Dame Ethel Smyth: Connections, Culture, and Context Dublin City University 12–13 July 2024 CFP deadline EXTENDED: Monday 29 January 2024 Email: smythsymposium2024@gmail.com CALL FOR PROPOSALS Writing in her 1936 autobiography As Time Went On, Dame Ethel Smyth remarked that she had ‘never yet succeeded in becoming even a tiny wheel in the English music machine’. … Continue reading CFP: Ethel Smyth Symposium, Dublin City University, 12-13 July 2024 →

Finally, a commercial recording of Smyth’s second opera, Der Wald, which by all accounts had not been heard in full since 1904,  is available. You can purchase the recording through Resonus Classics or find it on your favorite streaming service. Read more about the recording session here. Reviews of the 2023 recording of Der Wald have … Continue reading Hear ‘Der Wald’ for the first time in over 100 years! →

As the Proms will be featuring Smyth’s music on no fewer than FIVE concerts during the 2022 season, BBC Culture ran a detailed article on her life and music last week. Beverley D’Silva interviewed Leah Broad, Sophie Fuller, Melly Still, Stephen Langridge and Amy Zigler in advance of the July 24 Prom 13 semi-staged performance … Continue reading BBC Culture brings attention to Smyth’s work ahead of several Proms concerts →

On March 14, 2021, Sarah Brailey, Dashon Burton, James Blachly and the Experiential Orchestra won a Grammy award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for Smyth’s The Prison. This is Smyth’s first Grammy, and the first Grammy awarded to a historical female composer. The hour-long work was released by Chandos Records on August 7, 2020. … Continue reading Smyth wins a GRAMMY! →

Check out the press release in Musical America for the upcoming CD release of Ethel Smyth’s The Prison, performed by the Experiential Orchestra and soprano Sarah Brailey and bass-baritone Dashon Burton, conducted by James Blachly! CD to be released August 7, 2020 on Chandos Records and is already available for pre-order on Amazon!

For more information on the history and manuscripts of The Wreckers, be sure to listen to BBC Radio 4’s episode of Tales from the Stave!

The Fisher Center at Bard College has made available Ethel Smyth’s most successful opera, The Wreckers, first performed in 1906. Staged in 2015 for the SummerScape series, this is the first time one of Smyth’s operas is available for viewing online. Enjoy! For more about this performance, read Amy Zigler’s review here.

Here is a discussion by conductor James Blachly about his experience conducting the U.S. premiere of Dame Ethel Smyth’s “The Prison.”  This article is from March 2018, but still an interesting read!  You may access the article here.

Odaline de la Martinez has conducted the debut recording of Ethel Smyth’s Fête Galante with Retrospect Opera. She tells CM about the process of reviving this work. You may read the entire article here.

Composed in 1930, The Prison is Smyth’s last large-scale work, scored for two soloists (portraying The Prisoner and his Soul), chorus, and orchestra. At 75 minutes, it is similar in length to the vocal symphonies of Mahler, but her musical language is truly unique; this work represents the full maturity of her style after more … Continue reading Kickstarter Campaign for Recording Smyth’s “The Prison” →

Enjoy an evening of choral and chamber works composed by some sophisticated FIRST LADIES who pursued careers as composers despite obstructions galore, and were first in their pursuits. Works by Amy Beach, Rebecca Clarke, Ethel Smyth, Marianna von Martines, Francesca Caccini and Patricia Van Ness will be performed by Cappella Clausura, Inc. and string quartet under the direction of Amelia … Continue reading Enjoy an evening of choral and chamber works composed by some sophisticated FIRST LADIES and performed by Cappella Clausura! →