Canada names conductor Woo
OrchestrasThe National Youth Orchestra of Canada has appointed Naomi Woo as music director for the next two seasons.
She is the first woman in the job.
Dr Woo, 33, has spent four years as Assistant Conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony. She has an interest in genre-bending opera, working with Sasha Amaya and Catherine Kontz on A Certain Sense of Order (Tête à Tête Festival 2017), Sophie Seita (Beethoven Was a Lesbian, Tête à Tête 2020) and Alex Ho/Julia Cheng on UNTOLD (Snape Maltings 2019).
She has conducted Cinderella with English Touring Opera.
More here.
Naomi is the third recent Cambridge graduate to have secured a major conducting position this week – the other two being Adam Hickox (Glyndebourne) and Stephanie Childress (Barcelona Symphony Orchestra). Huge congratulations to all!
Definitely not the same pedigree as past conductors for this youth orchestra. But many audition no-hires these days a have been because candidates display a lack of understanding of genre-bending opera, so this will be good for the students. I’m a doctor.
If gender bending opera is now a litmus test for quality leadership, the future of this art form is signed, sealed, and delivered, DEAD. DEI hiring is by and large pandering to social safety of organizations, so they feel safe with a certain soloist that reduces her vocabulary to “fart knocker” and her wind playing co-hort that can’t even get along with women she has to work with, all the while slandering any and every organization possible that doesn’t publicly advertise women or midnight skinned beauties that may or may not have male born genitalia. When the medical field starts seeing the results of this hiring practice, we will all be screwed, but at least we will have gender bending opera to ease our suffering….
Uh, the comment was referring to “genre-bending” opera, not “gender-bending” opera. But thanks for the culture war rant …
Assistant, ed programs, workshops. Youth need a master to teach, not an assistant. What could go wrong?
I don’t know this lady, though I am wary of her “gender-bending” interests being possibly imposed on young and impressionable kids.
I have been to concerts by the National Youth Orchestra a number of times and they have been stunning, both in the musicianship and in the musical choices. Let’s hope both are enhanced by their experience with this new conductor. They deserve the best. They have certainly delivered it in the past.
You obviously haven’t been around many of today’s kids.
GENRE-bending….put your reading glasses on.