musica femina münchen e.V.
Feminale of Music
In the early summer of 1987, Munich musicians and journalists decided »If nobody cares about the works of female composers, digs them up, rehearses them and performs them, we have to take matters into our own hands«.
Since its foundation in 1988, the association's board of directors has included businesswomen, musicologists and educators who are committed to the interests of women composers, including Anne Holler-Kuthe and Susanne Wosnitzka, with whom we have been in close contact since 2012.
The curators of the FEMINALE OF MUSIC became aware of the canceled conference »Und sie komponieren, dirigieren doch!« [And they do compose, and they do conduct!], which had to be postponed due to the Corona crisis, if possible until autumn 2020 (possibly spring 2021).
This reflects the aim of the association to promote and make visible women composers in concert life and musical culture. In addition to organizing conferences, meetings and concerts, the Association for Women in Music carries out public relations work in the media, with lectures and detailed programme booklets. Since 2003, musica femina münchen (mfm) has also awarded composition commissions to contemporary women composers every two years. These works have been premiered by the Munich Chamber Orchestra (MKO) since the 2003/2004 season in a subscription concert under the direction of Christoph Poppen, Alexander Liebreich and, as their successor, Clemens Schuldt, starting in the 2016/2017 season. Other projects published on the website include the FrauenOrchesterProjekt, the choir project »Listening to female choir composers« and the participation in a sponsorship campaign for the acquisition of letters from Ethel Smyth by the Leipzig Academy of Music and Theatre, which we also presented at the FEMINALE OF MUSIC. Documentaries like the film by Michaila Kühnemann about the pianist Sofie Menter are also commissioned by the association – see further links.
musica femina münchen is supported by the Cultural Department of the City of Munich, by the Bavarian Music Fund Foundation and formerly also by the Bavarian Ministry of Culture and the Ministry for Science, Research and Art.
