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Diversifying Repertoire: Composer Databases and Lists
This guide introduces search tools and strategies for finding pieces of music by under-represented composers in classical music.
Introduction
Use these databases and lists to find the names of pieces or composers you are interested in. Once you have a name of a composer or a piece, try searching the library catalog to find a copy. If it is unavailable at UNC libraries, contact the music librarian to help you find the piece.
Composer Databases
- Boulanger Initiative Database for Women and Gender-marginalized ComposersDesigned for everyone – musicians, performers, conductors, students, researchers, educators, artistic administrators, and anyone with a curious mind – this database provides access to thousands of works by women and gender-marginalized composers. By sharing knowledge and resources, BID increases access to works by underrepresented composers, empowering all who wish to diversify classical music programming.
- Institute for Composer Diversity DatabaseThe Institute for Composer Diversity, winner of the 2018 ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Media/Internet Award, recipient of a 2020 Sphinx Venture Fund Grant, and housed at the State University of New York at Fredonia, is dedicated to the celebration, education, and advocacy of music created by composers from historically excluded groups through database resources and programming analysis.
- New Muses ProjectOur database is organized as an interconnected web of composers, creating links between them based on stylistic parameters. When you let us know a composer you like, we look in our database for a composer we think you’ll love.
Composer Lists
- Canadian Queer+ Classical Musician DatabaseA resource for concert programmers to use and help in being able to find, celebrate, hire, and program Queer+ Canadians. It is a list of conductors, composers, and performers, who self-identify as Queer+.
- Chamber Music America's Composer Equity Project (PDF)A Database of ALAANA,* Women, and Gender Non-Conforming Composers. * Chamber Music America uses the acronym ALAANA to indicate composers who identify as
African/Black, Latinx, Asian/South Asian, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Native American - Composers of Color in Classical MusicLists for composers of African descent, Indigenous composers, Asian/Pacific Islander composers and Hispanic/Latino composers from Prairie View A&M University
- LGBTQ Classical Music ComposersWe have identified a large number of LGBTQ classical music composers hailing from Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Italy, Poland, Spain, Australia, Greece, Russia, the United States, France, and New Zealand.
- Music by Black Composers: Historic Composers DirectoryA directory of all historic Black composers currently known by MBC—as of today we list 160!
- Music by Black Composers: Living Composers DirectoryMusic by Black Composers (MBC) is dedicated to helping to bring greater diversity to the ranks of classical music performers, composers, and audiences by making the music of Black composers available to everyone. MBC’s Living Composers Directory is designed for those seeking to commission; for performers, conductors, and concert programmers seeking existing music; and for other researchers and scholars of contemporary classical music.
- North American Indigenous Music ResourcesThis page contains an ever-growing list of North American Indigenous musicians, bands, composers, and artists. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list but an online resource that serves as the starting point for you to begin your own research.
Reference Books
Encyclopedias and other books in the reference section can be a great starting place!
Brass Music of Black Composers by Call Number: ML128.W5 H62 1996ISBN: 0313298262Publication Date: 1996-05-16
String Music of Black Composers by Call Number: ML128.B45 H7 1991ISBN: 0313279381Publication Date: 1991-10-16
Woodwind Music of Black Composers by Call Number: ML128.W5 H65 1990ISBN: 0313272654Publication Date: 1990-01-24
Streaming Databases
Use these databases to search for recordings of the composers or pieces you are searching for.
Click on the information icon for descriptions.
- American Music American Song is a database of thousands of streaming songs from the American past on topics that relate to almost every walk of American life, ethnic group, and time period. Includes songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers, and cowboys; songs of Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and anti-war protests, hymns, funny songs, college songs, and sea shanties. It is a source for American roots music and pre-1960 American popular music, including country, folk, bluegrass, Western, old time, American Indian, blues, gospel, and shape-note singing. The recordings come from Rounder Records, the Smithsonian Institution, Document Records, and other labels. Part of Alexander Street's Music Online. Some files include liner notes about the recordings. Waveform View allows you to create and share audio clips. Users can also create and share playlists.
- Archives of African American Music and Culture Established in 1991, the Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC) is a repository of materials covering a range of African American musical idioms and cultural expressions from the post-World War II era. The collections highlight popular, religious, and classical music, with genres ranging from blues and gospel to R&B and contemporary hip hop. The AAAMC also houses extensive materials related to the documentation of black radio.
- Contemporary World Music Includes thousands of streaming tracks of contemporary and traditional music from all regions and continents, including fusion, world beat, reggae, African and Bollywood film music, Arab swing and jazz, Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, gagaku, gamelan, and more. Part of Alexander Street's Music Online. Some files include liner notes about the recordings. Updated regularly. Waveform View allows you to create and share audio clips. Users can also create and share playlists.
- Naxos Music Library Streaming audio service of the world's largest producer of both standard and rare classical music recordings. NML offers the complete Naxos and Marco Polo catalogues plus the complete catalogues or selected titles from over 650 record labels, with more labels joining each month. Also includes some jazz, world, and pop/rock music. NML provides liner notes for many recordings and supplemental information about the musical works and creators. Users can create personalized playlists.
- Naxos Music Library: Jazz Provides streaming audio recordings by more than 32,000 artists from jazz legends to contemporary jazz on over 200 labels, including Blue Note Records, Warner, EMI, and Fantasy. NMLJ provides liner notes for some recordings and users can create personalized playlists.
Sound Recording Databases
- And We Were HeardWe are giving underrepresented composers a platform to have their music heard. Composers that submit works to … And We Were Heard are matched with top-notch
ensembles and engage in collaborative recording sessions. The resulting audio tracks are hosted on our site along with innovative ideas of how to support diverse voices in music.