Women in music will be celebrated in — at last count — three local events in March, Women’s History Month.

Salon 21 is a series of intimate recitals, often held in people’s living rooms or other small venues, in the style of the 19th-century salon. For International Women’s Day, March 8 – an observance that goes back to 1911 in America — Salon 21 will host a concert with pianist Brianna Matzke playing a program of music written by female composers with a Cincinnati connection.

The concert, Música pro Femina, will be held on March 8th at the Weston Art Gallery, Downtown. The program will highlight works by Laura Harrison, Alexis Bacon, and Carrie Magin.

Rachel C. Walker, co-founder and co-artistic director of Cincinnati Soundbox  — artistic adviser for the program — said in a statement, “to have organizations like Salon 21 and talented soloists such as Brianna Matzke promoting the work of local composers is crucial in sharing this work on a broader scale across the city.”

Details: The concert is at 7 p.m., March 8 in the Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery inside the Aronoff Center. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10. Reserve tickets or learn more at salon21.org.

Hear Her Sing: Music of Women Composers

Audrey Causilla, pianist, and Elise Hyder, mezzo-soprano, left, present a concert featuring women composers, at 12:15 p.m., March 21, Trinity Episcopal Church, Covington. It’s part of the church’s popular Midday Musical Menu series. Get there early at 11:30 to purchase lunch for $7 (or bring your own).

The program: Gems by 19th century German composers Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, who were blazing trails during a time when it wasn’t deemed appropriate or accepted for women to write music.

American composer Gywneth Walker is one of many women today who is writing accessible and beautiful music. The duo performs Emily!, a song cycle set to poems by Emily Dickinson.

Also: Art songs and spirituals arranged and composed by African-American women, including Undine Smith Moore, Julia Perry, and Margaret Bonds. Bonds had a very close friendship with Langston Hughes, and they will be singing her haunting setting of his The Negro Speaks of Rivers.

They plan to also perform Louise Shropshire’s If My Jesus Wills, which became the greatest anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, We Shall Overcome. Says Hyder: “I love the story of her and that song!”

The concert is free and is set in the glorious, historic Trinity Episcopal Church in Covington, KY.

National Women’s History Month Festival I, March 3 – 18

Five unique and distinct events celebrating the artistry of women and the legacy of pioneering women. AlivenArts announces the first annual National Women’s History Month Festival taking place March 3-18, bringing together women artists in all genres in venues across the region.

AlivenArts is a new arts collaboration incubator founded by Rachel Kramer, former accompanist and associate director of MUSE, Cincinnati’s women’s choir, currently led by Jillian Harrison-Jones. MUSE — which is celebrating 35 years of musical excellence and social justice — will be the recipient of proceeds from this year’s festival, with the aim of assisting their programming dedicated to the empowerment of women. Each year, a different recipient will be so honored.

Says MUSE president Amy Arnold:  “For 35 years MUSE has been a front-runner in giving voice to women – strength to women and celebrating the enduring spirit of women.”

Festival dates:

Saturday, March 3: “Filiae Mundi” – a Junior High School Girls sing-in with guest conductors Robyn Lana, Lisa Peters and Dr. Catherine Roma (founder and longtime director of MUSE).

Sunday, March 4: Dr. Brenda Portman will present an organ recital of all women composers followed by a reception at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church. Her diverse program includes music by Anna Amalia, Princess of Prussia, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Libby Larsen (b. 1950), Pamela Decker (b. 1955) Kristina Shtegman (b. 1972) and the organist herself, Brenda Portman (b. 1980).

Saturday, March 10: Women artists in music, art and word come together, including two concerts by MUSE, St. Michael Street at Community Matters.

Saturday, March 17: Dr. Tammy Kernodle, musicologist and faculty member at Miami University, will give a lecture on women of the Civil Rights Movement at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.

Sunday, March 18: LUNAFEST Women’s Film Festival will be presented at Hebrew Union College followed by a closing reception and special performance by MUSE.

And on March 24, MUSE will travel to Dayton Correctional Institute where they will perform with Hope Thru Harmony, the women’s choir founded and conducted by Dr. Catherine Roma at DCI.

Details and Ticket Information can be found online at www.AlivenArts.org