All the female conductors in history, from antiquity to… Tár

Lhe first conductor was Miriam. The same Miriam who saved Moses by putting him in a basket: in the Bible she is described as a singer, dancer and leader of a female choir. “The first of which we know her name, to be precise: representations already existed in Sumerian art,” he explains Milena Gammaitoni. Sociologist, associate professor of General Sociology at the University of Roma Trejust updated for Zecchini Publisher Conductors Around the World (A Portrait Gallery from Marin Alsop to Xian Ziang) Of Elke Mascha Blankenburgdisappeared in 2013: conductor herself, scholar and discoverer of many female composers.

Hildegard, the forerunner

That Blankenburg also devoted himself to female composers is not an accidental detail: only after 1850 did the figures of composer and conductor separate, previously the composer directed his creations. And, apart from Miriam, the main steps of the women’s podium? “As far as we know from available sources, you must start with Hildegard of Bingen, which – in the 12th century – anticipated a new way of composing and conducting sacred music, and of living it in the monastery, in the name of joy: a music that had to be sung by women and not by children’s voices, with modulations and variations hitherto unthinkable in the Gregorian canon. Its nuns were dressed in light and danced to honor life. We then move on to Marianna Martinesbrilliant composer and conductor, contemporary of Mozart, who only asked her to replace him when she could not conduct her own works».

Antonia Brico, sabotaged

When was the “professional director” born? «At the end of the 19th century and in the 20th century, the situation became more complicated and formally paradoxical: in the face of the democratization of knowledge and the opening of conservatories to women, it happened that the Masters of Direction did not accept them in their classes, a situation experienced by Blankenburg herself in the late 1960s, when he introduced himself to Hans Swarowsky. The difficulty of academic training and the impossibility of launching a concert career with a stable orchestra have certainly prevented great talents from fully developing: this is the case with Antonia Brico, born in Holland but raised in the United States».

Marin Alsop, the Dean

Which ones have had the most impact? “Nadia Boulanger, the first to conduct prestigious ensembles in Europe and the United States. Among those that have also inaugurated a new way of approaching the orchestra, exercising a “shared” authority instead of an imposing authoritarianism, I would put the same Elke Mascha Blankenburg, Sylvia Caduff (in ’78 on the podium of the Berliner Philharmoniker), Sarah Caldwell, Marin AlsopClaire Gibault, Alondra de la Parra, Barbara Hannigan, Negin Khpalwak, Xian Zhang (the last two were the first to direct in their own country, respectively Afghanistan and China). For Italy I would mention Elena Sartori, the only one who has performed recently The liberation of Ruggero from the island of Alcina by Francesca Caccini, the seventeenth-century composer, the first woman to write an opera. Ah, a curiosity: many of them abandon the use of the wand, preferring the expressiveness of the face, the movement of the arms, hands and body. We could say that they dance with the musicians of the orchestra, creating a new shared harmony, as Hildegard began to do hundreds of years ago».

The situation today

The situation, fortunately, has changed a bit since he wrote the Blankenburgbut only 7 percent of wand professionals remain and even the most recent data, now collected by Gammaitoni, does not authorize enthusiasm. «In 2020 only 46 of the 778 stable orchestras worldwide – that is 5.9 percent – were directed by a woman (in Italy today we have Oksana Lyniv at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Gianna Fratta at the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra): the stable orchestra the real glass ceiling remains. THE 31 men graduated in orchestra conducting from the conservatories – again in 2020 – compared to two women» says the professor, who in the precious book also allows herself interesting “toponymic digressions”: in our country there are only two roads dedicated to conductors , and they are both in Livorno. In suburbs…

“Ageism” on the podium

Gammaitoni mentions the “blind” auditions in vogue in the United States: they increase the possibility for a woman of being selected by 200 percent. But it is an impracticable ploy in the case of guidelines, which by definition must be seen… It’s not over. There is one more disadvantage even for those who make it to “get there”: age. As if women became fragile over the years and men instead remained an emblem of strength. «They invite me to speak in public, to give lectures, to give masterclasses; they ask for my opinion, my voice, my teaching, but some impresarios don’t think of inviting me to direct »he says in his memoir Orchestra director. My music, my life (Add publisher) Gibault, the first woman to conduct an opera – The spa by Fabio Vacchi – at the Teatro alla Scala in 1995 (and since then followed by just three others: Susanna Mälkki, Speranza Scappucci, Eun Sun Kim). Only Alsop resists conducting a stable orchestra, theBaltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Networking

And it was Alsop who lashed out against it Tarthe film by Todd Field with Cate Blanchett fictional (but not quite) conductor. “I’m offended as a woman, like conductoras a lesbian,” she protested, feeling the references to her life too direct. «Unfortunately, the protagonist presents the worst characteristics of the masculine in the way of managing power (overwhelming, despotic, manipulative): how come a director and a great actress who have the opportunity to stage such a rare figure, then put faced with a deranged woman?” wonders Gammaitones.
But is there the ability to network in this sector? “Partially yes. Claire Gibault has even created a competition in Paris intended only for directives, Concours International de Chefs d’Orchestre La Maestra. it is stated. «But more than networking, there is a need to act on the education and training system, update music manuals… Give women the space that historically belongs to them. Culture changes, forming a different story from an early age».

As the Americans say: «If You Can See It, You Can Be It». If someone sets an example for you, you can imagine becoming one too.

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