The woman conductor, yet to conquer the musical world

Antonia Brico, first woman conductor to achieve international recognition

The last domain in Western music world lacking dramatically of female musicians is the field of conducting. There have been only very few women conducting major orchestras, the first one being Antonia Brico (1902-1989). She was the first female conductor to get international recognition, but never wanted to be noticed by her gender. Because never has gender made a difference in the quality scale of someone’s production and noting the gender would be stating a difference between male and female work.

Still today, in all societies, most important positions are held by men, and in many countries it is still difficult to accept for a woman to be in a position of power. Orchestras have only recently been more welcoming to woman musicians, even though it has sometimes raised an issue; in 1996 there was a discussion amongst the Wiener Philharmoniker about the problem of “the loss of unity” and the financial problem caused by the possible maternity leaves, if women would be hired. In this frame of mind, it is easy to understand that the refusal to work with woman conductors and hire them has seemed natural. The situation is slightly different from one culture and country to another, depending of historical and religious circumstances. 
Being French, I have often wondered why in France, it seems women start getting important positions in politics, while in classical music, for a conductor who is a woman it is still difficult. A true rivalry exists also, surprisingly, between women, something I have myself encountered as a conducting student, and having spoken with some conductors they have made the same statement; female members of orchestras tend to be the most aggressive facing a woman on the podium –probably bitterness or jealousy, while one would think they would rather encounter a certain feeling of pride for their gender that has been excluded from the profession for so long.

Then, there are also people who think that a conductor needs power, energy, and that women are weak and that the profession of conductor is therefore “against their nature”; they apparently would also distract man players.

One of the most recent scandals arose from a radio interview given by Bruno Mantovani, the young director of the Paris Conservatoire, repeating some of these old beliefs while trying to find reasons for the small number of female conductors. You can find a translation of this interview online –or in the Bibliography at the end, as well as articles about other personalities having talked about the subject.

Female conductors exist. But even today, the number of internationally recognized female conductors can be counted on one hand.
One could say that today, the two most prominent personalities are the Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki and American Marin Allsop.
Orchestra managers and concert programmers still fear hiring women to conduct their concerts, but without their investment it will be difficult to progress into the right direction!

Susanna Mälkki, one of the most distinguished conductors today