In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting women in music who have expressed their viewpoints through groundbreaking new works on PARMA labels. As the world continues to welcome, understand, and embrace women’s voices and perspectives, we’re proud to showcase and share their artistic contributions to music. Here’s more on the stories behind some of the noteworthy works by women that we’ve had the pleasure of releasing.
Listen to the full playlist on your favorite streaming platform today.
Three Pieces Op. 40: “Berceuse”
Amy Beach
Cellist Juliana Soltis sheds light on a treasure trove of rarely heard gems of cello-piano literature with AMERICAN WOMAN. Soltis and pianist Ruoting Li’s performance of Amy Beach’s Three Pieces Op. 40 highlights the composer’s influences, with “Berceuse” evoking the lush textures of Brahms. The expressive harmonies and pervasive song-like quality are clearly Beach’s own.
Soltis continues her exploration of lost works by women composers with AMERICAN WOMAN: HELEN CRANE, available on all platforms March 20, 2026 from Navona Records. Presave the single here.
La ronde des sorcières et la naissance des déesses
Lilith Guegamian
On PIPITULE: ROOTS, guitarist Sara d’Ippolito Reichert serves as a conduit for amplifying women’s voices in artistic expression. La ronde des sorcières et la naissance des déesses describes a journey, as the title suggests, from the round of witches to the final moment in which goddesses are born.
Good and True
Mary Beth Orr
Anchored by heartfelt reflections on motherhood, love, and grief, Mary Beth Orr’s THE SINGING HORN is an artistic testament to the bittersweet complexity of human experience. Orr cites Good and True as one of the most intimate and special works on the album, as its origins stem from stories of a birthing song from the Dagara Tribe.
“The birth practice involves a Dagara woman going on a type of vision quest when the time comes she wants to conceive. She sits under a tree and meditates until she hears her baby’s song. While there’s more to the story, the element of sitting in peace and stillness until I literally hear my baby’s melody, moved me in a profound way.”
– Mary Beth Orr
Mothers Love
Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou
Mothers Love by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou (1923–2023), an Ethiopian pianist, composer, and nun, poignantly portrays the aching love that a mother has for her child. The piece receives a deeply moving and touching performance by pianist Maria Thompson Corely on SOULSCAPES 2 from MSR Classics.
SOULSCAPES 2 – Piano Music by Women of African Descent
Born in Jamaica and raised in Canada, Maria Thompson Corley has performed internationally as both as a solo and collaborative artist at notable venues, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Aaron Davis Hall, Epidaurus Festival, Liszt Academy, and at the Smithsonian Museum of African American History.
Fresh Breath of Hope
Nicky Sohn
Each of the works on LISTEN! HEAR HER VOICE from the Kobayashi/Gray Duo and Albany Records musically shares stories told by women. According to composer Nicky Sohn, her piece Fresh Breath of Hope…
“…was written for the wonderful violinist and close friend Mary Grace Johnson during the spring of 2021. The work was inspired by the conversations that Mary Grace and I had with the people at the Houston Women’s Home, a place that strengthens women and supports them as they reclaim their stability. Entropy and disorder are everywhere… However, in this community, everyone shared one common theme-shining in a place of darkness, a hope for the future. One client described the home as a “fresh breath of hope,” breathing color into what was once a bleak outlook.”
