A Celebration of Women who Made a Difference

Witches, bitches, spinsters and whores! Women have been attacked whenever they have dared to stand up, fight back or be true to themselves. But, as American writer and activist Audre Lorde said unapologetically, ‘Women are powerful and dangerous’. In this spirit, The Fourth Choir, London’s LGBT+ classical choir, is offering a concert in praise of self-identifying women across history. We will tell histories of both well-known and hidden women who have changed our world – from Sappho to Queen Elizabeth I, from Nina Simone to Lyra McKee.

The music will be just as diverse with compositions by African-American Rosephayne Powell, Baroque nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Italian Renaissance singer and composer Barbara Strozzi, as well as music honouring women written by John Wilbye, Francis Poulenc and a set of Mexican folk songs by David Conte.

The Fourth Choir was formed in 2013 and has performed at many of London’s cultural icons including the British Museum, the British Library, the V&A, Tate Britain, Camden’s Jazz Café, King’s Place and Shakespeare’s Globe and, further afield, at Antwerp’s Queer Arts Festival (twice), Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Pallazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome.