First instalment of Slow Listening is tonight! Starting with one of my all-time favourite pieces. It's nerve-wracking putting such a vulnerable piece of writing out there, so thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed. I'm looking forward to listening with you all.

Great job for an early music person!!

I'm really thrilled to be joining with the @royalphilorchestra.bsky.social for their new 'Revealed' series, unwrapping pieces by Mozart and Tchaikovsky for the 26-27 season. Mozart first, at Cadogan Hall on 1st October - come join us! Tix on sale next Tuesday www.rpo.co.uk/tickets-memb...

If @leahbroad.bsky.social recommends something to listen to, I trust her judgement utterly. So this is very nice news indeed.

I'm in. How about you?

So many important points about our current condition and the power of slow listening!

**NEW POST** I'm starting a slow listening club on my Substack. It's an invitation to come offline & listen instead. To explain why, this is why classical music is so important to me, and why I think slow, deep, engaged listening is such a powerful thing. leahbroad.substack.com/p/im-startin...

Up bright and early with obligatory coffee for a WORLD PREMIERE recording of Ina Boyle choral works with St Martin's Voices & @resonus.bsky.social!! Paired with Maconchy and sounding incredible so far - stay tuned...

Thank you so much @tomgatti.bsky.social & @theobserveruk.bsky.social for showcasing the richness of non-fiction by women & the vitally important work of @womensprize.bsky.social in championing women's voices in literature. (1/2) observer.co.uk/culture/book...

No, misogyny isn't a thing of the past If it feels like feminism has achieved its goals, you’re not paying enough attention via @leahbroad.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

‘The lives of women musicians are inseparable from the politics of their times. Progress isn’t linear.’ Another excellent piece from @leahbroad.bsky.social: open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

*NEW POST* This week on rising misogyny & classical music "Not taking active steps to redress historical imbalance sends a message ... that classical music is a space where varying degrees of sexism and misogyny are tolerated." open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

Avril Coleridge-Taylor on the radio! 🥳 Great to hear @leahbroad.bsky.social discussing Coleridge-Taylor's move to South Africa and the historic first flight of the Comet jet airliner, as well as her subsequent Comet Prelude! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

"In fields most explicitly associated with the production of critical thought...most scholars see AI as a unique threat, one that extends far beyond cheating on homework and casts doubt on the future of higher education itself." www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

Fascinating, intriguing little essay this evening on BBC R3, by @leahbroad.bsky.social on Avril Coleridge-Taylor's journey to, and time in, South Africa. With a burst of @jkaconductor.bsky.social conducting the BBC Phil at the beginning. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Happy #IWD2026 everyone! Here are pieces I've been reading/writing recently on women's lives and histories: Why ChatGPTs and LLMs are dangerous for women's history. I tested ChatGPT on cultural history, & it consistently hallucinates more about women's history: open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

ChatGPT’s accuracy gap is dangerous for women's history #IWD #InternationalWomensDay 'I tested ChatGPT on my area of expertise. The results are a problem for future knowledge' via @leahbroad.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

A must read for music students and teachers, or anyone who uses LLM for research. I was aware of its hallucinations, but the distortions in the "analysis" it provides are quite chilling. Leah's answers in the comments about why that is are also worth checking out.

@leahbroad.bsky.social On International Women’s Day Sunday 8 March join Worthing Symphony Orchestra & John Gibbons - 'Women of Note': CARWITHEN ODTAA; LŪCIJA GARŪTA Piano Concerto (Arta Arnicane); A.COLERIDGE-TAYLOR Sussex Landscape; DRING Festival Scherzo; GIPPS Symphony No.2 wtm.uk/events/women...

Please read. This is the clearest explanation I have seen of the danger of relying on AI, not only at the tactical level of your own research but even more worryingly at the strategic level of corrupting our entire knowledge base. Serious stuff that I wouldn’t have spotted.

I've been saying this for a while, but here it is in action... Reality is fragmenting around us.

Preaching to the converted on this site but really good hard clear evidence of AI’s hallucinations here:

This is a hugely important story: everyone concerned with learning and truth should read it. Presented with prompts about a lesser-known turn-of-the-last-century composer, an LLM produces a nice, clear readable evaluation of her Symphony No. 1 - which DOESN'T EXIST. Everything is made up. 😵‍💫

A salutary read for all on the accuracy of output from LLMs

If you teach please show your students this. If you're a student, please read this. The answers LLMs generate are not all alike. They are more likely to hallucinate on topics we don't already know a lot about. Even answers with "sources" shouldn't be trusted. leahbroad.substack.com/p/chatgpts-a...

Read this. So good.

Excellent post, highly recommend

Apparently I have fixed something today, by accident. Yay, I guess?

Welcome to a new world of fact, a quicksand of the unreal.

👇 Brilliant take on the societal risks on relying on LLMs and their hallucinations, particularly in under-researched fields. Also great that @leahbroad.bsky.social refrains from using the term 'AI'. These models are, of course, *not intelligent* in any genuine way.

Brilliant and salutary post by @leahbroad.bsky.social about Ethel Smyth’s Symphony in E minor, and the wider issues of scholarship around overlooked composers in the LLM age

**NEW POST** LLMs hallucinate, & they hallucinate WORSE on topics we don't already know/write a lot about. This creates a huge accuracy gap. This week I tested ChatGPT on Beethoven & Smyth to show how big this gap is & why it matters. It made up a LOT. leahbroad.substack.com/p/chatgpts-a...

Loved listening to this - thank you CBC for profiling Avril Coleridge-Taylor (and for reading my album liner notes 😂)

Brilliant talk from @leahbroad.bsky.social all about Avril Coleridge-Taylor, Women's music-making in WWII, and issues in biography. All hosted by the Boulanger Initiative!

I'm talking about Avril Coleridge-Taylor online at 9pm this evening! Please come along and ask me lots of questions about women's compositions in World War II - this is the first outing for ideas from my next book so would love thoughts :D www.boulangerinitiative.org/virtual-even...

🥳🥳🥳 4.5 stars for Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Piano Concerto and Orchestral Works @jkaconductor.bsky.social @leahbroad.bsky.social

Returning to @jkaconductor.bsky.social, the BBC Orchestra, and pianist Samantha Ege's outstanding Avril Coleridge-Taylor album from 2025 It's a terrific recording highlighting an unheralded composer - congrats to John, Samantha, and @leahbroad.bsky.social (who did critical work behind the scenes!)

"Hearing all her orchestral works on one sweep is an enjoyable experience...The BBC Philharmonic and John Andrews are on excellent form and the whole project has been brought together with great care by Ege, Andrews and @leahbroad.bsky.social. A Valuable Achievement" ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (BBC Music Magazine)

“This recording demonstrates that she should indeed have been considered one of Britain’s important composers during the mid 20th century.” @leahbroad.bsky.social

Now online, my new programme for BBC Radio 3 explores how Ibsen's Peer Gynt and the incidental music by Edvard Grieg have stood the test of time. Fronted by the brilliant @leahbroad.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

“This album makes a persuasive case in favour of the music… and the Piano Concerto in particular is a fine piece, and takes its place alongside other Resonus issues celebrating neglected 20th century female British composers.” #AvrilColeridgeTaylor #SmanthaEge @leahbroad.bsky.social

Lovely mention in The @telegraph.co.uk for our concert on 15 March at he RNCM with Alexandra Dariescu and the Manchester Camerata, introduced by @leahbroad.bsky.social

**NEW POST** This week on women composers and "marketability", and why the idea that there's no market for women composers is nonsense. If somebody says this, what they actually mean is THEY don't know enough about the music to know how to market it. leahbroad.substack.com/p/but-theres...

We're ALBUM OF THE WEEK on Essential Classics. Tune in to Radio 3 every morning this week around 10.30am GMT for a track from the album. Today it was the "Comet Prelude' - literally composed in mid-air during AC-T's flight to South Africa. @leahbroad.bsky.social

“But there’s no market for women composers…” (I bought this album of Avril Coleridge-Taylor’s music on CD on the day of release, and I absolutely love it. It’s all new to me, and I’m sorry I’ve had to wait so long) via @leahbroad.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

Highly recommend former FLA guest @leahbroad.bsky.social's blog posts. This one's about composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor (1903-98), and an excellent new disc of recordings, notably her piano concerto. Lots of links to music, essays and broadcasts. leahbroad.substack.com/p/but-theres...

AVRIL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR IS IN THE CLASSICAL CHARTS 😎😍

And we're in the Charts! The succulent filling in a John Wilson sandwich.... @leahbroad.bsky.social

My favourite picture of the evening…