A History of Classical Music (The Women-Only Version)

Tamara Mumford, left, and Eric Owens in “L’Amour de Loin,” by Kaija Saariaho, at the Metropolitan Opera. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times — Tamara Mumford, left, and Eric Owens in “L’Amour de Loin,” by Kaija Saariaho, at the Metropolitan Opera. Credit Sara Krulwich/*The New York Times*

Today The New York Times writes about Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’Amour de Loin. Set in the Middle Ages, it is — shockingly– only the second time in the Metropolitan Opera’s history that a woman composer’s opera is being performed. Kaija Saariaho’s opera premiered in Salzburg over 10 years ago. The libretto is by the “Lebanese-born author Amin Maalouf.” As Anthony Tommasini explains, “Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki…becomes, amazingly, only the fourth woman to take the podium in the company’s history.” An additional article celebrates a few select women composers, starting with–of course–Hildegard von Bingen. You can watch and listen to a video clip of the opera here.

A Medieval Woman's Companion

Women's Lives in the European Middle Ages