Bosses of the BBC Proms have promised to make sure women make up half the contemporary composers whose music is performed each year.
The Proms is among 45 international music festival and conferences that have pledged to achieve or maintain a 50/50 gender balance by 2022.
David Pickard, director of BBC Proms, said: ‘Achieving a 50/50 gender balance of contemporary composers is something we have been committed to for some time and consider vital to the creative development of the world’s largest classical music festival.’ At last year’s festival, ten out of 29 contemporary composers were women.
Female composers appearing in this year’s programme will include Anna Meredith, who will create a ‘monster orchestra piece’ for the First Night to be performed outside the Royal Albert Hall with images projected on its walls, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Female composers appearing in this year’s programme will include Anna Meredith, who will create a ‘monster orchestra piece’ for the First Night to be performed outside the Royal Albert Hall
Miss Meredith, who mixes contemporary classical, pop, electronica and rock in her compositions, has campaigned for greater female representation in the industry. She said: ‘It’s fantastic to put a date on this and have something solid to aim for.
‘There are many fantastic women composers who weren’t given recognition in their lifetime. Now there are loads of younger female composers.’
The initiative comes months after the BBC was hit by a gender pay row when it emerged that many of its female stars were paid far less than their male colleagues.
Last month, Carrie Gracie resigned as the BBC’s China editor, citing the corporation’s ‘secretive and illegal pay culture’. Male stars including Jeremy Vine, John Humphrys and Nick Robinson have agreed to take pay cuts to help correct pay disparity.
Other British events committing to tackling gender inequality by 2022 include the Aldeburgh Festival in Suffolk, the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and the Liverpool International Music Festival.
The target was announced by the PRS Foundation charity. Chief executive Vanessa Reed said: ‘Our focus on gender equality in 2018 aligns with the centenary for some women being given the vote in the UK.
‘One hundred years on, the push for gender parity across society continues.’
Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra at 2017’s Last Night at the Proms