In 2017, Sound and Music, the national charity for new music, promised that it would work with equal numbers of male and female composers by 2020. They see attending to diversity as imperilling a culture of excellence in which the only criterion for inclusion ought to be quality. Others argue that, while British women composers have only recently gained a foothold in mainstream composing careers, there is, now, a level playing field. By imposing targets on equality, goes the argument, these younger women will be advantaged at the expense of older men. And, by boldly looking outwards at the world around it – in all its richness – British classical music stands a greater chance of flourishing and growing as it should, rather than withering as so many fear.

Source: The Guardian March 07, 2018 17:48 UTC