Sumi Jo [Yeongjun Kim]

INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day on March 8 gives the classical world its annual prompt to work harder at platforming the work of female composers down the centuries – an output largely sidelined until recent years and hiding treasures that we should have known about before.

Taking a quiet but firm lead, Wigmore Hall has lined up singer Nardus Williams, lutenist Elizabeth Kenny and historian Mary Beard in a Mar 8 programme called Women and Power that surveys baroque notables like Barbara Strozzi (arguably the most prolific of all published composers in 17th-century Venice, male or female) and Francesca Cazzini (who wrote maybe the first ever opera by a woman) in words and music. They extend the theme into our own time with a premiere by Errollyn Wallen based on the legend of Eurydice and described as an “anti-lament”. Sounds fascinating. wigmore-hall.org.uk

Also on Mar 8, popular organist Anna Lapwood and saxophonist Jess Gillam share an Albert Hall concert that homes in on female film composers. royalalberthall.com

And catching up on Mar 12, the Academy of Ancient Music have a programme at the Guildhall School’s Milton Court that explores the life and times of Elisabetta da Gambarini, an 18th-century composer/performer/impresaria who was the first woman to publish her own music in England. barbican.org.uk

But something I’d especially commend is a lunchtime Wigmore concert, Mar 10, that homes in on the songs of Ina Boyle, an Irish composer (1889-1976) who lived in one of Ireland’s grandest houses (later bought by Chris de Burgh), was taught by Vaughan Williams, and wrote hauntingly lyrical music that definitely needs to be better known. The champions here are soprano Ailish Tynan and tenor Robin Tritschler. wigmore-hall.org.uk

• Never say musicians don’t take every opportunity to bring the great works of the canon to a wider audience. A brand new venture is called Close Up Classical, and it runs at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club where, Mar 9, the violinist Lizzie Ball and friends present a programme of Mahler, Mozart and Britten alongside film music by John Barry, famous for his James Bond scores. It’s compered by another Bond composer David Arnold. Ideal for anyone dipping a toe into classical waters. ronniescotts.co.uk

• You know it’s getting close to Easter when Bach Passions start to surface in the concert calendar, and there are two this week: a St John from the Monteverdi Choir at St Martin in the Fields, Mar 10 (stmartin-in-the-fields.com), and another St John at Temple Church, performed by the Temple Singers under Thomas Allery, Mar 12 (templemusic.org).

• Back in the 1980s/90s the Korean soprano Sumi Jo was a world queen of high-lying, brilliantly embellished coloratura singing, with a glamorous career second to none. These days, we don’t hear so much of her. But she’s at Cadogan Hall, Mar 5, with pianist Malcolm Martineau for a recital of songs by Vivaldi, Ravel, Korngold. Could be interesting. cadoganhall.com

• Highgate Choral Society has been making changes since the death of its longstanding conductor Ron Corp, and among them is its regular concert venue – which will henceforth be St Jude’s, Hampstead Garden Suburb. HCS is there Mar 7 for a programme of liturgical music by Haydn, Schubert, Mozart under new conductor Sam Evans. hcschoir.com