Women Composers

* 1979 in Jerewan

Biography Narine Khachatryan was born on 28 June 1979 in Yerevan, Armenia. She received her first music lessons at the age of eight at the Armen Tigranian Music School. Already in the early years, the music teachers noticed her inclination towards composition and recommended that she take composition lessons. Thus her first small compositions were written at the age of 12: "Puppet Dance" for piano, "Night" for soprano and piano, "Fantasy" for violin and piano, which were regularly performed at…

in United Kingdom

British born Lydia Kakabadse “is a phenomenon” (Gapplegate Classical Modern Music). A composer of choral, vocal and chamber music, Lydia studied music at Royal Holloway University of London. Her works have been released on CD under the Naxos and Divine Art record labels and have been widely performed, commissioned, and broadcast as well as included in music festivals both in the UK and abroad. They include string quartets, string duets, mixed ensembles, songs, musical dramas, cantata, concert ­Requiem Mass as…

* 1965 in Armenia

Armenuhi Karapetyan was born on September 20, 1965 in Yerevan. She wrote her first opera at the age of 12. In the year 1977 Japan’s TV portrayed her in the film “The Young Composer” which has been shown in Japan, Russia and Armenia. She graduated from Yerevan’s State Conservatory, composition class of Prof. Gh. Saryan in 1989 and from Prof. L. Aloyan’s flute class in 1990. She received her Master’s Degree in 1992 under the direction of Prof. Gh. Saryan.…

* 1981

The violin playing of violin virtuoso and composer Viktoria Elisabeth Kaunzner describes Yehudi Menuhin as “brilliant” in 1998. Her vital music abstractively mirrors the world as synesthetic integral of human sensations. Her principle during her compositional process is the law of conservation of energy and she explains it as followed: absorbed energy (= daily impressions: sounds, voices, smells, colors, movements, touches, foods, etc.) - are metamorphosed into a compositional cosmos after a period of incubation into released energy or spontaneously…

* 1908

Deborah Keenan ist Autorin von acht Gedichtsammlungen. Ihr letztes Werk „Willow Room, Green Door: New and Selected Poems“ wurde 2007 bei Milkweed Editions publiziert. Deborah Keenan ist Professorin für die Kunst des Schreibens an der Hamline Universität in St. Paul, Minnesota. Sie erhielt zahlreiche Stipendien und Auszeichnungen für ihre Gedichte, hat vier Kinder und lebt in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* 1890
✝ 1987

* 1932 in Germany

After secondary school, Ursula Keusen-Nickel attended the Cologne University of Music and studied cello with Prof. Adolf Steiner, chamber music with Prof. Maurits Frank and composition with Prof. Ernst-Otto Wölper. Following her final examination and graduate recital, she joined the city orchestra of Bonn and taught at the University of Education. She then accepted a teaching post at the Ludwig van Beethoven Music School Bonn and took over as director of the St. Augustin Music School from 1975 to 1977.…

* 1810 in Bonn
✝ 1858 in London

The composer, pianist, choral director, poet, journalist, novelist, music teacher and historian Johanna Kinkel ( Mockel ), was born on 8 July 1810 in Bonn. Her father, a teacher at the French Gym-nasium, and mother encouraged their daughter's musical talents. They chose Franz Anton Ries (1755-1846), Beethoven's childhood violin instructor, to be her piano and composition teacher. With Ries support, Johanna began a career as a coach, accompanist and choral director while still in her teens. He also helped her…

* 1987

Valérie Knabe began her musical training (including piano, organ, chamber music, harmony, counterpoint and fugue) at the Conservatory of Music in her home town of Esch / Alzette. She completed her studies at the Royal Conservatories in Brussels and Liège with a master‘s degree in piano, piano accompaniment and classical composition. Valérie Knabe has been teaching piano and harmony at the Conservatory of Music in Esch / Alzette since 2014 and is passionate about piano accompaniment and composition.

* 1938

* 1976 in United Kingdom

Catherine Kontz enjoys nonlinear form, visual/spatial elements, and musical theatricality. Orchestral works in­clude The Waves and Fruitmarket, as well as the large scale Voix des Terres Rouges for choir and orchestra as part of the European capital of Culture Esch 2022. Catherine likes to work outside the traditional concert setting, as with the live music promenade, Driwwer Drënner Drop, performed around the bridges of Luxembourg by 140 young musicians as part of Rainy Days 2021. Other notable commissions include the…

* 1857 in Linz
✝ 1944 in Wien

Mathilde was born on 3 December 1857 in Linz on the Danube, the daughter of the glass-making industrialist Wilhelm Kralik. Her musical talent was promoted from an early age by music-making at home. Her father‘s financial circumstances allowed her to devote herself totally to music, and she had private lessons in Vienna from Anton Bruckner before taking up studies at Vienna Conservatory in 1876, where she received first prize for her composition "Intermezzo aus einer Suite" (Intermezzo from a Suite).…

* 1913 in Hamburg
✝ 2001

Felicitas Kukuck, geb. Cohnheim, wurde am 2. November 1914 in Hamburg geboren. Ihr Vater, Prof. Dr. med. Otto Cohnheim, und ihre Mutter Eva Cohnheim förderten die künstlerische Entwicklung von Felicitas von Kindheit an. 1916 änderte ihr Vater auf Wunsch seiner Mutter seinen jüdischen Namen in Kestner um. Felicitas besuchte die Lichtwarckschule, die bis zur Machtergreifung der Nationalsozialisten Wert auf eine weltoffene Kulturkunde und Erziehung zu selbständigem Denken und Urteilen gelegt hatte, bis zum Jahre 1933. Ihr Abitur machte sie 1935…

* 1876
✝ 1943

* 1977 in France

Since the age of 4 Géraldine Kwik is a pianist. She followed the teaching of the pianist Vladimir Soultanov at the Conservatory of Arras, then that of Hugues Rousé at the Jazz department of the Conservatory of Tourcoing. Multidisciplinary, she also studies architecture, photography, cinema and directing and began her career as a composer for brands and advertising by creating her own agency and became the winner of the Franco-Quebecois prize in the Tal­ents competition as an entrepreneur. She was…