Mary Lou Williams

The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert features two starry works: Mary Lou Williams' 'Zodiac Suite,' featuring Aaron Diehl on piano, and Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra, with Cristian Măcelaru at the podium.

Mary Lou Williams’ Zodiac Suite is an early landmark of jazz and classical music in dialogue. Pianist Aaron Diehl has devoted considerable energy to restoring her original orchestration, which he performs with The Philadelphia Orchestra this week.

Jazz has featured women contributors from its inception. Yet beyond vocalists, female composers and instrumentalists are disturbingly underrepresented…