Significantly more women conducting and composing than before are finding their way into classical music, into opera houses, concert halls and festivals. The catch-up that is due? Even though female orchestra musicians have long been in the right place, with violin, cello or double bass, flute, clarinet, horn, it has now caused astonishment that more women than men will be conducting Wagner’s musical dramas at the Bayreuth Festival Hall next summer (see SZ from January 12th). Women at the conductor’s podium, made clichéd by Cate Blanchett in the film “Tár”, are the topic of the hour. At the start of the season in Berlin, Joana Mallwitz was celebrated as chief conductor of the Konzerthausorchester. And the Chinese Elim Chan, trained in the USA, has just made her debut at the podium of the Berliner Staatskapelle. The German Symphony Orchestra Berlin also caused a stir, playing a piece by a female composer in each of its feminist-minded concerts.
Women’s power: Conductor Lin Liao at the Ultrasound Festival – Culture
