Iowa gets a woman concertmaster

Iowa gets a woman concertmaster

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norman lebrecht

June 29, 2015

Orchestra Iowa has named Dawn Gingrich as its new concertmaster, a welcome addition to our growing list.

Dawn is a well-travelled soloist. Her father, Daniel, isĀ associate principal French horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

dawn gingrich

Comments

  • MJ says:

    You mean “female?” You wouldn’t
    say “man” concertmaster.

    Saying “woman” this and “woman” that is offensive and degrading toward women because it works under the assumption that concertmaster is a “man’s” job. There are many female concertmasters in the United States.

    The longer you keep talking like this as if it’s some freak occurrence, the longer people will expect that only men should be able to serve in leadership positions in orchestras.

  • Will says:

    oh dear oh dear how utterly and totally predictable.
    I am tempted to post ‘shut the f### up’ in the words of Sir Simon Rattle when addressing ( mid concert) a percussion player who was totally ‘out of order’!

  • Patrick says:

    I agree competely with MJ on this point. Will, on the other hand…. Your reply to MJ’s perfectly reasonable comment (agree or disagree, if you’d like) is plain rude. “Shut up” (in essence) is all you can offer?

  • Brian Hughes says:

    Norman:

    I can name at least three other orchestras in the immediate area: the Quad City Symphony (Davenport, IA), Dubuque (IA) Symphony, and the Madison (WI) Symphony, all of which have female concertmasters (and have for many years). Why the big deal about the Cedar Rapids orchestra?

  • Kurt Masur of Iowa says:

    This is a tiny amateur orchestra no one ever heard of outside its immediate 10 block area.

  • Vaquero357 says:

    And back in the 1980s the Waukegan Symphony (in Illinois, not so far away from IA and WI) had a female concertmaster, Marilyn Schoenfeld. We’ve always been on the cutting edge of Societal Evolution here in the Midwest! šŸ˜‰

    • Murray Citron says:

      And back in the 1960s, the Bronx Symphony Orchestra had a transgender Concertmaster/mistress…we’ve got you all beat here in the Bronx!

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