Layers of a Woman is an album with a lot to appreciate, but you’ll likely have to wait a while to relay your congratulations to its author, Anne-Marie Keane.

At present, the virtuous composer is in the midst of what is scheduled to be a two-year voyage at sea, the first leg of which recently took her across the Atlantic Ocean, from Spain to the Caribbean, in a little over three months. Additional stops scheduled for the journey include Brazil, the Galápagos Islands, Australia and South Africa.

Such an odyssey requires plenty of ambition – but that’s just what Keane has been about throughout her life and career. She’s been devoted to both classical music and sailing for years, even making her way up to the US Olympic Trials one time, where she met her current husband and travel companion, John. Keane went on to graduate from the Berklee College of Music with a Master’s in Film Scoring, and produced music for a number of documentary projects, before deciding to focus on composing for the stage, rather than the screen.

Layers of a Woman - Anne-Marie Keane — Layers of a Woman – Anne-Marie Keane

Thus was born her debut ballet composition, Untamed Woman, which premiered at Symphony Space in New York City in 2024. The piece was performed by the then-brand new dance company, AVID (Artistic Ventures In Dance), and choreographed by Ursula Verduzco, who described the production as “a story of shedding the layers of our existence through the path of grief… an investigation of movement and sound, where music and dance come together to allow intimacy within oneself.”

“Each piece reflects a different facet of womanhood – strength, vulnerability, resilience, love,” Keane says of her composition. “Working with Ursula and the dancers helped me see all these layers, and I wanted the album to reflect that.”

Anne-Marie Keane © Tomàs Moyà — Anne-Marie Keane’s 60-foot sailboat, Aplenglow © Tomàs Moyà

After successfully staging Untamed Woman, Keane and Verduzco agreed that it would be worthwhile to formally produce the music of the ballet so that the artistic “layers” they had both identified could be further brought to life. For that, they recruited Ensemble Mycelium, who had performed the music to the ballet at Symphony Space, into a new collaborative setting: The recording studio.

“Recording with Ensemble Mycelium, an all-women trio, brought so much life to the music,” Keane reflects. “They understand the nuances and emotions in a way that’s hard to put into words.”

Ensemble Mycelium, headed by cello-guru founder Molly Aronson, managed to encapsulate Keane’s musical vision in Layers of a Woman. Each of the song titles represents the various conditions that women may experience in their lives – grieving, loving, forgiving, and more – conjured by the group’s masterful use of strings, piano, and soprano-singing. Two of the tracks even come with “extended editions” that further drive those sentiments home.

“Listening to it now, I feel a real sense of achievement,” Keane reflects on the finished pieced. “It’s deeply personal, but I hope listeners hear something that resonates with them, too – the complexity and beauty of being human, and especially of being a woman.”

Anne-Marie Keane © 2026 — Anne-Marie Keane © Courtesy of Anne-Marie Keane

Keane has covered plenty of ground (and water!) as both a musician and an athlete.

Around the time that Layers of a Woman was released in mid-December, she, John, and her four-man crew had just about completed their 6,000+ mile traverse of the Atlantic Ocean on their 60-foot sailboat, Aplenglow, and landed at the island of Antigua in the Lesser Antilles.

She says she spends roughly six hours a day on duty aboard the ship, leaving her plenty of time to devote to her keyboard, laptop, and other music-making devices. By the time her epic voyage concludes, Keane ought to have a healthy stash of new material which, like Layers of a Woman, will mold a fresh artistic expression out of everything she’s just lived through.

“This album is a reflection of the journey itself, both on the boat and in life,” she says. “It’s been an adventure of its own making, and I’m proud of the story it tells.”

— —