Various Artists - Women of Note Vol. 7 (2025) Hi-Res

ABC Classic presents the seventh volume in our annual celebration of Australia’s female composers, Women of Note. Released to coincide with International Women’s Day (8 March), this digital album features music from established composers Maria Grenfell and Melody Eötvös, celebrated Indigenous musician Nardi Simpson, and rising stars Leah Blankendaal, Juliana Kay, Jennifer Hankin, Julia Vlahogiannis and Katherine Potter, plus a major new work from Australia’s favourite classical music creator Elena Kats-Chernin: the Violin Concerto Fantasie im Wintergarten, inspired by the musical soundworld of 1920s silent movies. ‘For this concerto,’ writes Kats-Chernin, ‘I felt that I could build upon such contrasting themes as light and shadow, tango and chaos, showy or surreal atmosphere, yearning, lyrical or foreboding: all those opposing or related themes would give violinist Emily Sun a great vehicle to showcase virtuosity, and edgy sounds, as well as heartbreakingly poetic suspended lines.’

The composers on the album come from around the country, and their music features a diverse range of ensembles. Maria Grenfell’s orchestral work Tarraleah is a tribute to the labour, spirit and legacy of the immigrants who built the Tasmanian hydro-electric scheme. At the other end of the scale is the piano solo Danaid, from Melbourne composer Melody Eötvös, tracing the weightless brilliance of soaring butterflies as they travel fearlessly through the three dimensions of air.