EMPOWER: Female Musical Icons is an evening of performances and conversation, celebrating the breadth and diversity of female music, at Kings Place on Friday 21 March 2025 at 7pm.
There will be musical performances from chamber ensembles, and the premiere of the inaugural OpusHER commission, plus panel discussion.
Here co-founder, Sinéad Walsh, introduces EMPOWER and their 2025 London event.
EMPOWER: Women Changing Music is an initiative dedicated to promoting fairness and gender equality in the music industry. By spotlighting female composers and musicians, EMPOWER creates an environment that celebrates women, broadening the historically male-dominated canon, and is an outlet for positive change. Centred on live events, EMPOWER offers performance opportunities to emerging artists and provides a space for dynamic, thought-provoking discussions.
EMPOWER was founded by myself, Sinéad Walsh, and Hannah Seymour, in late 2021, whilst in our final year at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. As two young female musicians coming out of the pandemic, we felt it was our obligation to make a positive impact on the industry we were about to graduate into.
And then EMPOWER was born, on the couch in our flat. Being students at the time, with no performance opportunities, we wanted to create a platform that showcased emerging artists, just like us, but playing music solely by women, from brand new works to underrepresented pieces. We held our first event in March 2022, and here we are three years on, having showcased over 150 performers, premiered 20 new pieces of female music, and created a community of over 1000 followers. We have since moved to London, where we are scholars at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music. EMPOWER has now established itself as a platform for innovative, boundary-pushing performances that attract diverse and curious audiences, with March events at King’s Place London, the Royal Albert Hall, the Whyte Recital Hall in Dublin, and the Anthony Burgess Foundation Manchester.
Centred on live events, EMPOWER offers performance opportunities to emerging artists and provides a space for dynamic, thought-provoking discussions. EMPOWER has given a platform for female composers to premiere new works at their events, which otherwise may not have made it to the stage. These events are informal, and are a safe and inclusive space for everyone to learn, share, and ultimately empower each other to want to make a positive difference to society, through the sharing of music and experiences. The programmes consist of short musical performances, ranging from string quartets, to jazz band, to voice and electronics, showcasing a wide variety of music solely by female composers, both old and new. Composers and performers apply to be a part of the events, and the programme is curated around the breadth of music that EMPOWERs community of followers are passionate about.
We are ecstatic to be hosting our 2025 London event at Kings Place. It’s only our second annual event in London and to host it at such a prestigious venue truly is a dream come true. We were connected with the Artistic Director at Kings Place, Sam McShane, when she was a panellist at our Manchester event last year. She was extremely impressed with us and our work, and has been the greatest support through the whole process of organising the King’s Place event.
Performers apply to play at our events, and demand increases year on year. This year, 65 ensembles applied to perform at the London event, and only 5 could be selected. The quality, creativity, and enthusiasm of our successful applicants is incredible, and we can’t wait to hear them perform. We have a saxophone quartet, string quartet plus voice, a flute viola harp trio, a contemporary chamber ensemble, a string ‘band’, plus the London premiere of our inaugural OpusHER commission, an award for emerging female composers that we launched in September.
Our panel discussion is always a highlight of the evening. Our panellists are unbelievably generous with their time, by sharing their experiences and impacting wisdom in a beautifully vulnerable and honest way. It is always an honour to have the esteem and calibre of the women involved on the stage together, and this line up of women is no different. We are incredibly grateful to have the following panellists involved in our King’s Place event:
- Errollyn Wallen CBE – Composer and Master of the Kings Music
- Jess Gillam MBE – Saxophone Soloist and Presenter
- Héloïse Werner – Soprano, Composer, and Founding Member of the Hermes Experiment
- Dr. Leah Broad – Music Writer, Historian, and Author of ‘Quartet’
We are passionate about advocating for equity in the music industry. Through sharing music of the highest quality, our ultimate aim is to be a pivotal part in creating an industry that is accessible, diverse and welcoming to all, and to empower future industry trailblazers to have the confidence to make their voices heard, both musically and personally. Our goal is to inspire and support young people to make positive change, and we believe that the platform we are providing to emerging performers and composers will have an impact on the shape of the industry going forward.
I hope that people will leave our London event feeling positive, having learned something new, and ultimately empowered, in whatever way that resonates with them. You don’t have to be a woman or a musician to enjoy EMPOWER, and we can’t wait to welcome you into our community!
Music has the power for change and we, as EMPOWER, invite you to be a part of this movement.
EMPOWER: Female Musical Icons is at Kings Place on Friday 21 March 2025, further details from Kings Place website.
