Are we seeing more women concertmasters?
mainWhen the New York Philharmonic awarded its front seat to a guy there was a general shrug and a sigh: that’s how things are, right?
But during the interregnum since Glenn Dicterow’s retirement, the orchestra has been very capably led by Sheryl Staples and the Philharmonic has two further associate concertmasters in Michelle Kim and Carole Webb. These days, you are almost more likely to see New York Phil with a woman leading than a man.
Elsewhere, Nurit Bar-Josef (above, right) is concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra and four more women concertmasters have been appointed around the country since 1988 when Emmanuelle Boisvert became the first, in Detroit. In Minnesota, the concertmaster recently married the music director. Still, the situation is patchy and five concertmasters is not that many in a pack of 250 orchestras. (UPDATE: see below: there are more, many more).
In Europe, the distribution is northerly – more women concertmasters in Scandinavia, few in Austro-Germany.
Maybe we should start a list.
Send in details of concertmasters or acting concertmasters of symphony orchs, wherever you are.
We’ll exclude chamber orchs for the time being. Bear in mind, too, that many German orchs have three or four concertmasters, greatly increasing equal opportunities.
*
Here goes:
North America (from north to south):
Diana Cohen, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Gwen Hoebig, Winnipeg
Bénédicte Lauzière, recently appointed concertmaster of Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Ontario.
Yukari Cousineau, l’Orchestre metropolitain in Montreal
Yoonshin Song is the new concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Juliana Athayde, Rochester
Susie Park, Kalamazoo
Holly Mulcahy, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera
Robin Mayforth, Symphony Silicon Valley
Terrie Baune and Dawn Harms, co-concertmasters, Oakland East Bay Symphony (northern California)
Erin Keefe, Minnesota Orchestra
Nurit Bar-Josef, National Symphony Orchestra
Ruth Lenz, Reno Philharmonic
Stephanie Sant Ambrogio, Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra.
Jessica Mathaes, Austin Symphony.
Suzanne Jacobson, Temple (TX) Symphony
Carolyn Richards-Chacon, Austin Civic Orchestra
Annamaria Karacsony, Colorado Mahlerfest Orchestra.
Denise Tarrant, Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet
Jessica Tong, Evansville Philharmonic
Susanna Perry Gilmore, concertmaster of the Omaha, Nebraska Symphony
Jill Levy of the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra
Sarah Kwak at the Oregon Symphony.
Yumi Hwang-Williams, Colorado Symphony Orchestra in Denver
Dawn Gingrich, Orchestra Iowa
South America
Lucia Luque, Córdoba Symphony Orchestra (Argentina).
Europe
Anna Gebert is concertmaster in Trondheim, Norway.
Melina Mandozzi , Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Norway
Elise Båtnes at the Oslo Philharmonic
Camilla Kjøll and Catharina Chen, Oslo Opera orchestra
Maaria Leino, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Finland
Malin Broman, Swedish Radio SO, Stockholm
Jannica Gustafsson and Tale Olsson, Stockholm Opera orchestra
Øyvor Volle, Gøteborgs Opera
Sara Trobäck, Gøteborgs SO
Marika Fältskog, Malmö Symphony Orchestra
Yana Deshkova Aalborg Symphony
Christina Åstrand and Soo-Jin Hong Copenhagen Radio, Denmark
Sigrún Eðvaldsdóttir, Iceland SO
Sabine Vivian-Höpker at Nordwestdeutche Philharmonie, Germany
Dora Bratchkova and Margarete Adorf, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken
Kathrin Rabus at NDR Hannover
Ursula Berg in the Gürzenich orchestra, Cologne
Natalie Kundirenko, Göttinger Symphonie Orchester
Anna Rezniak, Nürnberger Symphoniker
Mila Georgieva and Natalie Chee, co-concertmasters of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Yun-Jin Cho, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Heike Janicke, Dalia Schmalenberg, Eva Dollfuß, Dresdner Philharmonie
Juliane Winkler, Staatskapelle Berlin
Odette Couch, Munich Philharmonic
Alexandra Psareva, Ruxandra Klein, Marietta Kratz & Brigitte Lang, NDR Sinfonieorchester
Friederike Starkloff, NDR Radiophilharmonie
Naoko Ogihara, Susanne Richard & Ye Wu; WDR Sinfonieorchester
Barbara Kink; hr-Sinfonieorchester, Frankfurt
Franziska Früh; Düsseldorfer Symphoniker / Deutsche Oper am Rhein
Barbara Burgdorf; Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Judith Eisenhofer, Annegret Knoop, Claudia Ander-Donath, co-leaders at Thüringen, Gera/Altenburg
Albena Danailova, one of four concertmasters at the Vienna Philharmonic, is presently in maternity leave with her second child.
Bettina Gradinger, Vesna Stankovic-Moffat, Anne Harvey-Nagel at Vienna Volksoper
Lieke te Winkel, Tonkünstler Orchester
Yukiko Imazato-Härtl and Fuyu Iwaki, Graz Philharmonic
Marianne Riehle, Monika Kammerlander, Mozarteum Salzburg
Monika Schuhmayer, Vorarlberg Sinfonieorchester
Geneviève Laurenceau Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse
Charlotte Juillard, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg
Dorota Anderszewska Orchestre National de Montpellier
Sarah Nemtanu, Orchestre National de France (her sister, Deborah, leads a chamber orch)
Jennifer Gilbert, sister of Alan Gilbert, is concertmaster of Orchestre National de Lyon.
Vera Novakova, first concertmaster of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice
Ann-Estelle Médouze of L’Orchestre National d’Ile de France
Carla Leurs, Nederlands Sinfonieorkest
Elisabeth Perry & Nadia Wijzenbeek, both Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Olga Martinova, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
Cécile Huijnen, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra
Lisanne Soeterbroek, Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra (Belgium)
Wioletta Zabek, Concertmaster of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon in Valladolid since 1991.
Lisa Schatzman and Ina Dimitrova, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Switzerland
Anna Weinmeister, Zurich Opera
Julia Becker, Tonhalle Zurich
Lynn Fletcher, Halle orchestra, Manchester
Clio Gould, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London
Janice Graham, English National Orchestra
Lesley Hatfeild, BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Thelma Handy, joint leader Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Helena Wood (with co-leader Elaine Clark) – RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
Mia Cooper – RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Russia
Lyudmila Tchaikovskaya, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
Tatiana Porshneva, Russian National Orchestra
Alexandra Zhavoronkova, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra
Elena Reznichenko, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia
Olga Dzerzhinskaya, New Russia State Symphony Orchestra
Africa
Joanna Frankel serves as Concertmaster of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, South Africa.
Middle East
Jenny Hunigen and Geana Gandelman, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra
Off the top of my head: Juliana Athayde of the Rochester Symphony Orchestra. She was appointed when she was only 24 years old, the youngest violinist to hold that position in the orchestra’s history. She’s also on faculty at Eastman.
Bénédicte Lauzière, recently appointed Concertmaster of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Ontario, Canada.
Robin Mayforth, Symphony Silicon Valley; Terrie Baune and Dawn Harms, co-concertmasters, Oakland East Bay Symphony (northern California)
Also, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is both MD and concertmaster of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco.
Lorenza Borrani at Chamber Orchestra of Eirope
The brilliant Erin Keefe at the Minnesota Orchestra
Mila Georgieva and Natalie Chee, co-concert masters of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Ruth Lenz at the Reno Chamber Orchestra and Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, Stephanie Sant Ambrogio at the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra
In Durban, South Africa the excellent American Joanna Frankel serves as Concertmaster of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ruth Lenz serves as the Concertmaster of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and Reno Philharmonic.
Stephanie Sant Ambrogio serves as Concertmaster of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra.
Lyn Fletcher,Halle;and Laura Samuel.BBC Scottish SO
Or maybe fewer???
The word is “fewer,” not “less.”
Helena Wood, RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Ireland
Clio Gould (RPO), Janice Graham (ENO), Lesley Hatfeild (BBC Nat Orch of Wales)
Seriously, though.
Does anyone know who the BLACK CONCERTMASTERS are?
Please commence compiling a proper list….
It seems music schools may not be doing their part to engender a marginalized demographic that would surely enrich our orchestras. And perhaps more importantly, bridge the gap to bring that community into the concert halls. MOS DEF.
The excellent Ann-Estelle Médouze of L’Orchestre National d’Ile de France.
Many years ago, Darwyn Apple was concertmaster of the Toledo (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra.
Janice Graham ENO
Marieke Bankenstijn Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Rotterdam Philharmonic
Hélène Collerette Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Lisa Kerob Monte Carlo Philharmonic
Sarah Nemtanu Orchestre National de France
Deborah Nemtanu Ensemble Orchestral de Paris
Anna Weinmeister Zurich Opera
Stephanie Gonley English Chamber Orchestra
Jessica Mathaes is the concertmaster of the Austin Symphony.
I play under female concertmasters in the following orchestras:
Suzanne Jacobson is the concertmaster of the Temple (TX) Symphony.
Carolyn Richards-Chacon is the concertmaster of the Austin Civic Orchestra. (The ACO also has a female music director.)
Annamaria Karacsony is the concertmaster of the Colorado Mahlerfest Orchestra.
Denise Tarrant, Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet;
Jessica Tong, Evansville Philharmonic;
Holly Mulcahy, Chattanooga Symphony
Natalie Kundirenko, Göttinger Symphonie Orchester;
Anna Rezniak, Nürnberger Symphoniker
Lesley Hatfield – BBCNOW
Of course Julia Becker, concertmaster in the Tonhalle in Zürich
Julia Becker, Tonhalle Zurich
Candida Thompson has been Amsterdam Sinfonietta’s concertmaster since 1995 and its Artistic Director and Leader since 2003.
Julia Schröder has been for the Basler Kammerorchester concert master and leader since 2004.
Ada Pesch is concertmaster of the orchestra of the Opernhaus Zürich (Philharmonia Zürich) since 1990.
Helena Wood (with co-leader Elaine Clark) – RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
Mia Cooper – RTÉ Concert Orchestra
… and your headline should read ‘fewer’ rather than ‘less’, surely?
Don’t call him Shirley.
Iceland Symphony Orch. has Sigrún Eðvaldsdóttir and Gothenburg SO have Sara Trobäck.
Just two examples that spring to mind!
Back in the dark ages before WW2 the BBCSO used to split into two sections. One of them was led by Marie Wilson who later played in the Philharmonia (LPO possibly?) for some years after the war.
Julia SCHRÖDER & Yuki KASAI, Kammerorchester Basel
Yuki KASAI, Kammerakademie Potsdam
I notice from the list above that only two of the top 20 US orchestras have women concertmasters. Since some of the orchestras have more than one, the percentage is below 10%.
Susanna Perry Gilmore, concertmaster of the Omaha, Nebraska Symphony
At the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Jessica Linnebach, Associate Concertmaster, is the permanent concertmaster when they do a Pops series, and occasionally of course does the main series concerts.
Jessica Matheas – Austin Symphony
– Yun-Jin Cho; Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
– Heike Janicke, Dalia Schmalenberg, Eva Dollfuß; Dresdner Philharmonie
– Juliane Winkler; Staatskapelle Berlin
– Odette Couch; Münchner Philharmoniker
– Alexandra Psareva, Ruxandra Klein, Marietta Kratz &
Brigitte Lang; NDR Sinfonieorchester
– Naoko Ogihara, Susanne Richard & Ye Wu; WDR Sinfonieorchester
– Barbara Kink; hr-Sinfonieorchester
– Franziska Früh; Düsseldorfer Symphoniker / Deutsche Oper am Rhein
– Barbara Burgdorf; Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Geneviève Laurenceau Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse (coordinate)
Charlotte Juillard, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg
Dorota Anderszewska Orchestre National de Montpellier
Sarah Nemtanu, Orchestre National de France (coordinate)
Deborah Nemtanu, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris
Clio Gould: RPO and Janice Graham: ENO
Some dutch results:
Marieke Blankesteijn, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Candida Thompson, Amsterdam Sinfonietta
Elisabeth Perry & Nadia Wijzenbeek, both Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Olga Martinova, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
Cécile Huijnen, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra
Lisanne Soeterbroek, Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra (Belgium)
One of the very finest violinists in my experience (male or female) was the late Iona Brown, long-time concertmaster/director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and elsewhere.
In Spain, Wioletta Zabek, Concertmaster of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon in Valladolid since 1991.
Should be mentioned that Erin Keefe took over for Jorja Fleezanis, long-time CM in Minnesota. Frank Huang took over for Angela Fuller in Houston Symphony.
Forgot Julia Becker from Tonhalle Zurich
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra
Jenny Hunigen and Geana Gandelman
Jerusalem Camerata
Carmela Leiman
Israel chamber orchestra (Tel Aviv)
Alina Gurevich
Jennifer Gilbert, sister of Alan Gilbert is the concertmaster of Orchestre National de Lyon.
Jennifer Gilbert at the Orchestre national de Lyon
Jennifer Gilbert at the Orchestre national de Lyon
Vera Novakova, first concertmaster of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. She played as a soloist under Krysztof Penderecki (french premiere of “Metamorphosen”), John Nelson, Michaël Schonwandt, Christof Perick, among many others. She played the greatest solos of the repertoire under Wolfgang Sawallisch (“Ein Heldenleben”), Michel Plasson (“Bacchus et Ariane, suite n° 2”), Guennadi Rojdestvenski, Yutakav Sado, Neeme Järvi… along the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Before Nice, she was concertmaster in Lucerne.
Dora Bratchkova and Mechthild Adorf,Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbruecken.
How could you, NL, have forgotten Lyn Fletcher, long-time leader of the Halle*, from your list?….. Thank goodness for other Brits rectifying your omission.
*For your information, the Halle is in Manchester – oop int’ North.
Mr Lebrecht is a London-based critic and is therefore contractually obliged to ignore all musical activity outside of the capital. He would be thrown out the Critics Union were he to even hint at the existence of orchestras beyond the M25.
Hallé is the name of the orchester in Manchetser, if you don´t mind
Halle is in Germany
Marika Fältskog
Malmö Symphony Orchestra
Jannica Gustafsson and Tale Olsson in the Royal Swedish Opera
Judith Eisenhofer, leader/ concertmaster of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Theater & Philharmonie Thüringen, Gera/Altenburg
Annegret Knoop, co-leader of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Theater & Philharmonie Thüringen, Gera/Altenburg
Claudia Ander-Donath, co-leader of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Theater & Philharmonie Thüringen, Gera/Altenburg
Lucia Luque, Córdoba Symphony Orchestra (Argentina).
Yumi Hwang-Williams is the CM of the excellent Colorado Symphony Orchestra in Denver!
Jeanyi Kim, Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra.
Maighread McCrann. ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
In addition to Kathrin Rabus, there is another woman concertmaster at the NDR Hannover: Friederike Starkloff.
With chamber orchestras added to the line up, there are even more women:
– Yuki Kasai and Meesun Hong-Coleman, Kammerakademie Potsdam
– Susanne von Gutzeit, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester
– Midori Seiler, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
– Petra Müllejans, Freiburger Barockorchester
– Lorenza Borrani, Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Yukari Cousineau, l’Orchestre metropolitain in Montreal
Sarah Kwak, Oregon Symphony in Portland
Sarah Kwak at the Oregon Symphony.
HollyMulcahy is the Concert master of the Chattanooga Symphony (Tennessee)
Also, Norman, in your title it should be ‘or fewer,’ not ‘or less.’ This is not the first time I’ve seen you misuse this.
Interestingly, every one of the ‘Top 5’ American orchestras (Cleveland, Philly, Boston, NY, and Chicago) have a man as their Concertmaster and a woman as the Associate Concertmaster. Same is also true for San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Utah, St. Louis, and I’m sure some others that I don’t know about. Not making any massive conclusions from this – just an observation!
Annedore Oberborbeck, Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck
Maya Iwabuchi RSNO.
Personally I think the emphasis is wrong here. In my decade of orchestral leadership I have yet to award any violin job to a man. The women applying outnumber the men considerably, and seem to be better players.
Interesting to note, though, that all of the Big 5 (and several other big) U.S. orchestras have women in the #2 position:
– New York: Sheryl Staples
– Boston: Tamara Smirnova
– Chicago: Stephanie Jeong
– Cleveland: Yoko Moore
– Philadelphia: Juliette Kang
– San Francisco: Nadia Tichman
– Los Angeles: Bing Wang
– Seattle: Emma McGrath
we have a wonderful new female concertmaster here in the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra: Triin Ruubel
Sorry, for correcting again, but Judith Eisenhofer is leader (1st concertmaster) of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Theater & Philharmonie Thüringen, Gera/Altenburg –
Annegret Knoop and Claudia Ander-Donath are co-leaders of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Theater & Philharmonie Thüringen, Gera/Altenburg
Orchestra Iowa in Cedar Rapids, IA just appointed Dawn Gingrich as concertmaster.
http://artsiowa.com/news-and-blogs/2015/june/orchestra-iowa-announces-concertmaster/
Madeline Adkins has been appointed Concertmaster of the Utah Symphony (formerly Associate Concertmaster of Baltimore Symphony)
The excellent Lauren Roth is currently concertmaster of the Tucson Symphony.
The recently deceased Katia Popov of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra
Katherine Winterstein, Vermont Symphony Orchestra. She’s Associate Concertmaster at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra as well.