CELEBRATING WOMEN’S DAY

BBC Radio 3 is surrounding International Women’s Day on 8 March with programmes that celebrate the music of the finest women composers and performers, from history to the present day. While Building a Library looks at trailblazing suffragette composer Ethel Smyth (4 March), In Concert features Speak Out,a specially commissioned piece by Kate Whitley (above) for the day itself. She sets the words of Malala Yousafzai – who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign for women’s education in Pakistan – to be performed by the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales under Xian Zhang. During the day, leading composers including Sally Beamish and Tansy Davies will join regular presenters, and Choral

Evensong is live from Truro Cathedral, the first broadcast to include its girl choristers, with world premieres by Sasha Johnson Manning and Dobrinka Tabakova. International Women’s Day; 8 March