Posted on: 20 August 2025
An international conference and free recital series, hosted Trinity’s Department of Music and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, is spotlighting the work of 19th-century woman composers.
Entitled, Expansive Canvas: Large-Scale Form in the Music of 19th-Century Women Composers, the conference is taking place between 25th and 28th August.
This landmark international event brings together scholars, performers, educators, and arts leaders to reimagine music history through the lens of women’s large-scale works from the long nineteenth century. Across three days, The Expansive Canvas will feature a rich programme of scholarly panels, public recitals, and interdisciplinary roundtables.
The conference, taking place at the Trinity Long Room Hub and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, will include four major Roundtable Discussions including Why the Expansive Canvas? (Tuesday 26 Aug, 11.00–12.00); Performance Perspectives (Wednesday 27 Aug, 9.00–10.30); Music Education Summit: Affecting Change from Childhood to Doctorate (Thursday 28 Aug, 9.30–11.00); and The Expansive Canvas Across the Arts (Thursday 28 Aug, 11.30–1.00). Attendance at the conference requires registration, please see details here.
A recital series, which is free and open to the public, forms the heart of the conference, with performances ranging from sonatas and fantasies to chamber works and songs by composers such as Clara Schumann, Emilie Mayer, Luise-Adolphe Le Beau, and Rebecca Clarke.
Showcasing the artistic ambition and innovation of women composers, the free concerts will begin on the evening of the 25 August at St Bartholomew’s Church in Ballsbridge with an Organ Recital from Andrew Johnstone. Further recitals will take place from 26–28 August at the Whyte Recital Hall, Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM). No booking is required for the recitals.
Dr Nicole Grimes, Associate Professor of Music at Trinity and Co-Chair of the upcoming conference said: “The Expansive Canvas is about opening up space—musically, historically, and culturally—for voices that have too often been sidelined. By centring the symphonies, sonatas, operas, and chamber works of nineteenth-century women, we invite audiences to experience the richness and ambition of this repertoire while asking fundamental questions about how we teach, analyse, and perform music today.”
Professor Denise Neary, Royal Irish Academy of Music, and Co-Chair of The Expansive Canvas programme said: “This symposium is not only a celebration of women’s creativity, but also a call to action. The conversations in our roundtables—on performance, on education, and across the arts—will shape how we integrate this repertoire into concert halls, classrooms, and cultural life. We look forward to welcoming audiences, performers, and scholars into this vital dialogue.”
More information available from the conference website here: www.expansivecanvas.com
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.tcd.ie ’
