Nine of the world’s top 20 most performed living composers are women, new report finds
(L to R) Errollyn Wallen, Unsuk Chin, Kaija Saariaho. Picture: Wikimedia Commons / Getty / Alamy By Sophia Alexandra Hall @sophiassocials New research finds that almost half of the world’s top 20 contemporary composers in 2022 were women. An annual classical music statistics report has found that in 2022, nine of the top 20 most performed living composers were women. Some of the women composers named in the top 20 include Anna Clyne, Kaija Saariaho, Olga Neuwirth, Unsuk Chin, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Missy Mazzoli and Errollyn Wallen. The report , carried out by online classical music magazine Bachtrack, is based on 27,124 listings for performances which took place in 2022. On the report’s full list of 106 most performed living composers, of 24 the British composers featured on the list, 12 were women, and of the 27 Americans named, 10 were women. Bachtrack’s 2022 statistics are starkly different from previous figures. In 2014, just one composer in the t...