Here’s a handy list of the performances and organizations which include music by women in KC and around this season. While I feel its significantly more helpful to just, like, deliberately include music by women as part of typical programming (as many of these organizations do) and not expect a head pat, I also think it’s helpful to deliberately support those who are making those efforts. This list represents approximately 8% of the total programming choices available this season.
With 25+ concerts and over 30* different composers, I hope you can show your support for these artists and organizations. Go to shows! Make donations! Buy albums! Tell your friends! Heck, bring friends with you!
These are primarily classical/contemporary classical or classical adjacent, but not exclusively. Look for women’s creative voices everywhere—in jazz, poetry, visual arts, pop, dance, folk, literature, rock, politics, electronica, etcetera—and raise them up.
September 20 & 22: William Jewell College Choir performs Gwyneth Walker’s “Evangeline.” FREE
September 26: Kansas City Chamber Orchestra performs Jessie Montgomery’s “Starburst.”
September 29: Lyric Arts Trio performs work by Clara Schumann.
October 5: Mid America Freedom Band “Royal Cortège” includes work by Julie Giroux and Queen Lili’uokalani, and honors Marsha P. Johnson.
October 12 & 13: newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble performs work by Christine Burke, Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh, and Kelly Marie-Murphy.
October 13: Violinist Keith Stanfield and pianist Robert Lamar Sims perform “Celebrating Clara Schumann: Her Life and Times.“
October 15-19: KCSymphony includes work by Gabriela Lena Frank on their Young People’s Concerts.
October 17: “She Shed” a project featuring Stacy Busch
October 19 & 20: Owen/Cox Dance Group performs original choreography to the songs of Krystle Warren.
October 19 & 20: Te Deum performs works by Melissa Dunphy and Rosephanye Powell.
October 20: Bach Aria Soloists performs Reena Esmail at sold out 20th anniversary Hauskonzert.
October 26: The Wires Alternative String Duo as well as a series of Solstice concerts in December.
November 2: Topeka Symphony Orchestra performs works by Joan Tower and Alyssa Morris (Morris as composer and soloist).
November 3: Trombonist (UMKC professor) JoDee Davis performs world premieres by Jennifer Higdon and Victoria Bond.
November 10: Kansas Virtuosi present Music of Melinda Wagner, Lawerence, KS
December 7: newEar plays music by Natalie Dietterich and Fjóla Evans.
December 14: NAVO presents “Clara Schumann: The Virtuoso, The Muse and Her Legacy” Lawrence, KS
January 18: Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Explorations Series …When There Are Nine, world premiere of a new song cycle by Laura Karpman and Kelley Rourke.
January 17-19: Kansas City Symphony performs work by Vivian Fung.
February 1: newEar performs music by Mary Kouyoumdjian and Sakari Dixon Vandeveer.
February 2: Kansas City Baroque Consortium reprises “Women of Note” with musicologist/soprano Victoria Botero, featuring music of Barbara Strozzi and Ingrid Stölzel @ Kansas City Public Library FREE
February 12: Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Carolyn Watson, performs Elena Kats-Chernin’s Moon Feather Magic.
February 15: pianist Nicholas Phillips performs work by Ingrid Stölzel and Florence Price at Westport Presbyterian Church. Phillips recently released Shift, featuring world premiere recordings of works by eight women.
February 18: Kansas City Symphony Happy Hour, “Fabulously French,” with work by Louise Farrenc. FREE, ticket required
March 1: Mid America Freedom Band “Tolkien and the Great War” with work by Annie Lennox. FREE (tickets required)
March 9: William Jewell College Cardinalis performs work by Karthryn Rose, as well as the KC premiere of Dale Trumbore’s “How To Go On”
March 14: Kantorei KC performs, among others, work by Melissa Dunphy and Elaine Hagenberg.
March 21: newEar performs music by Annie Clark and Caroline Shaw.
April 3-5: Kansas City Symphony performs work by Anna Clyne.
April 17 & 18: Kansas City Women’s Chorus “Lifting As We Climb.”
April 18 & 19: Midwest Chamber Ensemble‘s annual chamber music concert, all works by women.
May 1: 4th Annual Kansas City Contemporary Music Festival with work by Hong Hong Gianakon and others TBA. FREE
May 2: Mid America Freedom Band with world premiere Drag Queen Double Concerto by Stacy Busch.
May 31: Musica Vocale performs work by Melissa Dunphy. FREE
*Did I miss your show? Comment or message me and I’ll gladly add more as I find out about them. Thanks!
Proust Eats a Sandwich 
Thanks for compiling this. Very interesting!