Post by erik on Jun 25, 2006 18:31:55 GMT -5
Not to ignore some of our great female classical artists in the instrumental field (e.g. Martha Argerich), but I would also like to focus on the idea of women who have held or are currently holding positions as conductors of orchestras. Two of them I'd like to draw attention to in this post:
JoAnn Falletta: Between 1984 and 2001, Ms. Falletta was the music director of the Long Beach (California) Symphony Orchestra; and during those seventeen years, she made the LBSO into a top-notch regional orchestra, capable of introducing new music, as well as all the great music from Haydn and Beethoven through Mahler and Copland. For examples of what she has done in Long Beach, there are two recordings she made with the orchestra: a collection entitled Impressions Of The Sea, featuring such nautical classics as Debussy's "La Mer" and Mendelssohn's "Hebrides Overture" (in honor of the 1998 opening of the Aquarium Of The Pacific in Long Beach); and a second collection, Pictures, with works by Respighi ("Botticelli Triptych"), Bohuslav Martinu ("Frescoes Of Piero Della Francesca"), and Mussorgsky ("Pictures At An Exhibition" [Ravel orchestration). Both are available from Amazon on the independent Albany label.
Marin Alsop: The longtime conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in Denver, Ms. Alsop has become known both here in the U.S. and the rest of the world for, among other things, an impressive Brahms symphonic cycle done for Naxos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As with Ms. Falletta in Long Beach, Ms. Alsop helped to make the Colorado Symphony into a fine regional orchestra that specializes particularly well in making modern music accessible (e.g, the music of Michael Daugherty ["Philadelphia Stories"; "UFO"] on Naxos). Ms. Alsop has recently been appointed (if not without some controversy) to a major conducting post, namely that of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and is a prominent guest conductor in St. Louis.
Here's hoping that we will see more fine women get into the conducting field in the years to come.
JoAnn Falletta: Between 1984 and 2001, Ms. Falletta was the music director of the Long Beach (California) Symphony Orchestra; and during those seventeen years, she made the LBSO into a top-notch regional orchestra, capable of introducing new music, as well as all the great music from Haydn and Beethoven through Mahler and Copland. For examples of what she has done in Long Beach, there are two recordings she made with the orchestra: a collection entitled Impressions Of The Sea, featuring such nautical classics as Debussy's "La Mer" and Mendelssohn's "Hebrides Overture" (in honor of the 1998 opening of the Aquarium Of The Pacific in Long Beach); and a second collection, Pictures, with works by Respighi ("Botticelli Triptych"), Bohuslav Martinu ("Frescoes Of Piero Della Francesca"), and Mussorgsky ("Pictures At An Exhibition" [Ravel orchestration). Both are available from Amazon on the independent Albany label.
Marin Alsop: The longtime conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in Denver, Ms. Alsop has become known both here in the U.S. and the rest of the world for, among other things, an impressive Brahms symphonic cycle done for Naxos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As with Ms. Falletta in Long Beach, Ms. Alsop helped to make the Colorado Symphony into a fine regional orchestra that specializes particularly well in making modern music accessible (e.g, the music of Michael Daugherty ["Philadelphia Stories"; "UFO"] on Naxos). Ms. Alsop has recently been appointed (if not without some controversy) to a major conducting post, namely that of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and is a prominent guest conductor in St. Louis.
Here's hoping that we will see more fine women get into the conducting field in the years to come.
