Women Composers

* 1979 in Germany

Hailing from Belgium with Bulgarian roots, Florence ­Sabeva is a London-based film composer, pianist, and songwriter. She graduated in Music for Motion Pictures and Contemporary Media from the Film Scoring Academy of Europe and studied classical piano at the Conservatory of Brussels and composition and songwriting at the ­Berklee College of Music. Florence Sabeva wrote additional music for the Italian movie “Wax, We Are The X” (Lorenzo Corvino) in 2015. In 2017 she released her first songwriting album “The London…

* 1831

Martha (von) Sabinin (Russian: Marfa Stepanowna Sabinina, 1831-1892) was born in Denmark, grew up in Germany, was socialized in European culture, spent half her life in Russia and died in the Crimea. Music determined the first half of her life, service to the next the second, and her multifaceted and unusual biography unfolded between the cornerstones of Weimar and Odessa. Martha Sabinin took advantage of the manifold suggestions that the cultural Weimar offered her: lessons at the painting school founded…

* 1955 in Russia

Elena Samarina lives and works in Ekaterinburg. She graduated from the Ural M.P. Musorgsky Coyservatory in 1979 (composition class of L. Nikolskaya) and completed her postgraduate internship program in Gnessin Institute in 1986 (class of N.Peiko). She started teaching music theory in the Ural M.P.Musorgsky State Conservatory in 1979. E.Samarina has been a member of the USSR Composers Union since 1988. Some of her compositions in­clude the “Snow Queen” ballet, “Tales in Faces” mono-opera, “Hymnus”, a fresko symphony for one…

* 1908 in Berlin
✝ 2004

Alice Samter was born in Berlin June 11, 1908. Her father, Georg Samter, was Jewish. How did she survive there? "With hardships, like everyone else," she explained in a telephone interview from her home on Friedbergstraße. Her father "did not live through the Nazi era," having died in 1927, and her mother, Susanna (née Rothe), who died in 1952, was Protestant [Evangelisch], the religion in which Alice was brought up. This did not, however, prevent her from accepting honorary membership…

in Germany

Dorothee Schabert is a composer and author. She was awarded the German Academy (Villa Massimo) Casa Baldi Olevano scholarship in 2020. In addition to composing music for instruments and vocal performance in various ensemble formations, she creates computer compositions and sound installations – sometimes in cooperation with artists from other fields (dance, visual arts, text). Schabert is the author of essays and lectures on the aesthetics of ­music and technology and of sound and space – particularly in contemporary compositions.…

* 1954

Born 1954, lives in Zurich, Switzerland Singer, accordionist, performance artist, composer. Artist in Residence at the Pauline Oliveros Foundation in Kingston, U.S.A. fifty songs : 50 short pieces for accordion and voice and performance. Musikpodium der Stadt Zürich. Performances with Pauline Oliveros: Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, Swiss Institute New York, Accordionfestival Krems, Austria. Holy and Crazy one woman show. Teufelhof Baasel, Burgbachkeller Zug. Geschichten for choir a capella commisioned and premiered by the women choir Singfrauen Zürich. KRAK CD with the…

* 1956 in Hamburg

Iris Ter Schiphorst wurde 1956 in Hamburg geboren. Sie ist als KomponistinAutodidaktin. Nach der Ausbildung zur Pianistin an der Hochschule für Musik/Bremen beschäftigte sie sich zunächst mit Rock- und Elektronischer Musik und spielte als Bassistin und Schlagzeugerin in diversen Rockbands. In diesem Umfeld entwickelte sie ihre ersten eigenen Stücke. 1984 siedelte sie nach Berlin über und fing an, sich mit Neuer Musik zu beschäftigen. Sie besuchte Seminare u.a. bei Dieter Schnebel, Luigi Nono und Helga de la Motte. 1990 gründete…

* 1940 in Leverkusen

Die Komponistin Theresia Schlechtriem wurde als Theresia Grümmer am 11. September 1940 in Leverkusen geboren. Während der Schulzeit war sie Jungstudentin in Violine, Klavier und Harmonielehre am Düsseldorfer Robert-Schumann-Konservatorium. Von 1960-1963 studierte sie Schulmusik an der Musikhochschule in Köln mit abschließendem Staatsexamen für das künstlerische Lehramt an höheren Schulen. Schon damals galt ihre besondere Vorliebe dem Fach Gesang. 1962 heiratete sie den Schulmusiker Karl-Heinz Schlechtriem, zwei Jahre später wurde ihr Sohn Michael geboren. Mit ihrem Ehemann leitet sie seit 1963…

in Nürnberg

Ann-Helena Schlueter, Swedish-German composer, pianist, organist from Würzburg, studied in Germany, USA, Australia and Austria, concert exam piano master class diploma with Bernd Glemser, previously HfMT Cologne, concert organ among others HfMDK Frankfurt am Main, HfK Heidelberg, HfM Würzburg, gives concerts worldwide, publishes CDs at Hänssler Classic, books of poetry and novels. International prize winner in music and literature. (Foto: Janina Riehm) Born into a family of musicians and raised in Nuremberg, her musical and literary talents became apparent at…

* 1951 in Dresden

born in Dresden, lives in Freiburg/Germany she likes music theatre, paintings and music, electronical music, working together with other artits, chamber music interest in gender senses More information: www.miaschmidt.de/

* 1924 in Hamburg
✝ 2006 in Scarsdale, New York

Ruth Schonthal was born in Hamburg in 1924. She began composing at five and became the youngest student ever accepted to the Stern Conservatory in Berlin where she received piano and theory-lessons. In 1935, because of her Jewish heritage, she was banished from the Conservatory. The persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime in Germany forced the family into exile and to settle in Stockholm. Because of her exceptional talent she was accepted at the Royal Academy of Music in…

* 1927 in Crailsheim
✝ 2016 in Stuttgart

Eva Schorr has made a name for herself thanks to her twin talents as a composer and painter. She started learning music at the age of five, at the age of eight she was performing her own compositions at school concerts. As a young woman Eva Schorr took first prizes at composition and organ competitions. She continued her drawing and painting studies while studying Composition with Johann Nepomuk David and the Organ with Anton Nowakowski at the State University of…

* 1751 in Guben
✝ 1802 in Ilmenau

The lifetime position of court singer that Corona Schröter (1751–1802) held in Weimar after 1776 allowed her artistic independence. Goethe, who had admired her earlier, arranged the appointment and was her close friend and artistic collaborator in the court theater. In the first performance of his Iphigenie auf Tauris (1779), Schröter acted the title role opposite Goethe as Orestes. She composed the music to his Singspiel Die Fischerin (1782), first performed outdoors at Tiefurt Palace, and sang the role of…

This Dutch composer/musician seems to have been connected to Amsterdam, as her music was edited by an Amsterdam company (de Algemene Muziekhandel v/h Stumpff & Koning, Muziek en Instrumentenhandel K. van der Meer & van Rosmalen). In 1883–1885 she is recorded as setting the Dutch/Amsterdam writer M. G. L. van Loghem’s “Een Liefde in het Zuiden” (A love in the South) to music, 1901 Van het starrekijn, and Tien Liederen from 1928, dedicated to Anke Schierbeek, a Dutch mezzo-soprano who…

* 1819 in Leipzig
✝ 1896 in Frankfurt am Main

The young Clara Schumann, née Wieck (1819–1896) played for Goethe in Weimar shortly after her twelfth and his last birthday. Weimar was the first stop on her first concert tour arranged by her father, Joseph Wieck. On 1 Oct. at midday, they had an audience with the 83-year old Goethe. "Clara had to sit next to him on the sofa. Soon his daughter-in-law [Ottilie] came with her two intelligent looking children. [.] Clara was now requested to play, and since…

* 2009 in Germany

Catherine Schuppenhauer has been playing the piano ­since the age of three and began composing music in 2017. In 2018, she wrote music for piano duo, flute and cello to accompany the book “Charlotte’s Web”. In September of the same year, she won a composition competition run by the German Musicians’ Association with a variation for piano and violin. Catherine Schuppenhauer played Elise Schumann in the play “Wie du mich berührst” [How You Move Me] at the Pantheon Theatre in…

* 1887 in Karlsruhe
✝ 1957 in Karlsruhe

Margarete was born on 16 February 1887 in Karlsruhe. After studies at the Grand Ducal Conservatory in Karlsruhe and at the Royal Conservatory in Stuttgart as well as several concert tours throughout southern Germany she had lived her life in her hometown. There she died on 13 March 1957. Margarete Schweikert composed more than 100 songs. She also created songs for choir, organ and compositions for piano as well as chamber music with particular emphasis on her instrument, the violin.…

* 1963 in USA

Julia Schwartz studied voice at the Oberlin College Conservatory in Ohio, USA. From 1985, she continued her training in singing and music theory in Munich and Zurich. She composes music in virtually every genre and produces electronic collages for experimental theatre. She produced and directed her documentary play “Freedom Papers” in Frauenfeld in 2019. The Zurich University of the Arts awarded Julia Schwartz two Certificates of Advanced Studies in choral conducting between 2014 and 2016 and five Certificates of Advanced…

* 1974 in Ukraine

The critically acclaimed composer Anna Segal belongs to a new generation of classical composers: An unusual, versatile composer in various disciplines (symphonic and chamber music, solo concertos, songs with orchestra, choir works and even chansons). Born in Ukraine, she began study­ing piano and composition at the age of 5. After graduating from music school and college with degrees in piano and musicology, she later studied composition at The Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine. After immigrating to Israel, she studied…

* 1957 in Germany

Hedda Seischab studied music education (violin, piano), music theory and early education at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the State University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart. In addition to studying composition with Karl Michael Komma, she attended voice lessons. She also studied cultural science and management at the Ludwigsburg University of Education. Her works include numerous solo compositions (piano, recorder, violin), chamber music for various ensemble formations, and compositions and stories for children. She was a winner…

* 1949 in USA

A distinctive voice in American music, Judith Shatin’s extensive catalogue includes commissions from the Barlow Endowment, Fromm Foundation, Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, the National Symphony and Kronos Quartet. Her music has been honored with 4 Composition Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and grants from the American Music Center, Meet the Composer and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. A two-year retrospective of her music was sponsored by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Arts Partners Program which also…

* 1745 in Venedig
✝ 1818 in Venedig

Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen (1745-1818), born in Venice, was a musical polymath renowned in her day for her singing, violin playing, and compositions. As befits a touring virtuosa, her most popular compositions were her concerti but she also published trios, sonatas, and, in Paris in 1769, a set of six string quartets. Dating from about the same time as Haydn's Op. 9, Sirmen's quartets betray the divertimento origins of the genre. Peter Carter, first violinist of the Allegri Quartet in…

* 1956 in Russia

After completing her training as a pianist (1972) and graduating in music theory (1976), Oxana Sivova began studying composition with Prof. Aram Khachaturian and Prof. Alexey Muravlev in Moscow. In 1994 she moved to Germany with her family, where she founded the art and music school “Klavier und Phantasie” and the art centre “Internationales Kunstzentrum” in Weyhe, Bremen, in 1997. Oxana Sivova is the author of numerous musical scores for stage and film, piano and instrumental works, vocal music and…

* 1858 in Sidcup
✝ 1944 in Woking

Ethel (Mary) Smyth was born in 1858 in Sidcup, the daughter of a British considered typical Victorian family. She spent her youth at a time when creative power of women was flatly denied and chastity and decency should be the highest ideals of a woman. At nine, she received her first piano lessons from a German governess, who graduated in Leipzig to study music. It was with Carl Reinecke that Ethel Smyth began her composition lessons at the Leipzig Conservatory…

* 1985 in China

Yang Song was born in Inner Mongolia (China). She got her composition doctor degree at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with Prof. Guoping Jia in 2018, and graduated from Prof. Johannes Schöllhorn’s concert exam master class at the Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg, in 2019. She attendet the IRCAM Cursus 2020/21 in Paris. She got the Théodore-Gouvy-Preis 2019, Reinl-Preis 2019, the international Goethe-Preis of the “Asian Compos­ers Showcase 2018”. She was commissioned by the Germany Radio Philharmonie, Korean Tongyeong…

* 1936 in Kassel
✝ 2003

Biographical circumstances have an influence on artistic inspiration. On the other hand the creative frame of mind helps to develop personality. Biographical experiences, which have turned into composition, help to overcome anxiety and tension. Brunhilde Sonntag is known as a composer, musicologist and music teacher. She has been professor of composition an music theory at the University of Wuppertal. During the 10. symposium of artistic therapy in november 1992 in Münster/Westfalen she gave a lecture on "music and effect -…

* 1960 in Remscheid

Margarete Sorg-Rose began learning the piano as a five-year-old and sang in a number of choirs. She started studying Musicology and Classical Philology in Mainz and Tübingen in 1979 and Piano Education, Choir Leadership and Composition in Mainz in 1983. She took an active part in summer courses and continued her training in orchestra leadership. Margarete Sorg-Rose has worked as co-repetiteur with the Bach Choir in Mainz, as a music journalist for the theatres in Wuppertal, for the Schott music…

* 1874 in Leipzig
✝ 1958 in München

Lena Stein-Schneider, who was born Helene Meyerstein in Leipzig where she studied piano and voice, suffered a deeply moving fate. During the Nazi era she had to contend with systematic ostracism and a performance ban as a musician, composer and writer. In 1942 she was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp which she left with the transport of the Swiss delegation after her liberation in a state of complete exhaustion. She returned to Berlin from Switzerland and, after decades of…

* 1966 in Krakau, Polen

After studying the Flute (with Distinction) from 1988 to 1992 at the Academy of Music in Cracow she also studied Composition, Electronic Music and Computer Music there from 1990 to 1993. She then continued her studies at the University of Music in Cologne, where she gained her Diploma in 1994 Even during her Composition studies Joanna Stepalska-Spix took part in numerous courses for Composition and Electronic Music. From 1994 to 1995 she took a course in Sinology at the Royal…

* 1874 in Gummersbach
✝ 1977

The violin player Adele Bloesch-Stöcker was born in Gummersbach (Germany) in 1875. She was a successful soloist amongst others in Leipzig and Berlin. She played together with Max Reger and interpreted his solo sonata for violin. From 1903 on she performed repeatedly under Fritz Brun in Bern and settled down in Bern in 1908 when she married the librarian of the city of Bern. Portraits of this time show an elegiac-beautiful young woman. In 1920 she founded the Bern chamber…

* 1911
✝ 2012 in Tübingen

Marianne Stoll was born in 1911 in Stuttgart. She studied music at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart. After her final exam 1934, she studied church music in Stuttgart and Leipzig. Later on she worked in Lustnau and Stuttgart and the last eight years as an organist at the Jakobuskirche in Tübingen (James church). At the local music school she had a teaching job in piano, flute and chamber music. After her retirement, she founded a senior citizen orchestra in Tübingen in…

* 1619 in Venedig
✝ 1677 in Padua

Barbara Strozzi was born in Venice in 1619, and baptized on August 6. She died in Padua, Italy in 1677 at the age of 56. Strozzi was born into a world of creativity, intellectual fervency and artistic freedom. Strozzi’s father, Giulio Strozzi, was an important Venetian poet who wrote librettos for many operas, including works by Monteverdi. Barbara grew up in a household frequented by the greatest literary and musical minds of the age. She was one of the most…

* 1789 in Warschau
✝ 1831 in Sankt Petersburg

Szymanowska’s childhood in Warsaw was consumed by music-making in the home. Her father, Franciszek Wołowski, a wealthy brewery owner, and her mother, Barbara Lanckorońska Wołowska, a descendant of an ancient Polish aristocratic family, were leading patrons of the arts. Together, they encouraged the young Szymanowska’s interest in music. At the age of eight she began her musical studies in piano with the well-known Warsaw pianist, Antoni Lisowski, and at 15 she pursued studies in theory and composition with the pianist…