Leah Broad

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

We’re hiring 💡

We’re looking for a Project Manager (Families) to develop and manage events for families at Wigmore Hall ✨

Find out more and apply here: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/about-us/jobs/project-manager-families

Deadline: 9.00am on Tuesday 21 October

Saw most of this (not the Beamish, obviously) last week in Skipton and it was a superb evening.

Fenella Humphreys violin; Martin Roscoe piano Fenella Humphreys violin; Martin Roscoe piano Felix Mendelssohn, Sally Beamish, Stravinsky and more

Dorothy Howell's at the Wigmore Hall! Coming up on the 16th - violinist Fenella Humphreys gives the world premiere of 'Tracing' by Sally Beamish, and tonnes of goodies from Prokofiev and Stravinsky to Mendelssohn www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/202...

Avril Coleridge-Taylor World Premiere Recording Klaxon!! No subtlety here, I am very excited about this recording

If you were following the last run of #FirstLastAnything, we had @leahbroad.bsky.social as a guest, and she mentioned an upcoming Avril Coleridge-Taylor disc, with the first ever recordings of several works. Leah's excellent blog has a new post on this. leahbroad.substack.com/p/avril-cole...

It's finally here!! Avril Coleridge-Taylor is getting the first album ever dedicated entirely to her works. My post this week is about why Avril, her music, and the album matter

"Her compositions tell both one woman’s story, and a whole social history too."

leahbroad.substack.com/p/avril-cole...

Pale cream cover of the album 'Sun Triptych' by composer Dobrinka Tabakova.

Happy release day to Dobrinka Tabakova! I cannot recommend this beautiful album enough - it is every bit the perfect successor to her wonderful 'String Paths'. Give yourself a Friday treat and take an hour to listen to this ❤️

open.spotify.com/album/7azNPv...

Image of pianist Myra Hess at the piano.

"Myra and Elly's stories show just how mercurial musical meaning can be, and how much the stories we tell about music matter. In different contexts, with different stories surrounding it, the same music can "mean" completely different things to different listeners."

"Does this change how we hear Beethoven's music, knowing that it was capable of being used in such a way? Should we change the language we use about "great" classical music? And what do we do now with Elly Ney's recordings of Beethoven sonatas, knowing her Nazi history?"

What should we do with recordings by artists whose views we disagree with? And does it change how we hear Beethoven's music, knowing that it was used to bolster the Nazi regime?

On pianists Myra Hess and Elly Ney, and Beethoven on both sides of #WWII

open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

Fascinating read about a real badass (which is a good thing in case it wasn't obvious) who also wrote some amazing music. Before listening to the new CPO disc I had only heard her 2nd symphony. Now I'm thirsty for more. <3

The composer who defied the Nazis Eight pieces to start listening to French Resistance composer Elsa Barraine

NEW POST

This week I'm thinking about the role of music in political conflict.

Meet French Resistance composer Elsa Barraine, whose compositions responded to the rise of fascism in Europe

"Music would become Barraine's mode of resistance"

open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

Songs of Sunrise | Leah Broad | Substack Music, history, and some things inbetween. Click to read Songs of Sunrise, by Leah Broad, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

It's essentially a blog - this is mine: open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

Would anyone be interested in a kind of music appreciation club via my Substack?

Maybe once a fortnight I'd pick a piece of classical music & provide a listening guide, info about the piece/composer, qs for discussion & further listening/reading.

Yes/no?

Conscripting Beethoven How two pianists used Beethoven on both sides of World War II

NEW POST about pianists Myra Hess & Elly Ney, and how they used Beethoven during #WWII.

"Myra and Elly’s stories show just how mercurial musical meaning can be, and how much the stories we tell about music matter."

open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

Oh wow thank you!! I really hope you enjoy Quartet 😊

I recommend this fabulous, perfect Sunday reading and listening, and look forward to delving into the fascinating playlist some more.

Thank you x a million @whenisbirths.bsky.social and @leahbroad.bsky.social

Best FLA yet?? Possibly! So good

And so much here I'm banking to listen to later (just got to get to tomorrow - just the tiny matter of Elijah tonight in the way)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Excellent interview! I can thoroughly recommend @leahbroad.bsky.social’s book so engagingly written.

ICYMI, my conversation with the brilliant Dr Leah Broad (@leahbroad.bsky.social). We covered so much here, incredibly grateful to her for her time and expertise. #FirstLastAnything

Interview with Emily Hazrati Leah Broad explores the influences, collaborations and philosophy of a young composer

New interview! Had such a great time chatting with @leahbroad.bsky.social for Choir & Organ magazine's Autumn 2025 issue, delving into just some of my compositional interests and experiences over the past few years, with a particular focus on my choral output.

www.gramophone.co.uk/choir-and-or...

Avril Coleridge-Taylor, today’s composer She was buffeted and cast aside by the winds of 20th-century history. It’s time she was finally recognised

Fantastic article by Samatha Ege and @leahbroad.bsky.social in this month’s @prospectmagazine.co.uk on the life, career and legacy of Avril Coleridge-Taylor (usually ££ but free for a limited period). @arusbridger.bsky.social

I might be most excited about the chapter on Ethel Smyth’s late work The Prison. This is the first comprehensive analysis of the work.

Smyth adapts a metaphysical story from her close friend Henry Brewster.

Tonight!!! Exploring how Beethoven was used during World War II, featuring the only interview Elly Ney's family have given to English language media 😱 this was such a fascinating doc to make

Off to the Courtauld to speak about the women on Katrina Lee's new album of solo violin works! Come join us if you're in London this evening: courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/chr...

The @womensprize.bsky.social throwing a great party as ever - congratulations to all the shortlisted fiction authors!!!

Off to Kings Place to speak at the EMPOWER panel on women in music!! Really looking forward to chatting with @errollynwallen.bsky.social, Jess Gillam & Heloise Werner about moving forward in classical music 💪🏻🎵

Working on digging them out one by one 😎😂

One of those emails you dream of receiving - the original, believed lost autograph score of Smyth's Mass in D discovered safe and sound in a Liverpool archive!!

*NEW POST*

As we move into March I'm thinking about International Women's Day - why it still matters and how we use it to move forward

Full post on my Substack: open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...

Oh absolutely!

Although isn't this mostly accounted for by singers/pianists, which nuances the total number a bit?