Violin Pieces Composed by Women
Have you ever played a piece for violin composed by a woman?
Yeah, me neither, for most of my time as a violinist. (I am now working on a violin sonata by Ethel Smyth!) Some people argue that there just isn’t enough good repertoire written for the violin by women or that there aren’t many good women composers, but this extensive (and growing) list says otherwise. In fact, I think it is possible to have a full and successful violin career playing only music by women.
This list is grouped into five categories: works for solo violin (and sometimes electronics), works for violin and piano, works for violin and orchestra, violin chamber music, and miscellaneous. All works included have been recorded, but there are so many more works that have not yet been recorded and put online, so I encourage you to explore works beyond this list as well and create recordings for them. This list is simply to serve as a starting point and to introduce you to violin music by women.
If you would like to search for a specific composer, piece, or category, simply use command/control+F on your keyboard and type what you’re looking for (e.g. “Chaminade,” “Pulsar,” “Orchestra”). If you know of works that have been recorded and aren’t on this list, leave me a comment or send me a message using the Contact section of my website.
If you would like to get started just by listening to these pieces, I recommend you check out this YouTube playlist that includes every work that is in this post. It is not in any particular order, so I recommend you use “Shuffle play.”
Please share this with your fellow violinists!
Solo Violin
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh
Dastan
Caroline Ansink
Capriccio
Lera Auerbach
Ballet for a Lonely Violinist
T'filah (Prayer), Op. 33
Grazyna Bacewicz
Caprice 1
Il Capriccio
Polish Caprice
Janusz Wawrowski, violin (More)
Sonata No. 2 for Solo Violin (1941)
Janusz Wawrowski, violin
Maya Badian
Monologue
Katherine Balch
Responding to the Waves
Amy Barlowe
Etude-Caprice in the Style of Bartok, Dvorak, Prokofiev, Tartini
Hebraique Elegie
Marilyn Bliss
“Bestiary” for Solo Violin
Cecile Chaminade
Pièce Romantique Op.9 (Version for Violin Solo)
Chloé Charody
'The Phoenix' Violin Caprice
Shih-Hui Chen
Returning Souls - Four Short Pieces on Three Formosan Amis Legends
Cho-Liang Lin, violin
Legend I - The Great Flood, the Descending Shaman
Édith Canat de Chizy
En mille éclats pour Violon Seul
Irisations pour Violon Solo (1999)
Sarana Chou
A Little Dance Suite (2011)
Tansy Davies
"Loure"
Natalie Dzbiak
Everything’s Going to be Alright
Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté
Caprice No. 7 (Le Départ d'un Train)
Concerto for Solo Violin
Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté, violin
Solo Violin Suite No.1 E.41
Nandor Szederkenyi, violin
Solo Violin Suite No.2 E.43
Gwen Thompson, violin
Solo Violin Suite No.3 “Mallorca Suite” E.50
Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté, violin
Solo Violin Suite No.4 “Pacific” E.157
Marta Hidy, violin
Reena Esmail
“When the Violin”
Elena Firsova
Fantasia for Solo Violin
Tsippi Fleischer
Erasure, Op. 69
Gabriela Lena Frank
Suite Mestiza for Violin Solo
Annachiara Gedda
The Witching Time of the Night, for Solo Violin (2013)
Whitney George
The Masochist's Tango for Solo Violin
Adam von Housen, violin; Nicholas R. Nelson, audio engineer
Susan Griesdale
Jolly Rondo
Ellen Harrison
Solitude III
Xenia St. Charles Gilbert, violin
Sadie Harrison
Bavad Khair Baqi!
Peter Sheppard Skaerved, violin
Gallery for Solo Violin
Peter Sheppard Skærved, violin
Room 1
Room 2
I. The writing cabin in the woods
Rozalie Hirs
article 4 [map butterfly]
Alice Ping Yee Ho
Caprice (Version for Solo Violin)
May Howlett
From Forgotten Stars
Vera Ivanova
Quiet Light
Adah Kaplan
Whitewashed for Solo Violin
Mari Kimura
ALT: Three Movements for violin solo
Mari Kimura, violin
Gemini for violin solo
JanMaricana (for Subharmonics)
Six Caprices for Subharmonics
Mari Kimura, violin
Subharmonic Partita
Tonia Ko
Moves and Remains
Vanessa Lann
The Key to the Fourteenth Vision
Chantale Laplante
Le ciel doit être proche
Nicola LeFanu
Prelude after Grinling Gibbons (2018)
Peter Sheppard Skaerved, violin
Tania León
Abanico for Violin and Electronics
Axon for Violin and Electronics
Mari Kimura, violin, with interactive computer
Liza Lim
Philtre (1997) for solo retuned violin or hardanger fiddle
Sofie Thorsbro Dan, hardanger fiddle
The Su Song Star Map (2017)
Wang Lu
Unbreathable Colors
Ursula Mamlok
From My Garden
Missy Mazzoli
Dissolve, O My Heart
Vespers for Violin and Electronics
Jennifer Koh, violin; Missy Mazzoli, electronics
Jessie Montgomery
Rhapsody No. 1 for Solo Violin
Coreen Morsink
Lockdown Sketches 2020
Peter Sheppard Skaerved, violin
Hilda Paredes
"In memoriam Thomas Kakuska"
Bojana Petrovic
Teshkoto
Peter Sheppard Skaerved, violin
Rachel Barton Pine
Happy Birthday Violin Variations
Introduction, Theme and Variations on “God Defend New Zealand”
Deon Nielsen Price
Stille Antico (version for violin)
Ayke Agus, violin
Shulamit Ran
Inscriptions for Solo Violin
Ioana Galu, violin
Katherine Rawlings
Blue Carnation for solo violin
Kaija Saariaho
Frises for Violin and Electronics
Nocturne, for violin
Elzbieta Sikora
Solo for violin (1983)
Alexandra Greffin-Klein, violin
Suzanne Sorkin
Toward the Other Shore
Augusta Read Thomas
Caprice
Capricious Toccata
Dream Catcher
Daniela Castro Aguilar, violin
Incantation (For Solo Violin)
Pulsar for solo violin
Rush for Solo Violin
Rachel Barton Pine, violin (More)
Venus Enchanted (2016)
Joan Tower
Platinum Spirals (1976)
String Force
Second String Force
Nancy Van de Vate
Six Etudes For Solo Violin
Mariana Villanueva
Canto Obscuro (1992) [para las rosas negras] para violín solo
Dolores White
Blues Dialogues
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Chen Yi
Memory for Solo Violin
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
Fantasy for Solo Violin
Violin Chamber Music
Grazyna Bacewicz
Suite for Two Violins
Sophia Mockler and Natsuki Kumagai, violins
Augusta Read Thomas
Mansueto Tribute, "double helix" (2011) for two violins
Janet Sung and Yuan-Qing Yu, violins
You’re at the end! Comment a new favorite piece that you found from this list.
Violin & Piano
Lera Auerbach
Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano
Shannon Thomas, violin
Ethel Barns
La Chasse
Grazyna Bacewicz
Humoresque (1953) for Violin and Piano
Laura Colgate, violin; Andrew Welch, piano
Piotr Plawner, violin; Ewa Kupiec, piano
Oberek (1952)
Grazyna Bacewicz, violin; Kiejstut Bacewicz, piano (More)
Violin Sonata No. 4
Unknown
Amy Beach
3 Morceaux caracteristiques, Op. 28 (Version for Violin and Piano)
Klugherz-Timmons Duo
Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23
Esther Abrami, violin; Iyad Sughayer, piano
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Minor, Op. 34
Sophie Bird, violin; Justin Bird, piano
Ambache Ensemble; Gabrielle Lester, violin; Diana Ambache, piano
Eureka Duo; Qiao Chen Solomon, violin; Hyunjung Rachel Chung, piano
Dominika Dancewicz, violin; Donald Doucet, piano
Mélanie Bonis
Serenade
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Suite in C Major, Op. 114
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Lili Boulanger
2 Pieces for Violin & Piano (Version for Violin and Piano)
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
D'un matin de printemps
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Laura Colgate, violin; Andrew Welch, piano
Teresa Carreño
Romance for Violin and Piano
Stephanie Chase, violin; Isabel Pérez Dobarro, piano
Cécile Chaminade
2 Pièces, Op. 9 (Version for Violin and Piano)
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Capriccio, Op. 18
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Les Sylvains, Op. 60 (Version for Violin and Piano)
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Three Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 31
Marcin Hałat, violin; Michał Korzistka, piano
Serenade, Op. 29 (Version for Violin and Piano)
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Rebecca Clarke
Midsummer Moon for Violin and Piano
Soh-Hyun Park Altino, violin; Jeannie Yu, piano
Tina Davidson
Blue Curve of the Earth
Laura Colgate, violin; Andrew Welch, piano
Emma Lou Diemer
Before Spring (1997)
Philip Ficsor, violin; Emma Lou Diemer, piano
Louise Farrenc
Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 39
Lucie Bartholomäi, violin; Verena Louis, piano
Jennifer Higdon
String Poetic for Violin and Piano
Shannon Thomas, violin; Frank Huang, piano
Laura Colgate, violin; Andrew Welch, piano
Tonia Ko
Plush Earth in Four Pieces
Nicholas DiEugenio, violin; Mimi Solomon, piano
Tribute (Axis II)
Nicholas DiEugenio, violin; Mimi Solomon, piano
Nobu Kōda
Violin Sonata No. 1
Maho Harada, violin; Eri Yamamoto, piano
Kyoko Watanab, violin; Yui Yoshioka, piano
Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Minor
Kyoko Watanab, violin; Yui Yoshioka, piano
Elisabeth Kuyper
Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 1
Aleksandra Maslovaric, violin; Tamara Rumiantsev, piano
Libby Larsen
Blue Piece
Moonkyung Lee, violin; Martha Locker, piano
Franziska Lebrun
Sonata Op. 1 No. 3 in F Major
Laura Colgate, violin; Andrew Welch, piano
Amanda Maier
6 Pieces for Violin and Piano
Thomas Ablertus Irnberger, violin; Barbara Moser, piano
Gregory Maytan, violin; Nicole Lee, piano
Violin Sonata in B Minor
Bernt Lysell, violin; Lucia Negro, piano
Chrystel Marchand
Une Hymne
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Emilie Mayer
Notturno
Laura Colgate, violin; Andrew Welch, piano
Poldowski (Régine Wieniawski)
Violin Sonate in D Minor
Marcin Hałat, violin; Michał Korzistka, piano
Clare Howick, violin; Sophia Rahman, piano
Florence Price
Spirituals No. 2 “Sometime I Feel Like a Motherless Child” for Violin and Piano
Clara Kim, violin; Barbara Podgurski, piano
Clara Kathleen Rogers
Sonata for Piano and Violin in D Minor, Op. 25
David C. Neely, violin; Catherine Herbener, piano
Kaija Saariaho
Tocar
Laura Colgate, violin; Andrew Welch, piano
Clara Schumann
Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22
Esther Abrami, violin; Iyad Sughayer, piano
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Sonata for Violin & Piano
Ariana Kim, violin; Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano
Irene Britton Smith
Violin and Piano Sonata
Er-Gene Kahng, violin; Samantha Ege, piano
Ethel Smyth
Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 7
Tasmin Little, violin; John Lenehan, piano
III. Romanze. Andante Grazioso
Eureka Duo - Qiao Chen Solomon, violin; Hyunjung Rachel Chung, piano
Er-Gene Kahng, violin; Samantha Ege, piano
Renate Eggebrecht, violin; Celine Dutilly, piano
Clare Howick, violin; Sophia Rahman, piano
III. Romanze. Andante Grazioso
Germaine Tailleferre
Berceuse
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Sicilienne (Version for Violin and Piano)
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Violin Sonata No. 1 (1921)
Renate Eggebrecht, violin; Angela Gassenhuber, piano
Alice Tegnér
Violin Sonata in A Minor (1901)
Bernt Lysell, violin; Lucia Negro, piano
Augusta Read Thomas
Toft Serenade (2006)
Charles Morey, violin; Frank Huang, piano
Pauline Viardot
6 Morceaux
Sara Chenal, violin; Jean-Pierre Ferey, piano
Laura Colgate, violin; Andrew Welch, piano
Rosy Wertheim
Violin Sonata in Ab Major
Ursula Schoch, violin; Marcel Worms, piano (More)
Ellen Taafe Zwilich
Sonata in Three Movements (For Violin and Piano)
Ariana Kim, violin; Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano
Violin & Orchestra
Grażyna Bacewicz
Violin Concerto No. 3
Krzysztof Jakowicz, violin; Podlasie Opera
Violin Concerto No. 4
Janusz Skramlik, violin; Polish RNSO
Violin Concerto No. 5
Joanna Kurkowicz, violin; Polish RSO
Sylvie Bodorová
Concerto dei fiori for Violin and Chamber Orchestra
Pavla Franců, violin; Chamber Orchestra QUATTRO
Ina Boyle
Violin Concerto
Catherine Leonard, violin; The Ulster Orchestra
Unsuk Chin
Violin Concerto (2001)
Viviane Hagner, violin; Orchestre Symphonique De Montreal
Guirne Creith
Violin Concerto in G Minor
Lorraine McAslan, violin; Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Alma Deutscher
Violin Concerto in G Minor
Alma Deutscher, violin; Vienna Chamber Orchestra
Jennifer Higdon
Violin Concerto
Hilary Hahn, violin; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Elisabeth Kuyper
Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op. 10
Aleksandra Maslovaric, violin; Brno Philharmonic
Amanda Maier
Violin Concerto
Claudia Bonfiglioli, violin; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Roxanna Panufnik
Four World Seasons
Tasmin Little, violin; BBC Symphony Orchestra
Florence Price
Violin Concerto No. 1
Er-Gene Khang, violin; Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra
Violin Concerto No. 2
David Buckley, violin; La Jolla Symphony and Chorus
Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin; Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra
Other
Jennifer Curtis
The Moon in the Sand (Conversations for Violin & Mandolin)
Ariana Kim, violin; Jennifer Curtis, mandolin
Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor
Maureen Murchie, baroque violin; Adam Cockerham, baroque guitar; Lisa Terry, viola da gamba
Tonia Ko
Still Life Crumbles for Violin and Harpsichord
Laura Colgate, violin; Andrew Welch, harpsichord
Ariana Kim, violin; Ieva Jokubaviciute, harpsichord
Ethel Smyth
Concerto for Violin, Horn, and Orchestra (1927)
Saschko Gawriloff, violin; Marie Luise Neunecker, horn; Radio-Philharmonie Hannover
Augusta Read Thomas
Violin Concerto #2: Carillon Sky (2005)
Mei-Fang Wang, violin; University of Illinois New Music Ensemble