Women conductors 2024: Not much progress
OrchestrasIt has been three years since our last power list of women conductors, and most of the names remain the same. Cuddly pictures of three women at Bayreuth confirm a perceptual shift but, with LA and San Francisco still vacant, no woman has yet made it to the helm of a major US orchestra. Why is that?
The rankings are asessed on position, profile, guest engagements and frequent shortlistings.
(Last rankings in brackets.)
1 (21) Eun Sun Kim
San Francisco Opera
2 (3) Simone Young
Sydney Symphony
3 (1) Oksana Lyniv
Bologna and Bayreuth
4 (9) Joanna Mallwitz
Berlin Konzerthaus
5 (2) Nathalie Stutzmann
Atlanta Symphony
6 (-) Marie Jacquot
WDR Symphony Cologne and Wiener Symphoniker
7 (14) Speranza Scapucci
Covent Garden #2
8 (-) Barbara Hannigan
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
9 (6) Karina Canellakis
American in Holland
10 (18) Dalia Stasevska
MD at Lahti, #2 at BBC Symphony, fast rising
11 (-) Alondra de la Parra
Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid
12 (16) Gemma New
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
13 (-) Anna-Maria Helsing
BBC Concert Orchestra
14 (4) Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla
Freelance projects
15 (5) Marin Alsop
principal guest, Philadelphia Orchestra
16 (25) Jo-Ann Falletta
Buffalo Symphony
17 (7) Elim Chan
Antwerp Symphony
18 (11) Joana Carneiro
Real Filharmonia de Galicia
19 (10) Susanna Mälkki
freelance projects
20 (-) Lydia Yankovskaya
Chicago Opera Theater
21 (8) Marta Gardolinska
Opéra national de Lorraine
22 (26) Xian Zhang
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
23 (15) Han-na Chang
Trondheim Symphony
24 (19) Anna Skryleva
Magdeburg music director
25 (-) Alena Hron
South Czech Philharmonic
26 (20) Débora Waldman
First woman music director at a French symphony orchestra
27 (-) Ruth Reinhardt
Long Island Philharmonic
28 (-) Keri-Lynn Wilson
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
29 (-) Karen Kamensek
freelance projects
30 (-) Nil Vendetti
Royal Northern Sinfonia, pg
Who have we omitted?
UPDATE Addenda:
31 (-) Daniela Candillari
Opera Theater of St Louis
32 (12) Anja Bihlmaier
Lahti Symphony, Residetie The Hague (final season)
33 (-) Tabitha Berglund
Detroit Symphony, pg
34 (-) Chloé van Soeterstede
Bournemouth SO pg
35 (-) Maria Seletskaja
English National Ballet
36 (23) Alevtina Ioffe.
GMD of Bühnen Bern
37 (-) Bar Avni
Bayer Philharmoniker
38 (-) Melisse Brunet
Lexington Philharmonic
39 (-) Valentina Peleggi
Teatro de Opera São Pedro
40 (-) Anu Tali
Nordic Symphony Orchestra
Giedrė Šlekytė
still at Hannover?
The obstacle must be a last desperate ditch from the males to defend their territory.
This is all about quality and musicianship. No critics who sh to discuss the quality of their performances seriously. None of them is up to the task. Listen to Madam Butterfly conducted by Liniv at the Met. I listened to Don Carlo under Linn-Wilson’s button. It was amateurish and no match to real maestros.
Michael – If you are referring to this season, Madama Butterfly was conducted by Xian Zhang. Lyniv conducted Turandot. And very well, too.
Sorry, but her conducting of Turandot was a disaster. I was amazed at how she never failed to find the wrong tempo. And the singers will tell you the same thing if they think they can talk to you in confidence.
Sorry, my mistake. Thank you for correcting me. Yes, Tirandot. It was terrible. Never even zusammen, not to mention any artistic qualities.
Agree: Xian Zhang was exceptional in Madama Butterfly
I’m positive the wokesters will ratio your troll bait to death.
Otherwise, more hand wringing from our resident simp masquerading as a classical critic these days.
Just keep posting yuja picks ya old perv
The obvious irony of my comment seems to have gone totally missing.
Never bank on irony being recognised on the interweb.
Well, I never really banked on it, but considering that classical music is the most ironic art form in history, one would at least think that some people claiming to love the art form would… but no, I think you’re right.
You need to hear the inflection of the voice to recognise it not printed words.
Oh dear! Was I fooled? See my previous comment. IF it got posted. That’ll teach me.
I find your comments intelligent & thought provoking! So, as a non-musician, but a woman who worked in a very male dominated science field, I feel I can agree with you. Recently, I had an interesting conversation with an American colleague (an excellent amateur bassoonist) who pointed out that America is also lagging behind electing a female President.
Men are better at conducting John & you know it
So a few big groups show progress – Atlanta, SF Opera, Berlin and Sydney. But the headline is correct: only 1 out of the top 30 U.S. orchestras has a woman at the helm (despite their representing 50% of the population). That hasn’t changed in 20 years and I’m not holding my breath for San Fran or L.A. going to a woman.
It is shocking how men are underrepresented as Personal Assistants to artists, and dentist assistents, while they form 50% of the population. And the same with women being underrepresented among soldiers, truck drivers, road workers, plumbers, bodybuilders, mathematicians, carpenters, pyramid builders, and conjurers (who always have a young woman as an assistant).
Regarding the PAs, men wouldn’t work for that money!
Maybe but they woud do it better!
Are you being ironic again?
Arse! While women using the 50% argument is worn out. You stating the statistically obviously, adds nothing to the discussion.
There are wonderful women conductors and others riding the bandwagon of fashion. As with male conductors time will tell who amongst them will have lasting careers. Most female conductors I’ve heard have been good to brilliant with a couple of so called high fliers being major disappointments. Just like the men
What exactly does progress mean in this context? Is parity a useful goal? What about all other groups and genders? Are women 50% of music school applicants? 50% of conducting program graduates? 50% of conducting competition applicants? Are women being represented proportionally as job holders in the field? Please answer with citations.
I would go further. Is it really true that women form 50% of the population? And that men form the other 50%? But what if a certain percentage identifies as the other sex? Or, only partly? Given new impressions of identification it is more likely that women form some 60% of the population, including the most apparent fluid identities, and men some 70%, thus explaining the overflow of toxic masculinity being observed along the range.
Tabita Berglund!
Anja Bihlmaier for starters, and she should be high up the list, certainly above Barbara Hannigan.
Yes, yes, yes!!!
Diane Wittry at Allentown Symphony Orchestra and Rei Hotoda at Fresno Philharmonic
Valentina Peleggi
Anja Bihlmaier!!!
Anja Bihlmaier: The Hague, Lahti
You’ve omitted Maria Seletskaja recently appointed as M. D. for
English National Ballet
How about black conductors with wooden legs and two heads. How many of these do we have? Promotion should be a matter of merit, not ethnicity or disadvantage. Stop this EDI rubbish. We can all see through it.
Marin Alsop is also Chief Conductor of the Radio Symphonie Orchestra-Vienna.
outgoing
And Polish Radio Katowice. God knows why.
Well, this time you sure have unleashed a surge of ‘male solidarity’!
Nodoka Okisawa:
former assistant to Petrenko in Berlin,
guest conducting in Asia and Europe
The Atlanta Symphony is a major American orchestra
Not for long if they keep Stutzman.
You misunderstand what the term “a major American orchestra” means. It is determined solely by the size of its budget.
Ruth Reinhardt
— Gisèle Ben-Dor
Conductor Emerita, Boston Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra
— Emmanuelle Haïm
Le Concert d’Astrée, Lille
Haim has repeatedly conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, no less.
Chloe v Soeterstède, pg in Bournemouth
My prediction: Stasevska will be named MD of the Seattle Symphony this year.
Bar Avni, Chief Conductor of the Bayer Philharmoniker
Anna Rakitina
So Atlanta doesn’t count as a “Major U.S. Orchestra”? Only the “Big five” counts now? How much further back are we going to keep moving the goalposts.
Shiyeon Sung – please! Maybe the best of them
American orchestras have few women at the helm for similar reasons they haven’t had a female President. The Boards of orchestras are mostly made up of men from the financial world, with a few women of inherited wealth sprinkled in here and there. In a world of male-dominated financial power and decision-making, women have to constantly “prove” themselves in ways that men are not expected to. The US is a misogynist society in general, although women have made great gains in the last decades.
When Boards get tired of defending their male conductors for behaving badly, then we may see some progress. And, when Boards start including successful business women in their ranks. Power is more persuasive than even money; the men still have it.
I still have an unfulfilled wish that Canellakis had been appointed as director of our orchestra.
If you were hoping for a lot of down-votes, you’ve certainly succeeded.
Just proof of the argument I was making. And, probably, inspired by the fan boys of the current conductor.
That’s because this comments section is notoriously populated by sexist pigs.
Just out of curiosity what is “your” orchestra? Not everyone here is omniscient…
“My” orchestra conductor knows who he is and where he is. And how he got the job.
Thank you for putting, most eloquently, what I attempted to address in an earlier post. Which probably won’t be posted.
It is comforting to know my analysis of the situation in the USA (a country I love to visit) is not totally wrong.
Karen Kamensek, recently in Israel, and around the world
Laurence Equilbey!
Anna Handler, assistant conductor Boston Symphony Orchestra
She young but has great potential. The orchestra loved working with her in LA.
JoAnn Falletta should be much higher IMHO. And there is no hyphen in her first name.
That’s a lot of women. Underrepresented…?
Not that gender or identity should play a damn bit of difference in music, but if we are to play that game, we shall eagerly await similar obsession with the paucity of good African-American conductors in positions of equal import to those attached to the female names above. Don’t dare say they are not out there. They are. You have to ask and more importantly, be willing to ask outside of your usual contacts. All are welcome to call me for suggestions.
As has been noted here many times, orchestras do not need more women conductors, or conductors hired based on skin color or ethnicity.
We need better conductors.
This kind of scoring, quibbling, and comparison to hypothetical goalposts is jejune in the extreme. Society undergoes changes, which move in generally identifiable directions, but the component parts move at different speeds for all sorts of reasons. Sixty years ago “the professions” in general were closed to all but a few women who made extraordinary efforts to become outliers. Today all are open to women and are better off for it. But that does not mean women select each newly open profession, or excel in each, in equal proportions.
In conducting – a nearly perfect summation of all traditional aspects of “command” as a testosterone-driven pursuit – astonishingly good results have already been achieved. Nobody (or nobody sane) ever thought women lacked parity in the ability to conceive and execute musical interpretations — does anybody suppose that Clara Schumann or Gioconda da Vito or Martha Argerich wouldn’t have been great conductors if that path had been open to them? The question is more about choosing that path now that it is open, and it’s only natural that it takes more than just saying “women are now welcome” to reach a point where the number of first-rate aspirants becomes proportionate.
Conducting is a different profession in its own right, completely distinct from other musical roles. And it’s a very physically exhausting profession.
Many fine musicians often fail as conductors. “King”David Oistrach is just one example of many.
Does anyone think there’s an orchestra in the world that wouldn’t have jumped at the chance to be conducted by Argerich, had she chosen to do so?
First off, Chicago is not vacant and you should know that since for weeks on end you were engaging a smearing campaign here.
The rest of your comment is highly arbitrary. You claim that no woman is at the helm of a major US orchestra yet then you proceed to rank the second biggest Opera House in the US as your no 1. In number 5 you have a MD of Atlanta Symphony, which is a top 20 orchestra in the States. Which top 20 orchestra in Europe has a woman at its helm? None. Certainly we don’t have to argue that Bologna, Konzerthaus Berlin etc. aren’t top European orchestras, Konzerthaus Berlin would not make it into top 20 in Germany alone. Where are the women conductors in the truly top orchestras of Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Zürich, Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, Rome, Milano, Helsinki and so on???? You also left out that Marin Alsop is a Curator of the Ravinia festival, hence she holds positions with two of the big 5 simultaneously. I don’t see any woman holding two such positions in Europe.
Perhaps stop patronizing the US and start in your own country, it appears to me that the only woman that gets attention there nowadays is Emma Stenning…
A slight distinction–technically Marin Alsop doesn’t hold a position with a “Big 5.” To clarify, the Ravinia Festival and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are completely separate organizations. Separate boards, separate finances, separate administrations. She is employed by Ravinia as *their* Chief Conductor (a similar position to James Conlon’s and Christoph Eschenbach’s previous roles as Ravinia Music Director). It’s still list-worthy, still impressive, just a technicality.
Yes, I am well aware of that, I used the same standard Lebrecht did in his list. Majority of the female conductors here don’t actually hold the MD or Chief conductor jobs, he specifically listed them as #2
Yet another one about power, not music.
Anu Tali
Nordic Symphony Orchestra
What is the criteria for this “ranking”???
Randomness.
Does being a conductor of an orchestra in the back end of God knows where really count for anything? I mean who cares of you are the Chief Conductor of the Tumbleweed Philharmonic – it’s meaningless.
And even though the woke brigade will not like this opinion, maybe, if there has not been much progress it’s because they’re not really any good?
It’s not meaningless to the citizens of “Tumbleweed” who support their symphony. By your logic it would also be fair to say that the majority of the world’s citizens care nothing about the Berlin Philharmonic because it is equally meaningless to most.
Karen Kamensk (#29) was on good form yesterday conducting the Israeli Philharmonic including Gil Shaham as soloist on Dvorak violin concerto. The concert ended with a selection of Dvorak’s Slavic dances. Some audience members started to clap after the fist one while most of the more experienced concert goes didn’t. She turned round with a big smile and said, “that’s ok, we like that”. I thought it was really nice of her.
What happens in Israel should stay in Israel (what’s left of it)
Jo-Ann Falletta is at Buffalo Philharmonic in Buffalo, NY. Buffalo Symphony is an orchestra in Buffalo, MN.
The definition of the word “progress” has been distorted by capitalists, socialists, communists and, now, sexists.
‘Progress’ is what is new, considered historically, and it is improvement if it is considered qualitatively. These concepts are confused endemicly.
Ranking female conductors . What an awful premise for a post. Only a man could have written it !
Regarding #27, you can also add the Rhode Island Philharmonic to Maestro Reinhardt’s portfolio. Canadian Tania Miller held the Advisor role upon Bramwell Tovey’s passing and I had hoped that she would assume the role of Music Director….obviously they went in another direction. Tania has a solid freelance career after a long tenure with the Victoria (BC) Symphony….she’ll be performing with the Winnipeg Symphony next season. And about #28, native Winnipegger Keri-Lynn is SO much more than the UFO….she is a worldwide freelancer, especially of opera, having (fairly) recently made her Met debut. If I’m not mistaken I think she makes a return their next season(?)….
Let me tell you about the goings-on in Canada….first, the Canadian conductors. There’s Melanie Leonard, MD of Symphony New Brunswick, Paula DeWit (Chilliwack Symphony), Janna Sailor (Allegra Chamber Orchestra), Rosemary Thompson (Opera Kelowna, recently completed a lengthy tenure with the Okanagan Symphony….conductor Nadege Foofat is a candidate), Dina Gilbert (Kamloops Symphony & Grand Ballets Canadiens, Montreal), Lea Moisan-Perrier (Orchestre Symphonique de L’Estuaire) and Genevieve Leclair (Berklee College, freelancer….will work with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet next season).
And there are up-and-comers in assistant roles, like Monica Chen with the Winnipeg Symphony. The WSO has done as much (or more) as any orchestra in fostering the careers of female conductors, Rosemary Thompson, Rei Hotoda (thanks Mr. Styers!) and Naomi Woo (Canada’s National Youth Orchestra) among them.
And to round out….there’s Cuban conductor Cosette Justo Valdes with the Vancouver Island Symphony (former resident with the Edmonton Symphony), New Zealander Holly Mathieson going into her final year with Symphony Nova Scotia, and the American conductor Anne Manson who has been at the helm of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra here in Winnipeg since 2008, providing amazing leadership and evocative programming.
Elim Chan, an exciting talent
Jane Glover @ Fort Worth?
Cuddly?
Need to add Georgia Mills to this list.