Female street names should ensure more diversity in the Zuidas. Many of the current streets are named after male composers.
This concerns, for example, the Beethovenstraat, the Gustav Mahlerlaan and the George Gershwinplein. “Besides the fact that they are not the least composers, they have something in common: they are all men,” writes the municipality of Amsterdam. “It’s time to change that.”
Five future streets and courtyards will therefore be named after female composers. They are Hildegard von Bingen, Jaddanbai, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and Fanny Mendelssohn.
To show how their music sounds, an open-air concert will be given on the Gustav Mahlerplein on 15 September in collaboration with the Concertgebouw and the Muze van Zuid festival.