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Leah Broad

@leahbroad.bsky.social
3.4K followers 847 following 354 posts

Writer | Presenter | Historian I write about music, women's history & cultural history. QUARTET out now at linktr.ee/leahbroadwriter Substack: leahbroad.substack.com Website: leahbroad.com Instagram: instagram.com/leahbroad

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Reposted by Leah Broad
Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Regular readers of FLA: Leah was a guest last summer. Quartet a fabulous book about four neglected British women composers (Smyth, Clarke, Howell, Carwithen) so this next book is excellent news. Read my conversation with @leahbroad.bsky.social here: firstlastanything.co.uk/2025/08/24/f...
firstlastanything.co.uk
FLA 28: Dr Leah Broad (24/08/2025)
Picture (c) Monika Tomiczek Since the day I started reading the author, broadcaster and musician Dr Leah Broad’s magnificent Quartet: How Four Women Challenged the Musical World in the early spring…
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Dean Barker @deanbarker.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
New release; composers new to me. Many thanks, @jkaconductor.bsky.social! app.idagio.com/albums/resou...
app.idagio.com
Resound: Music by British Composers
Listen to Resound: Music by British Composers by Alexandra Dariescu, John Andrews, Alex Mitchell, Rachael Clegg, Manchester Camerata, Doreen Mary Carwithen, Ruth Gipps, William Alwyn, Elizabeth Maconc...
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John Andrews @jkaconductor.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Out today! Available to stream wherever you get your music, or to buy with glorious programme notes by @leahbroad.bsky.social at www.prestomusic.com/classical/pr...
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Audioworld @audioworld.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Atmos This Week, new Spatial Audio releases due on Friday, with my take on what makes each of them worth a listen. audiodaily.com/go/atw7 #ClassicalMusic #MusicReviews @leahbroad.bsky.social @jkaconductor.bsky.social
audiodaily.com
Atmos This Week August 31 2026 - AudioDaily
New Dolby Atmos spatial audio releases this week include Monteverdi's Vespers, rediscovered British music, Pictures at an Exhibition, and piano works by Chopin and Prokofiev.
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John Andrews @jkaconductor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Nice to see this on the airwaves again ahead of the full release on Friday…. @leahbroad.bsky.social
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
MY NEXT BOOK IS COMING OUT!!! Unsung: Trailblazing Women Musicians of the Second World War is available to pre-order *now* It is, I hope, a cultural history of the Second World War you haven't heard before. It's told through 7 different stories: leahbroad.substack.com/p/my-next-bo...
leahbroad.substack.com
MY NEXT BOOK IS COMING OUT AAAAAAAAAAAH
Introducing Unsung: Trailblazing Women Musicians of the Second World War
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Royal Philharmonic Orchestra @royalphilorchestra.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
We'll take the music apart and put it back together again in under an hour as you'll hear the insights and perspectives of our musicians, conductor Vasily Petrenko and presenter @leahbroad.bsky.social. [2/2] ⚡ rpo.co.uk/revealed
rpo.co.uk
Mozart Revealed - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Get under the skin of Mozart’s last symphony
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Five incredible women from music history you should know
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David @davidweuste.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Fun to see this profile of my friend Mari from @leahbroad.bsky.social!
magazine lead page image for Choir and Organ feature on Mari Valverde
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Friedlind Riedel @friedlind.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
This is so good! And so terrifying.
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I get so sick of being told that there has been no gender-based prejudice against women musicians. So here are some genuine reviews written about women, between 1893 & 2021, with a couple words/letters changed to make them about men.
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Simon Johnson🇺🇦 @simonrjohnson.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Ruth Gipps, Jane Grey Fantasy for Viola & Strings (1941-2) This is just wonderful stuff, a bit like a more mellow and soulful version of Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending. HT @leahbroad.bsky.social open.spotify.com/album/1odDiH...
open.spotify.com
Gipps: Jane Grey, Op. 15 - Single by Ruth Gipps | Spotify
Ruth Gipps · single · 2026 · 1 songs
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John Andrews @jkaconductor.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
One of the things I am immensely proud of is that a composer most people had never heard of is now played roughly every other day on the digital radio platforms in the UK alone, let alone internationally.
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Just got to the Royal Albert Hall to do the radio interval for tonight's prom! Tune in to BBC Radio 3 at 6pm tonight to hear Alexandra Dariescu give the Proms premiere of Nadia Boulanger's Fantasie Variée with the Hallé, and Rachmaninoff & Ravel
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
For women's music to stay in the repertoire, we don't just need recordings. We also need score publication, composer info & advocacy. So I'm delighted to announce the launch of UNHEARD HERITAGE, a recording initiative marrying research & performance leahbroad.substack.com/p/announcing...
if a work can't be heard, performers won't play it, so we desperately need good recordings of women's compositions if they're going to enter the repertoire.So this month I am really delighted to announce the launch of my recordings initiative, Unheard Heritage, which is dedicated to bringing forgotten works out of archives and bringing them to life in world-class recordings.Because women have always been composers. No matter how difficult it was, no matter how trying the circumstances, historical women fought to make their voices heard. We only have to listen.
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
UK petition to require AI firms to disclose training data, so creators can identify use of copyright work petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...
petition.parliament.uk
Petition: Protect creators' rights: require AI firms to disclose training data
We ask the Government to introduce a statutory duty requiring AI developers to disclose the copyrighted works used to train generative AI in enough detail for creators to identify use of their work, e...
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The Revd Dr Sara Batts-Neale @sarabn.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
@leahbroad.bsky.social I have just finished listening to Quartet, so jumping on to say thank you for such a fascinating and frustrating listen.
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Ina Boyle Society Ltd @inaboyle.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
We’re thrilled by the launch of @leahbroad.bsky.social Unheard Heritage with Resonus Classics initiative! 💿 Read more: 📰 www.gramophone.co.uk/content/news... ✏️ www.colinscolumn.com/forgotten-mu... #InaBoyle #ElizabethMaconchy #UnheardHeritage #WomenInMusic #ClassicalMusic #Composers
gramophone.co.uk
Unheard Heritage & Resonus Classics launch recording initiative - Gramophone
Founded by Leah Broad each album will revives great, forgotten music for new audiences
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John Andrews @jkaconductor.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Very proud to be part of this with @leahbroad.bsky.social Samantha Ege, and the team at Resonus.
gramophone.co.uk
Unheard Heritage & Resonus Classics launch recording initiative - Gramophone
Founded by Leah Broad each album will revives great, forgotten music for new audiences
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AllisonRussellQuotes @arqandtheclouds.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
🧵 the extraordinary Ethel Smyth b.1858 💥 Trailblazing pioneer 1️⃣ First 🇬🇧 woman to write opera 🗳️ Composed anthem for women’s suffrage ♥️ Emmeline Pankhurst ♥️ ♥️ Virgina Woolf ♥️ 📕 Celebrated author One of four groundbreaking women composers in @leahbroad.bsky.social wonderful 📕 Quartet See Alt-text
Ethel conducting the Metropolitan Police band in London 1930, 20 years after she wrote March of the Women in 1910 and a year after women had first voted Ethel supports Emmeline Pankhurst, after she is re-arrested when weak from repeated hunger strikes. Ethel and Emmeline had a close and deep relationship.Celebrated author Virgina Woolf and Ethel Smyth together Ethel loved dogs. Each of her dogs was named Pam I, II etc until their passing
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Simon Johnson🇺🇦 @simonrjohnson.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Recommend subscribing to @leahbroad.bsky.social 's Slow Listening substack. Just listened to Imogen Holst's Mass in A minor while soaking in the bathtub of a NYC hotel, 10/10 experience, would recommend. leahbroad.substack.com/p/slow-liste...
leahbroad.substack.com
Imogen Holst, Mass in A Minor (1927)
Slow Listening #8
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
If you're in Oxford on the 1st July, I'll be performing with powerhouse violin & piano duo Fenella Humphreys and Nicola Eimer, playing works from my forthcoming book! Please come along - there will be Avril Coleridge-Taylor, Beethoven, Josephine Baker... artsfestivaloxford.org/events/unsun...
artsfestivaloxford.org
Unsung The Wartime Violin - Oxford Festival of the Arts
Award-winning artists Fenella Humphreys, Nicola Eimer, and Leah Broad bring you the Second World War through the lives of women musicians who entertained the troops, kept hope alive on the Home Front,...
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Went to the Royal Ballet & Opera's AI & music festival, & left thinking about how creatives can speak out on AI. "Even if Big Tech is not listening to artists, audiences are. Public opinion about the way technologies are being developed and deployed matters." leahbroad.substack.com/p/what-can-c...
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Adrian Clark @mradrianclark.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Absolutely obsessed with this album at the moment, having first encountered the cello concerto via @leahbroad.bsky.social's Slow Listening on Substack (another recommendation there). I'm now hoovering up as many other Tabakova recordings as I can find.
ecmrecords.com
Dobrinka Tabakova: String Paths - ECM Records
ECM New Series presents the first full album devoted to the music of Dobrinka Tabakova, a composer born in Bulgaria in 1980 but raised from a young age in London. In Tabakova’s music – richly melodic,...
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Jim Hawkins @jimallthetime.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Dear Betty, Dearest Grace Why friendship is important for creative women via @leahbroad.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
open.substack.com
Dear Betty, Dearest Grace
Why friendship is important for creative women
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
*NEW POST* This week I'm exploring the beautful, fifty-year-long friendship between composers Grace Williams and Elizabeth Maconchy. They have so much to teach us about the importance of friendship for creative women ❤️
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Sunkissed Peaks @sunkissedpeaks.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
It’s really frightening.
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Lucy Seton-Watson @lucysetonw.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
“If you wanted to democratise music-making,” Daniel Lewis comments, “there’s this amazing thing I once heard of called ‘state education’ and giving kids flutes.” It might not be as novel — but you can buy an awful lot of flutes for the $250mn raised in Suno’s last funding round.”
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
I'm in the @financialtimes.com this weekend, looking at the impact of AI on classical music. www.ft.com/content/0216...
ft.com
Classical music has survived for centuries. Will AI kill it?
Composers have always experimented with new technology — but the latest advances threaten ‘skill death’ in this centuries-old art form
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Deirdre Loughridge @deirdrelough.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Second sentence - illustrates what @leahbroad.bsky.social has shown about the LLM accuracy gap for less widely researched topics: Delia Derbyshire is swapped in for [Daphne] Oram as if they’re same person. See Broad’s essay here: open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
open.substack.com
Why we should care about ChatGPT's accuracy gap
I tested ChatGPT on my area of expertise. The results are a problem for future knowledge
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
People who don't write books assume writer's block is staring at a blank page with zero ideas. In truth it's invariably the opposite. Writer's block is when a dazzling array of options become tyrannical, team up with an unwillingness to fail, mug you in a dark alley and stick a bag over your head.
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
*NEW POST* "The language and labels we use to describe musicians matter just as much as which pieces get recorded and published and performed." On Ethel Smyth's legacy and the "woman composer" label substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
open.substack.com
The problem of being Ethel Smyth
I've got a new chapter out on the reception of British "women" composers
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
*NEW POST* The new Michael Jackson film ignores the allegations against him. It's also had the most successful opening weekend of any biopic. This week's post is about why we need ways of talking about brilliant musicians that doesn't laud them as heroes. leahbroad.substack.com/p/does-artis...
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
First instalment of Slow Listening is tonight! Starting with one of my all-time favourite pieces. It's nerve-wracking putting such a vulnerable piece of writing out there, so thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed. I'm looking forward to listening with you all.
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Great job for an early music person!!
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
I'm really thrilled to be joining with the @royalphilorchestra.bsky.social for their new 'Revealed' series, unwrapping pieces by Mozart and Tchaikovsky for the 26-27 season. Mozart first, at Cadogan Hall on 1st October - come join us! Tix on sale next Tuesday www.rpo.co.uk/tickets-memb...
rpo.co.uk
Mozart Revealed - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Get under the skin of Mozart’s last symphony, as the RPO retells the story of a masterwork.
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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
If @leahbroad.bsky.social recommends something to listen to, I trust her judgement utterly. So this is very nice news indeed.
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Stephen Jones @stephen-jones.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
I'm in. How about you?
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Oksana Nesterenko @erlenadlu.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
So many important points about our current condition and the power of slow listening!
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
**NEW POST** I'm starting a slow listening club on my Substack. It's an invitation to come offline & listen instead. To explain why, this is why classical music is so important to me, and why I think slow, deep, engaged listening is such a powerful thing. leahbroad.substack.com/p/im-startin...
leahbroad.substack.com
Come offline, and listen slowly with me
Come offline, and listen slowly with me
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Up bright and early with obligatory coffee for a WORLD PREMIERE recording of Ina Boyle choral works with St Martin's Voices & @resonus.bsky.social!! Paired with Maconchy and sounding incredible so far - stay tuned...
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Dr Rachel Clarke @drrachelclarke.com · 22/03/2026
Thank you so much @tomgatti.bsky.social & @theobserveruk.bsky.social for showcasing the richness of non-fiction by women & the vitally important work of @womensprize.bsky.social in championing women's voices in literature. (1/2) observer.co.uk/culture/book...
observer.co.uk
‘This was literature as gelignite’: writers on life-chang...
Ahead of the Women’s Prize for nonfiction 2026 shortlist, we asked some of our favourite writers to share the books that shaped their writing lives
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Jim Hawkins @jimallthetime.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
No, misogyny isn't a thing of the past If it feels like feminism has achieved its goals, you’re not paying enough attention via @leahbroad.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
open.substack.com
No, misogyny isn't a thing of the past
If it feels like feminism has achieved its goals, you’re not paying enough attention.
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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
‘The lives of women musicians are inseparable from the politics of their times. Progress isn’t linear.’ Another excellent piece from @leahbroad.bsky.social: open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
open.substack.com
No, misogyny isn't a thing of the past
If it feels like feminism has achieved its goals, you’re not paying enough attention.
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
*NEW POST* This week on rising misogyny & classical music "Not taking active steps to redress historical imbalance sends a message ... that classical music is a space where varying degrees of sexism and misogyny are tolerated." open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
open.substack.com
No, misogyny isn't a thing of the past
If it feels like feminism has achieved its goals, you’re not paying enough attention.
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Tom Edney @tomedney.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Avril Coleridge-Taylor on the radio! 🥳 Great to hear @leahbroad.bsky.social discussing Coleridge-Taylor's move to South Africa and the historic first flight of the Comet jet airliner, as well as her subsequent Comet Prelude! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
The Essay - Music Rediscovered - A composer's South African journey - BBC Sounds
Leah Broad explains why composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor emigrated to 50s South Africa.
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
"In fields most explicitly associated with the production of critical thought...most scholars see AI as a unique threat, one that extends far beyond cheating on homework and casts doubt on the future of higher education itself." www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
theguardian.com
‘I wish I could push ChatGPT off a cliff’: professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI
As AI has upended the way students learn, academics worry about the future of the humanities – and society at large
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Petrus Crinitus @petruscrinitus.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Fascinating, intriguing little essay this evening on BBC R3, by @leahbroad.bsky.social on Avril Coleridge-Taylor's journey to, and time in, South Africa. With a burst of @jkaconductor.bsky.social conducting the BBC Phil at the beginning. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
The Essay - Music Rediscovered - A composer's South African journey - BBC Sounds
Leah Broad explains why composer Avril Coleridge-Taylor emigrated to 50s South Africa.
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Leah Broad @leahbroad.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Happy #IWD2026 everyone! Here are pieces I've been reading/writing recently on women's lives and histories: Why ChatGPTs and LLMs are dangerous for women's history. I tested ChatGPT on cultural history, & it consistently hallucinates more about women's history: open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
open.substack.com
Why we should care about ChatGPT's accuracy gap
I tested ChatGPT on my area of expertise. The results are a problem for future knowledge
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Jim Hawkins @jimallthetime.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
ChatGPT’s accuracy gap is dangerous for women's history #IWD #InternationalWomensDay 'I tested ChatGPT on my area of expertise. The results are a problem for future knowledge' via @leahbroad.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
open.substack.com
Why we should care about ChatGPT's accuracy gap
I tested ChatGPT on my area of expertise. The results are a problem for future knowledge
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