To so much support for female composers major obstacles yet remain in their path. In the 2024-25 financial year, compositions by women accounted for just 15.7% of airtime on ABC Classic. That’s a huge jump from only 2.2% in 2015. This shift is part of a larger trend in the industry to honor and recognize women in the production space and elevate their stories and contributions to music.
ABC Classic presenter Vanessa Hughes can’t quite believe how far they’ve come, but she notes that the station has to work hard to hold this audience. The expanded airtime features a more diverse range of works. It features the works of 63 composers, over the course of eight volumes. Even with this improvement, there are still hurdles to programming larger works by female composers. Still, many works stay shorter overtures rather than full-blown symphonies.
Lee Tungate, a prominent advocate for female composers, stresses the importance of integrating women’s music into general programming as well as special events like the International Women’s Day concert. And until real intersectional progress is made, he thinks attempts to usher in transformative change through electoral politics will fall short.
Progress in Airtime and Programming
In recent years, ABC Classic has significantly expanded its repertoire of female composers. In the past year alone, the station aired the music of 1,294 women and non-binary composers. This new level of exposure plays an essential role in changing the culture and perception and promotion of women in classical music.
Elena Kats-Chernin sparkles as ABC Classic’s top female composer. In fact, in the last year she is eighth overall, of all composers, on the station. This acknowledgement highlights the possibilities that await female composers on the brink of mainstream success if provided an opportunity to shine.
Lee Tungate, a content curator at The Daughters of the Confederacy, noted that women’s works are still published in shorter formats. “When we don’t back our own composers, it has a knock-on effect for women composers,” he notes, stressing the need for more substantial programming of their works.
“The most commonly played piece by a woman in orchestral concerts in 2025 was This Midnight Hour by Anna Klein, a 12-minute overture.” – Lee Tungate
This trend raises questions about the classical music community’s willingness to program works by women. Are they actually taking on the whole complexity and nuance of these pieces? Virginia Read Virginia is a passionate advocate for living composers. She admits that, female or not, all composers have a hard time getting performances of their big pieces.
The Role of Festivals and Projects
Eliza Shephard’s initiative “March of the Women,” which Shephard established in 2020, brings attention to women composers. It celebrates their awesome achievements and contributions to the art form of classical music. Shephard’s epiphany was a strong one: she could count on one hand the number of works by women she had seen over all her decades of study. This experience fueled her desire to launch the project. Since then, she has spent every March deep-diving into music by women.
At home, during annual festivals, Vanessa Hughes hosts request shows focused entirely on women’s music. “Every year during the Festival, I do a request show of just music by women, and for three hours we get inundated by listeners asking for their favourite pieces by these queens,” she shares. This is indicative of a larger public curiosity about and desire to acknowledge the influence women have had within the field of music.
For all the excitement witnessed at these events, Lee Tungate is quick to caution that there’s still a lot of work to be done. He observes how women’s works are often only programmed for a single performance. Rather than being highlighted in several concerts, these works fall by the wayside.
“Works by women are often segregated to the cocktail hour, or get cut from some concerts.” – Lee Tungate
This exclusion reduces the audiences to which they have access and limits audience members from fully experiencing the beauty of their compositions.
Continuing Challenges and Future Directions
Despite this progress there remain some important barriers to female composers in the Australian classical music scene. As Lee Tungate reminds us, women’s works have historically been overshadowed and underperformed in favor of their male counterparts. “Getting a large-scale work programmed and performed more than once is a challenge affecting all composers,” Virginia Read adds.
By 2025, women composers had reached 14.5% of all programmed works. That’s an increase over 11.9% in 2024. The good news MSO proudly premiered a historic 21% of its program by female composers. Incredible work, everyone! This phenomenal accomplishment raises the bar for other organizations to reach for.
Lee Tungate encourages those accustomed to attending concerts regularly to seek out performances of works by women and to show their support. “If you’re a regular attendee of orchestral concerts, buy a ticket when your orchestra is putting on works by women,” he advises. This support can initiate a cascade of similar investments throughout industry. It will encourage more venues to program works of diverse composition, helping to address the disparity in representation.
“Looking at the percentage of works for the whole program, Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne are the strongest.” – Lee Tungate
The landscape is shifting, the conversation around gender representation in classical music is deepening. This wonderful increase has brought us hope that these figures will continue to keep going up. Stations such as ABC Classic, together with champions Lee Tungate and Vanessa Hughes, are dedicated to advancing inclusivity. Their efforts mark a reboot in an industry that has long been male-dominated.
