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International Women's Day on Radio 3

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ music education initiative Ten Pieces enters a new phase on International Women’s Day, celebrating its 10th anniversary with the announcement of ten works by women composers across eight centuries. The selection features a broad range of orchestral, vocal and gaming music by Sally Beamish, Hildegard von Bingen, Margaret Bonds, Lili Boulanger, Reena Esmail (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ commission), Cassie Kinoshi (a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ/ABRSM/Music For Youth co-commission), Marianna Martines, Laura Shigihara, Errollyn Wallen, and Master of the King’s Music Judith Weir.

With support from the European Broadcasting Union, nine of the ten pieces will be featured across the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3 schedule as part of its International Women’s Day celebrations, when the station marks the occasion with 24 hours of music only by women composers. Appearing throughout the day in programmes such as Breakfast, Essential Classics, Afternoon Concert, and In Tune, each piece will be presented by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Ten Pieces ambassador saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam, and introduced by the composer or a champion of the work.

Other highlights of International Women’s Day 2024 on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3 include a Lunchtime Concert (13:00 – 14:00) live from Maida Vale Studios, with Sarah Walker introducing a programme of music by Clara Schumann, Cécile Chaminade, Alma Mahler, and Rebecca Clarke (amongst others) performed by current and former Radio 3 New Generation Artists Alim Beisembayev (piano), Kitty Whately (mezzo-soprano) and Michael Pandya (piano). Ian Skelly introduces Radio 3 in Concert (19:30- 22:00) with the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Singers, guest conductor Ellie Slorach and sitar player Debipriya Das live from St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London. They present a programme including the world premiere of Reena Esmail’s Sun Sandar Sargam, a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ commission and one of the new Ten Pieces, at its heart.

International Women's Day on Radio 3

  • Classical Mixtape

    Expand your horizons with classical music: take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music, today featuring exclusively the work of women composers.

  • 1930 - 2200 R3 in Concert: The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Singers live from St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, presented by Ian Skelly

    The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Singers and guest conductor Ellie Slorach celebrate International Women’s Day 2024 with a second collaboration with the celebrated sitar player Debipriya Das. The programme is a choral journey of music marking the passing of night through to the anticipation and joy of the new day, interspersed with traditional Indian music alongside works which combine choir and sitar. At the heart of the programme is a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ commission, the world premiere of Reena Esmail’s Sun Sandar Sargam, one of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s Ten Pieces.

  • 2200-2245 The Verb, with Ian McMillan

    Ian McMillan is joined by poets Joelle Taylor, Rommi Smith, Kim Moore and Shirley May to explore how women poets are using poetry and writing to explore and challenge sexism and to empower women through words. There's also music from soul singer, Sarah-Jane Morris, and musician, Tony Remy, from their new album Sisterhood. Rommi Smith reads a poem specially written for The Verb celebrating the colour purple; in The Night Alphabet, Joelle Taylor's first novel, one woman’s tattoos are each portals to a story of repression and women’s resistance, violence and justice; Kim Moore's poetry explores and exposes everyday sexism, gender, class and also performance as a female poet; Shirley May writes from the perspective of the Caribbean diaspora and reflects on stories of the women who came before her, and the young women poets finding their voices now.

  • 2245-2300 The Essay: Edith Piaf in 5 Songs

    Continuing the β€œ...In 5 songs” format, The Essay presents Edith Piaf's life and work deconstructed across five songs. Today, Elizabeth Alker explores Non, je ne regrette rien, a song that has come to define Piaf even though it wasn't meant for her and she almost turned it down. By 1960 Piaf was crippled by rheumatism, buoyed by painkillers and alcohol and had defied the obituarists after falling into a coma. Doctors warned her that taking to the stage again would kill her. An inauspicious context for song writer Charles Dumont to hit her up with a new ballad. Actually an old ballad, written in 1956 for Rosalie Dubois. But with a change in title Dumont thought the song the perfect vehicle for Piaf's soulful destruction and defiance. Elizabeth Alker celebrates the song that has come to define Piaf ever more.

  • 2300-0100 Late Junction, with Verity Sharp

    Bringing to a close Radio 3's International Women's Day celebrations, Verity Sharp presents the fruits of Late Junction’s latest exclusive collaboration session, improvised in a studio over the course of just a few hours. The Late Junction sessions are a chance for two artists who have never worked together before to create new spontaneous music with each other. In this episode, Mongolian vocalist Enji works with French violinist Agathe Max. Elsewhere, Verity plays a whole host of exciting new releases, including lava-inspired drones from Melbourne trio Panghalina, obsessive avant-garde spoken word from Montreal-based Swedish vocalist and composer Erika Angell, and thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird from Cork multi-instrumentalist Roslyn Steer.

Highlights of Radio 3