We all know about Giuseppe Verdi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giacomo Puccini. But where are the female names on that list? This lecture will travel the length and breadth of operatic history, meeting the women who have made their mark on opera. We will start with the first known opera composed by a woman: Francesca Caccini's La liberazione di Ruggiero (1625). The journey will continue with accounts of blind composer Maria Theresia von Paradis' relationship with Mozart and Salieri, the lost masterpieces of the 19th century, and the women breaking through in the modern day.