If the names of Maria Callas, Jacqueline du Pré, and Clara Schumann are familiar to us, who today knows those those of Hazel Harrison, Antonia Brico or Nejiko Suwa? Behind these names, however, are exceptional performers whom the history of music has forgotten, like many others, because they were women. With her book “Legendary women musicians”, Marina Chiche wishes to restore them to the pantheon of music history.

Some were non-conformists, suffragettes, pioneers, committed feminists. Some of them had to break through glass ceilings to gain access to higher education, others had to persevere to be hired as soloists or to enter symphonic orchestras that were previously exclusively male. It is precisely this infinite diversity of profiles and backgrounds that needs to be represented in our collective imagination.

Through the context of classical music, this book is a way to approach contemporary gender and diversity issues and to offer new narratives. In an age of female empowerment and in the post #MeToo era, it is time to celebrate these inspirational women musicians of the past and to let people know what they were capable of.