page_title: Women in music
section_title: 20th and 21st century
hierarchical_section_title: Women in music / Composers / 20th and 21st century
caption_attribution_description: A portrait of Lili Boulanger.
context_page_description: Women in music describes the role of women as composers, songwriters, instrumental performers, singers, conductors, music scholars, music educators, music critics/music journalists and in other musical professions. As well, it describes music movements, events and genres related to women, women's issues and feminism.
  In the 2010s, while women constitute a significant proportion of popular music and classical music singers, and a significant proportion of songwriters, there are few women record producers, rock critics and rock instrumentalists. Notable women artists in pop, such as Bjork and Lady Gaga have commented about sexism and gender discrimination in the music industry. Additionally, a recent study led by Dr. Smith announced that "...over the last six years, the representation of women in the music industry has been even lower".
context_section_description: Katherine Hoover (1937–2018) studied music at the University of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music, where she earned a Performance Certificate in Flute and a Bachelor's of Music in Music Theory in 1959. She started publishing professional works in 1965, with her Duet for Two Violins. Hoover was the winner of the National Flute Association's Newly Published Music Competition twice, first in 1987 with her piece Medieval Suite and second in 1991 with her piece Kokopelli for solo flute. These pieces use many extended techniques for flute, such as pitch bending. Many of her works have been recorded by renowned musicians and performed in Carnegie Hall.
  Joan Tower (born 1938) wrote her 1976 piece Black Topaz, which features many tonal melodies and harmonies. She received her DMA in composition from Columbia University in 1978. She was commissioned in 1979 by the American Composers Orchestra, resulting in her first orchestral work, Sequoia. This has been performed by numerous orchestras worldwide. From 1985 to 1988 Tower was the composer-in-residence at the St. Louis Symphony. In 1990 she was the first woman to win the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, which included a prize of $150,000. Since then, Tower has been the composer-in-residence at numerous music festivals, including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival. Tower has been a professor of music at Bard College in New York since 1982 and is considered one of the most influential women composers of the 20th century.
  Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (born 1939) received her Doctorate in Composition from Juilliard and was the first woman to ever achieve this. The same year, she won a gold medal at the International Composition Competition in Italy. In 1983 Zwilich made history again, becoming the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in music for her Symphony No. 1. Since this success, she has received many commissions. Her piece Millennium has been performed by twenty-seven orchestras since its premiere in 2000. She has been the Francis Eppes Professor of Music at Florida State University since 1999. Zwilich is known to have an 'eclectic millennial voice' in her compositions, utilizing a clear design and rich timbres. Though her music was originally very dissonant and influenced by the Second Viennese School, her style became more emotional after the death of her husband.
  Libby Larsen (born 1950) earned her MM in 1975 from the University of Minnesota and her PhD from the same school in 1978. In 1973 she co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, now known as the American Composer's Forum. Larsen was the composer-in-residence at the Minnesota Orchestra from 1983 to 1987. Larsen composed over 220 works, including orchestra, dance, opera, choral, theater, chamber, and solo repertoire. Her pieces have been performed across the United States and Europe. Larsen is a strong supporter of contemporary music and female musicians, and she won a Grammy Award for her CD The Art of Arleen Auger in 1994. Larsen won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters in 2000 and published her book The Concert Hall That Fell Asleep and Woke Up as a Car Radio in 2007.
  Jennifer Higdon (born 1962) earned an MA and PhD from the University of Philadelphia in 1994. Higdon has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Letters, International League of Women's Composers, and others. Her 1996 work Shine was named Best Contemporary Piece by USA Today. Of Higdon's many pieces, blue cathedral is most frequently performed. In 2010, Higdon won the Grammy award of Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto. Also in 2010 she won the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her composition Violin Concerto, premiered by Hilary Hahn.
  Additional notable female composers are listed below. Some are also notable as performers (e.g. Agnes Tyrrell, Amy Beach and Verdina Shlonsky were noted pianists). For a full list, see List of female composers by birth year.
  Agnes Tyrrell (1846-1883)
  Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
  Amy Be
caption: Composer Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
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