I’m delighted that Scala Radio has teamed up again with the brilliant charitable foundation Donne, Women in Music to promote and celebrate women classical composers.

We enjoyed a 3-month partnership at the start of 2021, in which we joined forces to highlight women composers who had never been played on the station before, aiming to introduce a wider audience to these composers.

Donne, Women in Music aims to readdress the gender inequality within the music industry. Curators of an impressively thorough database of women music-makers from across the centuries, Donne’s main goal is to advance and amplify women in music so that they are seen, heard and appreciated for their talent, and so they can leave a legacy of inspiration for future generations.

One element of this new partnership, starting on Monday 1st November, is that every week for 5 weeks we’ll delve a little deeper into the music of one of the composers who was introduced to Scala by Donne earlier this year, playing their music across the schedule every day. Our first Composer of the Week is Augusta Holmès and she’ll be followed by names including Julie Cooper and Chiquinha Gonzaga.

I don’t want to sound too self-congratulatory because, whilst I’m proud that Scala is putting its money where its mouth is, demonstrating a keen awareness about the lack of diversity within the classical music world, it’s clear that we all have more to do, so we can’t pat ourselves on the back too much. It’s really gratifying that Scala’s listeners – and the numbers have grown substantially, according to recent listener figures – are hungry to discover a broader range of composers.

Keep an eye on Scala Radio’s website and Twitter for updates about our second burst of partnership with Donne, Women in Music and take a look at their Big List of composers if you fancy some musical discovery!