Celebrating Women in Music: The Voices Shaping Our Season

Celebrating Women in Music: The Voices Shaping Our Season

By Maia Ellis
 
As International Women’s Day approaches, it feels like the right moment to pause and look at what’s unfolding on our stage this season. The concerts ahead aren’t just performances, they tell a story. A story about women who are performing, composing, conducting, teaching, leading, and reshaping the sound of music today. Across genres and generations, their influence is unmistakable. And it’s exciting. 

Women on the Podium 

For a long time, conducting remained one of the most visibly male-dominated corners of the music world. Now, that image is shifting, and seeing women step confidently onto the podium carries real weight. 
 
Jessica Cottis returns to the Winspear Stage to conduct Concerto for Two Pianos, bringing with her a bold, international perspective shaped by work across Europe, North America, and Australia. Naomi Woo makes her ESO debut with the Calgary Philharmonic coproduction The Planets, pairing musical leadership with a strong commitment to education and community connection. 

Their presence is more than symbolic. It reflects a meaningful evolution in who shapes programs, guides orchestras, and influences the next generation of musicians. Leadership in music is changing—and that change is clearly visible. 
 

New Voices, New Possibilities 
Every season carries the promise of something new, and this year, that promise is beautifully embodied by emerging composer Annika Schoenhardt, winner of this year’s Young Composers Project. 
 
Her orchestral work, For the Star Chasers—performed last month by the ESO in the Love Letters to Alberta and returning later this month as part of our Symphony for Kids concert Because—reveals a thoughtful and distinctive voice. Reflecting on her piece, she shares: 
 
“I started off with a very imperfect theme and made something beautiful out of it. There’s a lot of longing in the piece for something unattainable, and what is eventually attained is still imperfect, but it’s beautiful.” 
 
Schoenhardt’s journey speaks to the expanding space for young composers and to the importance of giving new voices room and opportunity to be heard. 
 
A Season Spanning Generations 
One of the most moving aspects of this season is the way it brings together artists at different stages of their careers.  
 
Pianists Sara Davis Buechner and Jessica Yuma will both take to the Winspear stage for the exciting Concerto for Two Pianos. Buechner is a long-time audience favourite, bringing with her decades of performing and teaching around the world. Yuma, an Edmonton local, has already begun carving out a name for herself despite her young age, winning several international piano competitions, and being named as one of CBC’s 30 under 30 classical musicians.  
 
When Angela Cheng returns in May, she reminds us of the long arc a musical life can take. From her debut in 1985 to now, she’s touched countless students and audiences around the world and continues to show us how important mentorship can be. 

Together, they tell a bigger story: that a life in music isn’t one thing. It shifts, grows, and deepens. Performance, mentorship, and community become intertwined. 

From Broadway to the Concert Hall 
The Leading Ladies of Broadway bring together three artists whose careers stretch far beyond the stages of Broadway. 
 
Scarlett Strallen has built a career that moves seamlessly between London’s West End, Broadway, and major symphony orchestras, bringing both theatrical sparkle and musical depth wherever she performs. Alli Mauzey balances starring roles with work as a symphonic soloist and educator, embodying the idea that artistry and mentorship belong side by side. Nicole Parker brings her experiences from working in comedy and television into her musical life, a reminder that modern performers often wear many creative hats. 
 
Together, their careers illustrate the versatility of today’s performing artists, and how moving fluidly between stages, genres, and audiences is becoming the norm, not the exception.

Rock’s Leading Voices
That versatility extends well beyond Broadway. In Divas of Rock! three powerful local vocalists bring a different musical tradition to life through the electrifying energy of classic rock.

Ariana Whitlow, Erika Noot, and Lesley Gruhn lead this celebration of the iconic women of rock, including Janice Joplin, Pat Benatar, Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, Tina Turner and more.

Placed alongside the many women leading, creating, and performing throughout the season, Divas of Rock! offers another perspective on the influence of women in music; one that is loud, fearless, and impossible to ignore.

Music that Connects and Heals 
Music can also reach far beyond the stage. In Sounds of YEG, Métis fiddler Brianna Lizotte shares music deeply rooted in family tradition and lived experience. Her participation in the 2022 Métis delegation to Rome—where music supported elders during conversations about residential schools—underscores something essential: music can carry memory. It can hold grief and resilience at the same time and can bring people together when words fall short. 
 
Taken together, this season feels like a snapshot of a broader shift: women leading boldly, creating fearlessly, and mentoring and shaping the future of music in ways both visible and profound.  
 
We’re fortunate to witness it, and even more fortunate to hear it.