Female Composers Showcased on the World Map

Sakira Ventura, a music teacher from Valencia, Spain, created an interactive global map that pinpoints female composers

Ventura's map features female composers, past and present, whose music — largely due to neglect by the classical music sphere — has never been performed or recorded. 

From over a year’s worth of countless hours of research, the map shows over 500 composers, with another 500 being added soon. 

During her own music education, Ventura was never taught about female composers and this fact inspired her to complete this project. 

The map shows female composers of varying eras and ages, from Kassia, a Byzantine abbess born in 810 AD, to Alma Deutscher, the British teenager who began composing at age six. 

“It was taken for granted that a work composed by a woman wouldn’t be of the same quality as that composed by a man,” Ventura told The Guardian.

“I’m 28 years old and nobody ever spoke to me about female composers,” she continued. “So I want to do what hasn’t [been] done for me, I want my students to know that Mozart and Beethoven existed, but also that there were also all these female composers.”

A graduate of Joaquín Rodrigo Conservatory of Music, the University of Granada, the International University of Andalusia, and the University of Oviedo, Ventura has degrees in musicology and musical heritage. 

You can access the interactive map, here.