Most people go through life assuming that classical music was all written by men from certain parts of Christian Europe. This idea is easy to disprove, yet few of us have ever heard anything to contradict it.
In 1991 Indiana University hosted a whole week of celebration for Women’s History Month –– and not one event celebrated women’s music. At one of the best music schools in the country, none of the music performed had been written by a woman composer, past or present! This prompted Laury Gutiérrez to found La Donna Musicale (and later, Rumbarroco, the organization’s more modern Latin-fusion ensemble).
As she unearthed scores by women composers and presented them in a concert series, she was delighted to see audiences relating to the music, sharing her passion for exploring these unknown masterpieces. Their lack of exposure drew them in even more.
La Donna Musicale exists to uncover and perform a large repertoire of great music celebrating the experiences of women and ethnic minorities –– spanning European, African, Indigenous and Latin-American traditions.
What we offer is unique. This music is barely represented in concert halls, yet it is rich and deserves our attention. We enable varied audiences to connect profoundly to the sounds of women –– their melodies and rhythms, their history and themes. We offer stories that any modern audience can appreciate: of love and hardship; independence and community; femininity and sexuality.
La Donna Musicale delves deep into this field, covering a rich diaspora of genres. We have:
The CD Anna Bon: La Virtuosa di Venezia was the 2011 winner of the Arts and Media Award from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women. La Donna Musicale has toured nationally and internationally
La Donna Musicale is currently guided by a group of prominent individuals who, through their dedicated work as Boards of Directors and Advisors, represent both the artistic and the business community.
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La Donna Musicale is supporters and in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
© All rights reserved 2023. La Donna Musicale, Inc.
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