Some women are currently storming the stands of renowned orchestras. The French conductor and contralto Nathalie Stutzmann, born in Suresnes in 1965, is one of them. From the 2022/23 season on, she will take over as chief conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, making her only the second woman to lead a US orchestra after Marin Alsop from the Baltimore Symphony.
The Atlanta Symphony does not belong to the premier league of US orchestras, but has been able to hold its own steadily since it was founded in 1945 and has a good chance of improving its quality. Which could definitely work with Nathalie Stutzmann. This would give them the highest reputation, as the great orchestra founding conductors and their famous successors achieved in the middle of the 20th century.
Incidentally, it would raise this about any non-factual discussion and opinion-forming, even where gender-specific reservations still exist. And unfortunately there are especially in Germany, where Stutzmann is still only accepted as a singer.
As a singer, Stutzmann has already recorded more than 70 albums
As one of the most renowned musicians, she can look back on a very successful second career. At first she convinced as an extraordinary solo alto, with a particularly deep, bitter voice, as can be heard in recordings of Johannes Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody or in many baroque arias. However, even during her vocal studies she devoted herself consistently to conducting, which she gradually expanded into her main artistic activity from around 2008 onwards.
Nevertheless, Stutzmann can still be heard as an alto, most recently on her great album “Contralto” with baroque arias, accompanied by her own ensemble “Orfeo 55” on original sound instruments. In total, Stutzmann has recorded more than 70 albums so far, with works across the centuries, from Bach to Prokofiev. Many of them have received international awards, including one grammy.
The fact that the conductor Stutzmann is also good at great opera was demonstrated in 2017 at the Monaco Opera with Richard Wagner’s “Tannhäuser”. Nevertheless, as a conductor, she devotes herself more to the symphonic concert repertoire, which made her interesting for symphony orchestras around the world, which she frequently invite to guest conductors.
In addition, there were soon firm commitments: from 2017 to 2020 she was the first guest conductor of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, since 2018 she has been chief conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra in Norway, since the 2021/22 season also first guest conductor of the legendary Philadelphia Orchestra.
“She brings liveliness and enthusiasm to the podium.”
Stutzmann wants to keep the positions in Norway and Philadelphia after taking office in Atlanta, as her agency confirmed on request. With well-known conductors, it is quite common to hold two chief positions and to take up offers for guest conductors with large orchestras.
Stutzmann’s sponsors include Seiji Ozawa and Simon Rattle, who once described their artistic quality as “the real thing”: “so much love, intensity and sheer technique”. We need more “conductors” like her, said Rattle – and he certainly wasn’t just referring to female conductors. In her French homeland you probably see it that way and made her Knight of the Ordre National du Mérite, Officer of the Order of Arts et Lettres and, in 2019, Knight of the Legion of Honor.
In the USA she does not need such awards, there you wait with joyful excitement for the new boss. “Nathalie is an excellent conductor,” says Janine Brown, Chair of the Atlanta Symphony’s Board of Directors. “She brings vibrancy and enthusiasm to the podium.” She is charismatic and passionate about music. More cheering is hardly possible.