International Women’s Day on Scala Radio
What you can expect on Scala Radio across March
Here at Scala Radio, we celebrate women composers and musicians all year round, but International Women’s Day gives us the perfect excuse to shine an even bigger spotlight on them!
Not only are we celebrating women on International Women’s Day, but we have a whole host of special programming planned across the month of March.
Find out what we have planned for International Women’s Day below:
International Women’s Day
On International Women’s Day 2022, Tuesday 8th March, we're celebrating Inspirational Women in Music across the day from 9am to 10pm.
Our day starts off with an all-women composers Screen Time, an hour of music from films, TV shows and video games, with Charles Nove showcasing music by the likes of Lena Raine, Anne Dudley, Doreen Carwithen and Angela Morley.
Mark Forrest, Sam Hughes, Penny Smith and Hannah Cox will continue to celebrate women composers and inspirational women performers across the day and into the evening. Featured composers include Florence Price, Clara Schumann, Amy Beach and Errollyn Wallen, and inspirational performers include conductor Marin Alsop, violinist Nicola Benedetti, percussionist Evelyn Glennie, cellist Jacqueline du Pre, pianist Mitsuko Uchida and soprano Jessye Norman.
Trail-blazing musicians and conductors will be invited to introduce their recordings, sharing their memories of performing the music and offering advice for young women seeking a career in music.
In Drive, Penny Smith will be joined by soprano Gabriella di Laccio, the founder and curator of DONNE, Women in Music, a charitable foundation that aims to make positive change and to readdress the gender inequality within the music industry and beyond.
She Scores on Scala Radio - new 4-part series
Female film, TV and video game music composers will take the lead in a series ‘She Scores on Scala Radio’, sharing their musical influences and inspirations.
Following on from the first series in March 2021, with guest hosts Pinar Toprak, Jessica Curry, Isobel Waller-Bridge and Nainita Desai, the new series broadcasting on Sundays 6-8pm features the following guest presenters, who have been given free rein to curate their own personal music selections:
March 6th: Rachel Portman is one of the most accomplished and in-demand composers for the screen. The first composer to win a scoring Oscar – in 1997 for Emma – Rachel went on to receive two more Academy Award nominations, for Chocolat and The Cider House Rules. She was the first female composer to win a Primetime Emmy Award, for the film Bessie, and she was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Soundtrack Cologne awards, the first female composer to receive the honour.
March 13th: Germaine Franco is the first woman to score a Disney animated feature film with 2021's Encanto, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score, among others. Germaine has provided the music for studio blockbusters, independent features, documentaries and television series as well as concert and choral music. Franco is the first Latina to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Score and to be invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Music Branch.
Laura Karpman founded the Alliance for Women Film Composers, and was the first American woman composer to be inducted in the music branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences. She has composed for film, television and video games, and has won five Emmy awards, including for the HBO series Lovecraft Country. Her recent screen work includes the Marvel What If...? series and she will score the sequel to Captain Marvel, called The Marvels, due for release in 2023.
March 27th: Composer, singer and one half of the genre-spanning duo Dead Can Dance, Lisa Gerrard has scored and contributed to numerous films such as Gladiator, Whale Rider, Layer Cake and The Insider. Her vocals can be found on film, TV and video game soundtracks such as Ripley's Game, Heat, Man on Fire, The West Wing and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.
Other International Women’s Day Programmes
Angellica hosted two International Women's Day themed editions of weekend brunch, with special guests and a hand-picked selection of inspirational women in music in her regular music features like The Jukebox and her Choral Moment.
Mark Kermode presents Scala Radio's weekly movie music show and every Saturday he showcases film scores by women, actively seeking out new and up-and-coming talent. On Saturday 5th March, Mark celebrated some of the women composers he's featured over the past year who were new names to the show, such as Sarah Angliss (Amulet), Eiko Ishibashi (Drive My Car) and Marie-Anne Fischer (I Am Belmaya).
Simon Mayo selected some of his favourite Albums of the Week since the launch of Scala in 2019 featuring women composers, soloists and conductors. Selected albums include Mozart y Mambo by French horn player Sarah Willis and MARI by violinist Mari Samuelsen. Simon will also celebrate Dame Kiri te Kanawa who celebrates her 78th birthday on 6th March, and he will feature music by Valerie Coleman from the forthcoming debut album by the New York Youth Symphony, an ensemble of young musicians who were brought together during the Covid pandemic.
Composer and arranger Luci Holland presents Scala Radio's video games music show – the only weekly show of its kind on UK national radio! Luci is a keen champion of women games composers, and on Saturday 5th March she presented a special show featuring some of her favourites including Jessica Curry, Sarah Schachner, Yoko Shimomura and Winifred Phillips.
Darren Redick presents a classical concert every Sunday evening on Scala Radio, and on Sunday 6th March he returned to his roots: before broadcasting beckoned, Darren was a ballet dancer. He studied at New York City Ballet's School of American Ballet, danced for English National Ballet and toured with Sylvie Guillem. In this special show looking ahead to International Women's Day, Darren will celebrate inspirational women in ballet, including the aforementioned Sylvie Guillem, Margot Fonteyne and Twyla Tharp, featuring the music with which they are best associated.
Women Composers station on Scala Radio Premium
Enjoy an uninterrupted playlist of music by women composers in one of our latest Premium stations, ' Women Composers'.
A first of its kind, the music will focus solely on women classical composers featuring artists such as Clara Schumann, Amy Beach and Augusta Holmès as well as more modern talent like Nainita Desai and Rachel Bruerville.
Listen to our Women Composers station on Scala Radio Premium here.