Happy release day to Dobrinka Tabakova! I cannot recommend this beautiful album enough - it is every bit the perfect successor to her wonderful 'String Paths'. Give yourself a Friday treat and take an hour to listen to this ❤️ open.spotify.com/album/7azNPv...

What should we do with recordings by artists whose views we disagree with? And does it change how we hear Beethoven's music, knowing that it was used to bolster the Nazi regime? On pianists Myra Hess and Elly Ney, and Beethoven on both sides of #WWII open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

Fascinating read about a real badass (which is a good thing in case it wasn't obvious) who also wrote some amazing music. Before listening to the new CPO disc I had only heard her 2nd symphony. Now I'm thirsty for more. <3

NEW POST This week I'm thinking about the role of music in political conflict. Meet French Resistance composer Elsa Barraine, whose compositions responded to the rise of fascism in Europe "Music would become Barraine's mode of resistance" open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

Would anyone be interested in a kind of music appreciation club via my Substack? Maybe once a fortnight I'd pick a piece of classical music & provide a listening guide, info about the piece/composer, qs for discussion & further listening/reading. Yes/no?

NEW POST about pianists Myra Hess & Elly Ney, and how they used Beethoven during #WWII. "Myra and Elly’s stories show just how mercurial musical meaning can be, and how much the stories we tell about music matter." open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

I recommend this fabulous, perfect Sunday reading and listening, and look forward to delving into the fascinating playlist some more.

Thank you x a million @whenisbirths.bsky.social and @leahbroad.bsky.social Best FLA yet?? Possibly! So good And so much here I'm banking to listen to later (just got to get to tomorrow - just the tiny matter of Elijah tonight in the way) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Excellent interview! I can thoroughly recommend @leahbroad.bsky.social’s book so engagingly written.

ICYMI, my conversation with the brilliant Dr Leah Broad (@leahbroad.bsky.social). We covered so much here, incredibly grateful to her for her time and expertise. #FirstLastAnything

New interview! Had such a great time chatting with @leahbroad.bsky.social for Choir & Organ magazine's Autumn 2025 issue, delving into just some of my compositional interests and experiences over the past few years, with a particular focus on my choral output. www.gramophone.co.uk/choir-and-or...

Fantastic article by Samatha Ege and @leahbroad.bsky.social in this month’s @prospectmagazine.co.uk on the life, career and legacy of Avril Coleridge-Taylor (usually ££ but free for a limited period). @arusbridger.bsky.social

I might be most excited about the chapter on Ethel Smyth’s late work The Prison. This is the first comprehensive analysis of the work. Smyth adapts a metaphysical story from her close friend Henry Brewster.

Tonight!!! Exploring how Beethoven was used during World War II, featuring the only interview Elly Ney's family have given to English language media 😱 this was such a fascinating doc to make

Off to the Courtauld to speak about the women on Katrina Lee's new album of solo violin works! Come join us if you're in London this evening: courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/chr...

The @womensprize.bsky.social throwing a great party as ever - congratulations to all the shortlisted fiction authors!!!

Off to Kings Place to speak at the EMPOWER panel on women in music!! Really looking forward to chatting with @errollynwallen.bsky.social, Jess Gillam & Heloise Werner about moving forward in classical music 💪🏻🎵

One of those emails you dream of receiving - the original, believed lost autograph score of Smyth's Mass in D discovered safe and sound in a Liverpool archive!!

*NEW POST* As we move into March I'm thinking about International Women's Day - why it still matters and how we use it to move forward Full post on my Substack: open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

🎶 Must-read article about the great composer Margaret Bonds ! ❤️

*NEW POST* Wonderful as ever to speak to Samantha Ege about her work - this time on Margaret Bonds for my choral column in Choir & Organ Magazine! Read the full article here: www.gramophone.co.uk/choir-and-or...

With the wonderful @jessicaduchen.bsky.social at the National Gallery to talk about pianist Myra Hess!! Keep your eyes peeled for this later in the year on Radio 3, & if you can't wait for Myra Hess goodness then Jessica's new biography is out NEXT WEEK www.kahnandaverill.co.uk/product/myra...

The @womensprize.bsky.social longlist is out today!! So thrilled to be able to celebrate these brilliant books, showcasing an astonishing range of expertise and creative approaches to non-fiction writing ❤️📚

Back on the road recording for Radio 3! Look out later this year for women playing Beethoven during #WWII 👀👀 #classicalmusic #beethoven

Calling all Smyth-heads! The first single from our new recording is out - Ethel Smyth's rather wonderful Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag (the metadata is a touch wrong, but we're working on that): youtu.be/30GYhc4R36I

Giacomo Puccini (born OTD 1858) and Arturo Toscanini had a stormy friendship. One Christmas, Puccini sent Toscanini a panettone, forgetting they had fallen out. Remembering, he sent a telegram “PANETTONE SENT BY MISTAKE. PUCCINI”. He received a telegram back “PANETTONE EATEN BY MISTAKE. TOSCANINI” 😂

I really love these rehearsals - sharing our ideas and teasing out the corners before we put it with the orchestra next month.

Feel VERY lucky to have been in the rehearsal today. You’re all in for a treat!

First rehearsal for the world premiere recording of Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Piano Concerto and it sounds phenomenal 🥹 recording with Samantha Ege, BBC Philharmonic & @jkaconductor.bsky.social in January!!

We are looking for a highly motivated Editor-at-Large to manage the Classical Music list as part of our Editorial team. If you have a deep knowledge of and passion for classical music, please apply by 17 December. faber.co.uk/careers/editor-at-large-classical-music/

Congratulations to Leah Broad, a recipient of the 2024 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant for This Woman's War. whiting.org/writers/creative-nonfiction-grant

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

Having a can't-quite-believe-it's-real moment, but my next book has got a Whiting Grant @whitingfoundation.bsky.social 🥹 It's about how women exert agency in the most difficult circumstances, feminism & fascism, & why/how music is political. There's an extract here: www.whiting.org/content/leah...

...excuse me?

This has prompted me to start a new playlist which I’m thinking of as encompassing Advent plus winter plus just music to chill by open.spotify.com/playlist/2HF...

2023 research shows that only 19% of readers of the top 20 bestselling female fiction authors are male. (1/3)

Why donate to @womensprize.bsky.social? - They created a reading/writing community where women are heard - This helped move from 39% of bestsellers written by women in 1998 to 57% in 2023 - They're now tackling non-fic: only 34% of bestsellers are woman-authored ££ sent to them make a difference

So excited to be at the National Opera Studio to hear the world premiere of Dorothy Howell's scene from Perdita!! Many, many thanks to @colla-voce.bsky.social for programming it 🥰

Just listened to @leahbroad.bsky.social on @bbcradio4.bsky.social talking about Ravel’s Bolero. I learned stuff. Had a great chat with Leah about her book Quartet last year as part of a local book festival. Quartet is brilliant. If you Like women’s history & music you should read it. #booksky

Samantha Ege presenting a phenomenal programme at the Barbican Centre today building on her new book South Side Impresarios. Incredible music and incredible playing

Hey @bsky.app! My name's Jamie, and I'm a world traveling opera singer who would love to connect with people who love classical music, cats, drag, and any number of nerdtastic subjects (current obsession: astrophysics!) 😊 Drop a line and say hi!

Happy advent y'all!! Which means it's time for a musical advent calendar. Every day until Christmas I'm posting a piece of music on this thread - no logic to them, just pieces that I adore & I hope will bring joy to your day. Please reply with your favourites too! We're starting with... #musicadvent

The Rubery Prize - international book award seeking the best books by indie writers, self published authors and books published by independent presses. Please share

This has become a really delightful thread with tonnes of new listening to get stuck in to. Keep 'em coming please!!

Composers of Bluesky! Reveal yourselves please - can we get a thread of unabashed self-promotion? What is the work you're most proud of?

Today I may be hiding under my desk. inews.co.uk/culture/arts...

"Welsh legends, history, landscapes and seascapes constantly keep us company in this most stimulating collection of pieces, excellently performed by an orchestra and conductor absolutely at home with her colourful instrumentation and fondness for long melodic lines." (BBC Music Magazine)

Hullo Bluesky community! Our website has a wealth of resources related to the life and works of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams - including a treasure trove of beautiful downloadable photographs. 📷 Find them here: vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/discover/rvw...