Introduction

In 2014, Dame Judith Weir became the first woman to be appointed Master of the King’s Music (originally Master of the Queen’s Music), serving until 2024. Often considered broadly equivalent to the Poet Laureate, the Master of the King’s Music is a state musician post within the British Royal Household. The holder generally composes works to commemorate important royal events. During her tenure in the role, Weir composed music for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III. Her appointment to such an important public musical role symbolised how fully accepted women composers had become within contemporary British classical music by the early twenty-first century, and how far things had moved on from the days when they were excluded from the musical canon (which you read about in Week 1).

This week, you will consider how to programme and more generally promote the work of contemporary women composers. This week is illustrated by a short interview with Stephan Meier, Artistic Director of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG), talking about BCMG’s work promoting the work of contemporary women composers and working towards gender balanced programming.

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

• know how you can approach and work with living women composers
• be aware of a range of approaches you could take to promote the music of living women composers
• understand how you could go about working on projects with living women composers.