Undersung heroines: a way to sing them

After yesterday's little bit of awardish news, a few of us tweeps are starting a #fantasticfemales hashtag to help keep great female achievers in our sights, and yours. We're aiming to tweet about five fantastic females per day each. Please retweet us or tweet your own contributions. And the more men who join in, the better! It's about celebration, after all. Nothing more, nothing less.

Here are my first five: 

1. @SaintHildegard, medieval musician extraordinaire

2. Fanny Mendelssohn: the composer who never gave up, despite brother's best efforts

3. Claudia Muzio (1889-1936), one of the all-time great Italian singers. Hear this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVcIBzMgTaQ …

4. Gioconda de Vito, the amazing violinist who stopped her career at its height because she did not want her playing to deteriorate

5. Clara Haskil, pianist supreme: dogged all her life by ill health & nerves, but an interpreter of genius

Enjoy.