Vienna Phil’s fiercest critic admits ‘notable progress’

William Osborne, who has monitored exclusion policies on grounds of gender and race at the Vienna Philharmonic for the past decade, is happy to report that some things are changing for the better.

William writes:

The last three years have brought some important gains in the number of women in the Vienna State Opera Orchestra/Vienna Philharmonic. The Opera formation now employs fourteen women, and ten of them have been tenured into the orchestra’s Philharmonic formation.

Between 2012 and 2015, the State Opera Orchestra hired three new women violinists, and a woman principal bassoonist.  The standards have been very high.  Two of these violinists are winners of prestigious international solo competitions, and bassoonist Sophie Dartigalongue is also an active soloist.  Ms. Dartigalongue’s employment as principal bassonist is especially notable because women in principal positions are rare in many orchestras. The Chicago Symphony, for example, has had only two in its entire history.

Read the full report here.

Vienna Phil blind audition in progress