In order to mark International Museum Day, the Museu de la Música de Barcelona is replacing the traditional ‘open doors’ with ‘open screens’ and is offering a virtual tour of its collection through the inseparable link between women and music.

The exhibition ‘Instruments en clau de gènere’ (‘Instruments Through Gender’) digitally reviews the role of women in the history of music by asking us certain questions. How many names of female performers do we know well? What about female composers? Or instrument makers? Or orchestra conductors? Are there male and female instruments? Why are there so few female guitarists in the world of jazz, while most classical harpists are female? What do the instruments at the Museu de la Música tell us about the inequalities, exclusions and gender constructions in different societies and periods?

Music acts as a reflection of social dynamics, but it is also an agent: it builds these dynamics. One example is the history of music, and Western history in general, in which women have tended to be made invisible. However, if we look closely, we can find them all around the world and during all periods, making music and participating in the musical life of each community.

The virtual visit, which you can take via this link, can be accompanied by a Spotify playlist devised by the musicologist Sakira Ventura, which brings together all kinds of music made by women.