Women composers

Discover repertoire specific to a geographical place or cultural group, in addition to general resources and search tools for locating repertoire by women.

• Canadian Music Centre
  • Extensive archive of works by Canadian composers accessible online for perusal, or through their Lending Library; also a publishing and repertoire consultation service 
  • Features more than 200 composers who identify as female  
  • Composer Showcase Advanced search allows to filter by gender 
• Labelle, Nicole. Répertoire des oeuvres des compositrices du Québec au XXe siècle. Documents de travail du Centre de recherche en civilisation canadienne-française, 40. Ottawa: Centre de recherche en civilisation canadienne-française, Université d'Ottawa, 1997.
  • Inventory and description of works by 20th-century women composers from Québec 
  • Includes instrumentation, publisher, location and date of the first performance and the names of the performers, and details on the commission (if applicable) 
• Legacy of the Ursulines:
  • Archives of the Ursuline Monastery in Québec contain sophisticated works by their nuns possibly dating back to the 17th century
  • Online archives (currently being digitized)
  • Secondary literature: MacIsaac, Elizabeth Kathleen Norah. “A Rich Musical Legacy from Québec: Baroque Motets of the Ursuline and Hôtel-Dieu Monasteries of New France.” DMA dissertation, University of Washington, 2018.    
• Innu composers/artists: Tanya Tagaq

• American Composers Alliance:  
  • The search tool for finding repertoire can filter by women composers; other filters include ensemble type, instrumentation, theme, and genre 
  • Features composer biographies 
• Australian Music Centre 
  • Contains biographies, photos, documentation, contact details and work listings for more than 500 Australian composers (200+ female composers), sound artists and improviser-performers 
  • Advanced search tool can filter by gender
  • Selected list of works by Australian women composers   
• Bibliothèque CID (Français) | CID Library (English) | Bibliothek CID (German)
  • Library in Luxembourg with extensive information resources on feminism and gender, including more than 20,000 books, 80 periodicals, 3,500 scores and 5,000 recordings
  • Contains an archive of contemporary composers living or working in Luxembourg
• Les compositrices en France au XIXe siècle
  • Contains a variety of biographical resources about women composers in France during the 19th century 
  • Includes a list of published works by 19th-century French women composers
• Women in Jewish Music
  • Hosted by the Jewish Music Webcenter
  • Biographical profiles of Jewish women musicians and composers, both historical and contemporary

• Archiv Frau und Musik
  • Repertoire Lists for choir, various instruments, piano and strings 
  • Contains a list of institutions and resources for women and music from around the world
  • Women Jazz Composers list
• Black Women's Music Database
  • Chronicles more than 700 Africana singers, songwriters, composers, and musicians from around the world
• Donne, Women in Music
  • Offers several resources for discovering works by women composers
  • BIG LIST of Women Composers (includes more than 5,000 women composers)
  • Curates a series of playlists (HerMusic) available on Apple Music
• HathiTrust Digital Library - Women Composers Collection (University of Michigan)
  • A collection of mostly 19th- and early 20th-century musical scores
• The Kapralova Society
  • Various resources including articles, bibliographies, repertoire lists, and interviews with conductors
• New Muses Project
  • Database provides composer recommendations based on parameters such as historical era, influences, genres composed, location, style, and sound, with the objective of promoting underrepresented composers
• Présence Compositrices
  • Hosts an extensive database of works by women composers, Demandez  à Clara 
  • Thousands of works by more than 1,900 women composers from the 15th century to the present
• Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy
  • Discover 500+ operas by women composers

• McGill users only
• Open access resource
• Free resource
• In-library use
• Catalogue record