Two weeks today I’ll be playing a recital at London’s Wigmore Hall to mark the launch of my new book about the history of women playing the piano.

My programme consists of music by some of the historical women featured in the book. I’ve been wondering how many of those pieces have been played in Wigmore Hall before. Perhaps, with the upsurge of interest in women’s music, some of the pieces may have been played there recently. But I doubt whether they have been much played there over the previous hundred+ years.

Researching these women’s lives, I realised that there isn’t a huge hidden repertoire of women’s music to match the size of the repertoire composed by men. Women just didn’t have the time, the training, the social permission, the performance opportunities, the access to publishing and all the rest of it. Nevertheless, there is plenty of music by women which deserves to take its place in the repertoire alongside that of the men.

When my previous book came out in summer 2021, I was also lucky to be able to mark its launch with a concert in Wigmore Hall. At that time we were still partly under lockdown rules. I don’t remember the details, but I know there was a limit on how many people were allowed in the audience. The number increased just before my concert, which was a pleasant surprise, but the atmosphere was still very much one of caution. People were wearing masks. I needed a page-turner for one piece, and because of the rules on social distancing, the only person allowed to sit beside me on stage to turn pages was my husband. He prefers to sit in the audience and listen, but he nobly stepped up.

So I am looking forward to playing at this beautiful hall in freer circumstances on Tuesday 12th March at 1pm. If you live in London, please come along if you can!