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Featured image from the Triumph of Art concert at the American Symphonic Orchestra.
Photo of composer and violinist,
Grażyna Bacewicz

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"Not a Pretty Girl," by Ani DiFranco perfectly expresses the frustration that many women feel when automatically put in the "submissive," "delicate," or "defenseless" box solely because of their gender, when they are just as capable as their male counterparts.

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Between the two symphonic orchestras, The American Symphonic Orchestra and the Corpus Christi Symphonic Orchestra in particular, you see vastly different pieces played between the two. Though they do both tend to stray from the more traditional pieces that one might expect to see in a classical music canon, like Beethoven, Bach, and many more, they add non-traditional pieces, or pieces that the general public might not immediately recognize. The concerts’ themes from both orchestras seem to follow the narrative of a more inclusive repertoire, like the Triumph of Art concert from the American Symphonic Orchestra, in particular, showcases composers who were, “influenced by confrontation with authoritarian regimes, both fascist and communist,” and have shown, through their music, the resistance and hardships that come from such hardships. From the Corpus Christi Symphonic Orchestra, they will perform their concert, Did de los Mozart, which includes the classical music canon composer, Mozart, but in a light that emphasizes Mexican culture during the celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) by featuring Mexican composers or compositions. The concert includes pieces that are typically macabre, including Danse Macabre itself, as a reflection of the celebration, where death is seen more as a celebration than a tragedy, and homage is paid to those that have past. I wouldn’t necessarily say I see myself in the pieces from either of these concerts in the sense that I have experienced them personally, but I do empathize with the meaning deeply.

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"Many of the sources that we found generally address genre diversity and defend adding new repertoires such as jazz or popular music to music history survey courses. While this approach might lead to the introduction of more people of color and women into the course, it does nothing to introduce these underrepresented communities into the art music survey. Instead, this approach merely confirms the narrative that art music is for white men only."
-Kira Thurman and Kristen Turner    Six Easy Ways...

The Dia de los Mozart concert does just this, it includes music from the traditional music canon while adding pieces from Mexican composers or compositions so that people might approach the idea of classical music as achievable rather than elitist, and encourages an interaction with the canonic pieces.

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Cover image from the Dia de los Mozart concert at the Corpus Christi Symphonic Orchestra
https://ccsymphony.org/event/dia-de-los-mozart/

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This playlist includes some of, "the best classical music from Latin American composers and performers," and I've included it to show a different approach to classical music, if by nothing else than geography, where European, namely German, music is considered the default classical canon.

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"Writing about gender still feels necessary to me even as our definitions shift. I'm officially tired, however, of writing about music that recognizes women when gender is the topic, but when music itself is the topic, almost always returns its focus to men."
-Ann Powers   A New Canon...

This sentiment is reflected in a concert for contemporary women artists accompanied by the Shreveport Symphonic Orchestra entitled, Women Rock, where they pay homage to iconic artists that influenced the industry, to say the least.