What's On

Programme

Doreen Carwithen Piano Concerto
Ruth Gipps Jane Gray Suite (solo viola)
Antoinette Kirkwood Suite for Strings
Elizabeth Maconchy Life Story
Morfred Owen Beatific Sea
William Alwyn Autumn Legend
William Alwyn Tragic Interlude

Performers

John Andrews conductor
Alexandra Dariescu piano
Alexander Mitchell viola
Rachel Clegg cor anglais

About

For centuries, women composers have been silenced — not by lack of brilliance, but by a system built to ignore them.

In an industry shaped and dominated by men, their music was sidelined, their careers stifled, and their names overcast by male counterparts.

With this concert, Manchester Camerata are here to amplify the work of women who composed despite the gatekeeping and patriarchal hurdles. These works are not ‘forgotten gems’ — they are acts of resistance and of creative expression, and they will be heard with the volume and visibility they deserve at the RNCM in 2026.

At the centre of this programme is Doreen Carwithen, a pioneering British composer who made her mark as a film composer in the 1940s and ’50s,  a time when few women were even allowed in the room. Her Piano Concerto is bold, cinematic, and uncompromising – a declaration of musical power. She was married to composer William Alwyn, whose work will also be referenced in this concert.

Carwithen’s work will be performed alongside trailblazing pianist Alexandra Dariescu, collaborator and friend of the Camerata, who joined them onstage at the Enescu Festival in Romania a few years back. She is a fearless original voice in the international piano scene, making her a perfect collaborator for this work. She is also an alumnus of the RNCM.

Another highlighted composer is Morfydd Owen, who was considered a prodigy from a young age. At the age of four, she played the piano on her own accord, and at six, she began composing. She became one of the most versatile musicians that Wales has ever produced as a composer, singer, pianist and ethnomusicologist, until she married the Freudian psycho-analyst, Ernest Jones. He did not approve of his wife performing in public, so her diary soon dwindled. She served as her husband’s secretary and proofreader until her mysterious death at the age of 26.

This performance brings her Beatific Sea to life.

There will be a pre-concert talk by Leah Broad, winner of the 2024 RPS Award for her acclaimed book Quartet, which explores the life and work of Doreen Carwithen.

(This concert is named after Carwithen’s first major breakthrough, an orchestral Concert Overture named ODTAA (One Damn Thing after Another), composed between 1945 and 1946.)

Tickets:
Full Price £25 / £20 / £12
Gorton Residents £3*

Promoted by Manchester Camerata and RNCM.

*Please note there is a limited number of tickets available for Gorton Residents.