‘From Britten to America’, the programme encompasses works by Meredith Monk and Ruth Crawford Seeger, as well as Joanna MacGregor’s take on Dowland. The concert culminates in the performance of a new commission by Ayanna Witter-Johnson (see page 33).

2 March, St John’s Smith Square, London, 7.30pm http://bit.ly/2kOovC7

The Southbank Centre’s six-day Women of the World festival champions gender equality, celebrating the achievements of women and girls everywhere and examining the obstacles that keep them from fulfilling their potential.

Women currently in music education or further training are invited to play alongside and learn from section leaders from Southbank Centre’s resident and associate orchestras in the Women of the World Orchestra, which will give a performance under Jessica Cottis of Sandi Toksvig’s Mirth Control (12 March, 7.30pm).  Those taking part can also take advantage of a year-long training opportunity which includes talks, Southbank Centre’s Women in Classical Music Breakfasts, a conducting masterclass with Marin Alsop and BBC Concert Orchestra, plus sectional rehearsals and concerts.

Women aged 60 and over can join the Louder Voices choir, participating in a four-week singing course involving learning empowering songs about women’s rights and power. Those not involved are invited to support the choir’s end-of-course performance (10 March, 12.30pm), and can also attend the Rise Up Choir’s concert the following day, with songs ranging from folk to funk (11am and 2.15pm, 11 March).

7-12 March, Southbank Centre http://bit.ly/2lKWt87

The culmination of a day celebrating women from the arts, science and sports, this concert will see Dobrinka Tabakova present music from her Grammy-nominated album String Paths with an ensemble of leading musicians and friends, including cellists Kristina Blaumane and Dora Kokas, double bassist Stacey Watton and pianist Ashley Wass.

8 March, St George’s, Bristol, 7.30pm http://bit.ly/2lf441P

As part of the Oxford International Women’s Festival, the International Gender Studies Centre will host a performance by the Lyric Piano Trio. Celebrating the female musicians who overcame significant barriers, the programme will feature works by Jennifer Higdon, Judith Weir, Maria Theresia von Paradis, and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel.

8 March, International Gender Studies Centre, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, 2-4pm http://bit.ly/2lnivS9

Royal College of Music alumnus Sofya Gulyak will be giving the UK premiere of Fanny Mendelssohn- Hensel’s Easter Sonata. The work had been attributed to Felix Mendelssohn, but Duke University graduate student Angela Mace proved that Fanny had written the piece after examining the original manuscript alongside Hensel’s diary, family letters and other handwritten scores in 2012. The concert will be broadcast live on Radio 3. 

8 March, Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Royal College of Music, 1pm http://bit.ly/2kOmNk0

Soprano Ruby Hughes is to pay tribute to the tragic heroines of the 17th century as commemorated by female composers in her concert at Kings Place. The programme includes music by Barbra Strozzi, Francesca Caccini and Antonia Bembo, as well as a song attributed to Anne Boleyn and songs by nuns Claudia Sessa and Lucrezia Vizzana.

8 March, Kings Place, London, 7.30pm http://bit.ly/2lf6Unb

Xian Zhang and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales will mark the day at Hoddinott Hall, joined by Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, who returns to Cardiff with her sister, pianist Lauma Skride. The programme includes the premiere of Kate Whitley’s Speak Out.

8 March, Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff, 7.30pm http://bbc.in/2kOoWw5

Sinfonia UK Collective is to give a concert celebrating the life and legacy of Hull-born pianist, conductor, composer and teacher Ethel Leginska (1886-1970) during Women of the World (WOW) Hull. Born as Ethel Liggins, she conducted a number of high-profile orchestras across America, taught piano in Los Angeles, and composed a number of works, most notably the opera The Rose and the Ring.

The concert, which will take place at the Ferens Studio, will include a selection of Leginska’s piano roll recordings with her original compositions, and will be accompanied by pianist Graziana Presicce. There will also be an exhibition which recognises Leginska’s pioneering example for women in classical music and marks her inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

10-12 March, Ferens Studio, Hull http://bit.ly/2kFNTHF