PSO performs program by all-female composers

On Thursday and Friday, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed a pair of hour-long concerts of music composed entirely by female composers.

Most classical music programs are dominated by male composers and orchestras around the country are under scrutiny for a lack of diversity in programming.

PSO associate conductor Andres Franco led the orchestra, and Shattered Glass podcast hosts Marita Garrett and Monica Hershberger narrated the event, which was performed for roughly 4,000 local sixth-graders. Shattered Glass tells the stories of extraordinary women shattering the glass ceiling.

The program, “Fierce and Female: Unsung Music Makers,” included music by historic composers Clara Schumann, Cecile Chaminade, Florence Price, Lili Boulanger and Amy Beach as well as living composers Ellen Taaffe Zwilich — the first female composer to win a Pulitzer Prize for music — Gabriela Lena Frank, Jennifer Higdon and Hannah Ishizaki.

In March, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will give the world premiere of Ms. Higdon’s Tuba Concerto. Ms. Ishizaki is a 17year-old senior at Mt. Lebanon High School and is the youngest female composer ever to have had a piece of music premiered by the PSO.

According to the symphony, the orchestra performs for between 28,000 and 30,000 students annually through the Schooltime and Tiny Tots programs for children, which are offered free of charge and reach students from West Virginia and Ohio as well as Pennsylvania.

“Fierce and Female” will not repeat, but symphony staff said that they hope to repeat some of the music that appeared on the program in future seasons.