Quartet: How Four Women Changed The Musical World - 'Magnificent' (Kate Mosse)

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Previously I’ve worked on incidental music in the Nordic countries. I wrote my thesis on theatre productions for which music was written by Jean Sibelius, Ture Rangström, and Wilhelm Stenhammar. Viewing the music as an integral part of the production, I looked at how music was involved in the attempt to build a ‘people’s theatre’ in Sweden.

I’m a historical musicologist, and all my work focuses on unfamiliar histories. I’m fascinated by the people and music who are at the margins of histories about Western Art Music. Currently, my research is focused on women composers in twentieth century Britain. I’m working particularly on four composers — Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke, Dorothy Howell, and Doreen Carwithen. The project establishes their relative significance in their lifetimes, explores how this changes our narratives about British music of this period, and looks at how their music has been received since their death. Rebecca Clarke: Down by the Salley Gardens (voice and piano) and Viola Sonata I, Impetuoso (Viola and piano)This article was amended on 10 March 2023 to further clarify it is Leah Broad’s view that Benjamin Britten’s operas “often focused on the working classes”, and that this is an assessment the reviewer contests. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. Music Matters, BBC Radio 3, 9 Mar. 2019 (Discussion about representations of women composers in the media and on academic syllabi)

Record Review, BBC Radio 3, 10 Dec. 2022 (Review of new recordings including works by Laura Netzel, Undine Smith Moore, Dobrinka Tabakova and Jean Sibelius) Radio 3 Time Travellers, regularly from 2019-2021 (Short segments on music history, mainly about women in music) These are certainly stories that need to be told; stories of women who created bodies of often remarkable, beautiful and powerful music. Broad creates compelling, readable narratives underpinned, as one would expect from an Oxford University musicologist, with considerable research. The lives, loves, adventures and trailblazing musical careers of four extraordinary women from a stunning debut biographer. An Unconventional Teacher' Sunday Feature, BBC Radio 3, 9 Oct. 2022 (Presenting a feature on women taught by Vaughan Williams)With her playing described in the press as “ alluring”, “ unforgettable” and “a wonder”, Fenella is one of the UK’s most established and versatile violinists. She enjoys a busy career combining chamber music with solo work, performing in the most prestigious venues around the world. She is frequently broadcast on the BBC, Classic FM, Scala Radio and international radio stations. HELEN PANKHURST With original research and a powerful sense of purpose. Broad brings four brave and creative lives into fascinating counterpoint. ALEXANDRA COGHLAN, ​The Spectator Broad resists heralding her composers as moral heroes... QUARTETmakes a forceful case for re-establishing these four women as composers of note. Leah was selected as a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker in 2016, so is frequently on the BBC discussing her research. As a public speaker, she has appeared at events including the BBC Proms, Elgar Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Southbank Festival, Being Human Festival, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Free Thinking Festival, and Hay Festival.