A recent edition of the New York Review of Books contains an article by George B. Stauffer called “Where are the Woman Composers?”.
The writer is astonished that for centuries major musical institutions have performed hardly any operas by women. I can only presume that there actually were operas composed by women, sufficient numerically and qualitatively to provide a potential body of work that could be drawn upon.
That remains an open question.
Broad draws the reader deep into the lives of four British women who encountered misogyny while attempting to forge careers in the male-dominated field of music composition. New York Review of Books, 2023-10-05
The writer then proceeded to cite a particular British woman, Ethel Smythe, who dressed like men, smoked cigars, like to golf and horseback ride, and had affairs with numerous men and women including Virginia Woolf.
Aggressive, determined to gain recognition, and unfazed by tradition, she was described by Woolf as an “uncastrated cat.” New York Review of Books, 2023-10-05
There you go.
There is a woman composer of an opera who is being denied her rightful place in the repertoire of established musical companies.