Gender representation in the classical & contemporary music sector
In the classical and contemporary music sector, women are still highly under-represented
among conductors and composers. Despite accounting for 7 out of the top 20 most-
performed living composers in 2023, women represented only 36 of the top 100 most-
performed living composers.¹⁸ In addition, pieces by women composers are performed less
frequently than those by their male counterparts. During the 2018-2019 orchestral season,
only 76 of over 1,400 concerts performed by the 15 major orchestras worldwide included
at least one piece by a woman composer, representing just 2.3% of the over 3,500
classical works performed.¹⁹ Similarly, the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestra
reported that in 2023, despite accounting for over 60% of the administrative staff, women
represented only 8% of composers and 19% of conductors. Furthermore, works composed
by women accounted for only 25% of the Finnish contemporary music repertoire.²⁰ While
the numbers for both composers and conductors have slightly increased over the last
decade, women are still far from being equally represented.²¹ This imbalance is also
confirmed by ECSA data: an internal report found that only 26% of the pieces submitted for
the ECCO concerts between 2015 and 2020 were composed by women.²²