French Cellist Héloïse Luzzati Fights for Recognition of Women Composers

• Dawn   •
• Posted 55 years ago

Hélose Luzzati, a French cellist, is fighting for the recognition of female composers.

“A book can be read, and a painting looked at, but music, if it is not played or recorded, will cease to exist,” said Founder La Boîte à Pépites, Héloïse Luzzati.

Hélose Luzzati, has spent almost thirty years studying and performing classical music. She had come to the realisation that she was solely ever doing work that had been created by men. Women’s contributions to classical music have received little recognition. Few works by women are published, and thus even fewer are documented.

According to Luzzati, “a book can be read, and a painting can be viewed, but music will cease to exist if it is not played or recorded.” As a result, Luzzati established La Boîte à Pépites, a music label dedicated to rescuing women composers from obscurity.

The first was a three-CD box set of late French composer Charlotte Sohy, who died in 1955 and published music under her grandfather’s name to avoid prejudice. The effort also includes a music festival ‘Elles – Women Composers’ and a YouTube channel dedicated to highlighting the work of lesser-known female composers.