Dame Ethel Mary Smyth fought sexism as a 19th century composer.

Dame Ethel Mary Smyth was a prolific British composer who lived from 1858 to 1944. She had to overcome her father’s opposition to become a composer, and she faced sexism in the music world throughout her career.  She joined the British women’s suffrage movement in 1910 and served two months in prison for breaking the window of a politician who opposed votes for women.  Her  “The March of the Women” (1911) became an anthem of the women’s suffrage movement.  Her opera, Der Wald, remains the only opera by a woman composer ever produced at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

On Sunday, April 14 at 2 p.m., the 150-member Cecilia Chorus of New York, conducted by Music Director Mark Shapiro, will present the New York premiere of Dame Ethel Smyth’s “Mass in D” (1893) at Carnegie Hall, 7th Avenue and West 57th Street in New York.  Tickets are $25 – $80 and you can purchase them online.  For more information, please visit the Cecilia Chorus of New York website.