2019 is turning out to be a red-letter year for women composers, with new initiatives cropping up in droves alongside the rediscovery of, and belated recognition for, historical works by composers whose sex generally counted against them in their day. This mini Festival care of the pioneering Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble – a group dedicated to providing emerging artists with training and performance opportunities to help bridge the gap between conservatory and a professional career – was no exception, offering work from the very beginnings of the art form (on a previous evening, Francesca Caccini’s 1625 opera La Liberazione di Ruggiero) all the way up to today. In particular, it gave us the chance to hear an excerpt from Victoria Bond’s intriguing Mrs. President, a new opera set to a libretto by Australian writer Hilary Bell.

MaKayla McDonald as Marie in Viardot’s Cendrillon. Photo © Brian Long

The third of four Festival programs, Scenes from the Tower covered three centuries of opera by women, from the 19th-century soirées of Pauline Viardot (her charming Cendrillon), through Thea Musgrave’s 20th-century Mary Queen of Scots (most of the...