UNO voice professor Professor Shelby VanNordstrand and piano professor Dr. Kristín Jónína Taylor presented at the June 2021 Hawaii University International Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, STEAM and Education Conference on June 11th, 2021 in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Their lecture-recital presentation, entitled, “The Underrepresented of the Underrepresented: Raising Awareness of Post-1800 Female Composers from Around the Globe,” included Agathe Bäcker-Grøndahl (Norway), Jórunn Viðar (Iceland), Catarina Domenici (Brazil), Jodi Groble (USA), and Florence Price (USA).

The curricula of applied music in the US is systemically entrenched with white male composers. Teachers gravitate towards teaching the repertoire they learned, creating an unsustainable cycle of underrepresentation of the repertoire of female, black, brown, and indigenous composers in the applied music studio. This presentation highlighted the systemic racism and sexism prevalent in classical music and brings awareness to underrepresented composers. This presentation aimed to explore music not only by female composers but also by those in underrepresented countries in the classical musical repertoire.