This site gives underrepresented composers a platform to have their music heard. Composers that submit works to … And We Were Heard are matched with top-notch
wind bands and engage in collaborative recording sessions. The resulting audio tracks are hosted on our site along with innovative ideas of how to support diverse voices in music.
The Composers Equity Project
A Database of African/Black, Latinx, Asian/South Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Native American, Women, and Gender Non-Conforming Composers.
The Institute for Composer Diversity is committed to the celebration, education, and advocacy of music created by composers from historically underrepresented genders, racial, ethnic, and cultural heritages, and sexual orientations as well as disabled composers.
The Institute for Composer Diversity works to encourage the discovery, study, and performance of music written by composers from underrepresented groups.
An affiliate member of the International Alliance for Women in Music, the Society's mission is to promote interest in Kapralova and other women in music through scholarly research, education, and special projects, often in partnership with schools of music, public broadcasters, publishing houses, and other organizations.
The Kassia Database is a resource geared toward aiding singers, instructors of voice, pianists, researchers, and music lovers to discover and celebrate art song by women composers. The database includes songs from the Baroque period through the 21st century, and have been categorized by level, voice type, language, composer, and composer dates
Focuses on women making various kinds of experimental/avant garde music. Some of these artists may also work within more mainstream forms, but they are included here because of their other work that is more challenging.
Dedicated to helping to bring greater diversity to the ranks of classical music performers, composers, and audiences by making the music of Black composers available to everyone. MBC’s Living Composers Directory is designed for those seeking to commission; for performers, conductors, and concert programmers seeking existing music; and for other researchers and scholars of contemporary classical music.
Discover solo and chamber repertoire for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, and horn. The directories focus specifically on the work of women, transgender & gender non-conforming individuals, and/or Black, Indigenous, or persons of color.
We celebrate the vast range of orchestral music by women, and encourage orchestras to program it! All around us people are suddenly aware of long-ingrained sexist practices, and questioning their entrenched status. We work to reveal the centuries of music by women, much of it lost to history due to gender bias – and help provide information and resources to make that music available.
Choral-Specific Resources
Beyond Elijah Rock: The Non-Idiomatic Choral Music of Black ComposersList of the non-idiomatic choral music of black composers. This refers to the original concert music that is not part of the traditional idiomatic canon associated with black musicians. That canon includes spirituals, gospel, jazz, hip-hop, and rap among others. There will be pieces that may be based on spirituals or gospel tunes but are, at their core, original songs.
An introduction to and survey of repertoire by composers of color and native-born South American composers from Brazil, Peru, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, and Bolivia from 1600 to 1800, with an emphasis on villancicos, cantatas, and other works for voices and chamber ensemble.
A Seat at the Piano promotes and advocates for the inclusion, study, and performance of a more equitably representative body of piano works. By creating a resource for musicians, pedagogues, and curious music appreciators, ASAP aims to broaden their knowledge of composers and their works.
The Sphinx Catalog of Latin American Cello Works has been created in order to facilitate the access to information related to the work of Latin American composers centered on the cello. It is the most extensive source of its kind, with more than 2000 entries on the date of its release.
Large lending library of orchestral performance material. It contains over 22,000 titles and continues to grow. It is known for its many rare and out-of-print works. It is a unique source of 19th- and 20th-century American music, and has a longstanding commitment to promoting new, noteworthy, and overlooked works.
This document is part of the dissertation requirement for the Doctor of Musical
Arts degree in Conducting. The compendium’s formatting is modeled after the entry format in David Daniels’ Orchestral Music: A Handbook.
For many reasons—popularity, accessibility, and resources among others—professional orchestras get a lot of attention when it comes to diversity in programming. This page contains data analysis of American orchestras in regard to programming works by composers from underrepresented groups.
The site contains more than 400 examples by women and/or people of color active primarily between c.1600 and 1925, arranged by theory topic. Additionally, there is a composer biography and (when possible) recording of each excerpt.
This repository of examples by composers of color for use in the theory and aural skills curriculum. The music is categorized by unit, topic, and subtopic. The repository is crowdsourced by music theorists.
This is a database of excerpts and complete musical compositions by women composers. The music is categorized by theoretical concept for use in music education.