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Women on the Podium
Women on the Podium
The Los Angeles Times recently published a great article by Chloe Veitman about female conductors. This seems especially relevant to me because the Chicago Sinfonietta has recently begun search to find a successor to our Founder and Music Director, Paul Freeman. While I won’t go into any details about our search process, we have definitely become aware of some extremely talented female candidates, two of whom – Mei-Ann Chen and Alondra de la Parra - will be guest conducting our orchestra next season.
The LA Times article has quotes from a few female conductors about the barriers they faced early in their careers. It really begs the question, what is with this field? Why has the classical world in general, and orchestras in particular, been so resistant to change? What can we do to accelerate this? Perhaps some of you don’t think that this is an important issue to address. Please post your comments and let’s have at it!
Comments
Berlin Philharmonic
Tue, 5/12/2009 - 12:00pm — DePaul Communit...If anyone is interested, there is a great blog post on Antonia Brico, the first woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic:
http://www.overgrownpath.com/2007/10/berlin-philharmonics-first-woman.html?showComment=1193762520000
Women on the Podium
Tue, 5/12/2009 - 11:59am — DePaul Communit...As a Buffalonian and classical music writer, I am proud to say that JoAnn Falletta has done a fantastic job during her tenure with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra: increasing attendance, starting an international guitar festival, making several recordings for Naxos among many other accomplishments.
One of the most interesting things about Maestro Falletta's appointment, however, is the way people sometimes overlook her tangible accomplishments and instead debate who should hold the title of first female appointed Music Director of a major American symphony: Falletta in 1998 or Marin Aslop in 2007 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
While I think that the socio-historic issues surrounding the relative lack of women on the podium are important to investigate, I think that we should also acknowledge and celebrate the artistic and community-based accomplishments that some of these women have already made. Perhaps this positive reinforcement will help to foster new attitudes and inspire more women, despite the obstacles, to pursue conducting.
I am glad to hear that Sinfonietta is looking at several different candidates and I look forward to the 2009-2010 season.
Women on the podium
Thu, 5/14/2009 - 2:13pm — AnonymousDear DePaul,
Thanks for your comment about Ms. Falletta and Ms. Alsop. If I focused on the positives as you suggest, some of our readers would think I was just pushing the company line. The point is, it's 2009 and the fact that we find relevance in this topic speaks volumes about the backwards world of classical music.
Jim
"I won’t go into any details
Mon, 5/11/2009 - 2:36pm — Anonymous"I won’t go into any details about our search process."
Why not? Too juicy for this site?
Its something we want to hear about!
details, details
Thu, 5/14/2009 - 2:16pm — AnonymousDear Anon,
What would you like to know? I'll be happy to respond to any questions that I can, but there are some topics that are off limits out of respect for the participants.
Jim
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