Alice Farnham, conductor
News to start your week!
The Women Conductors Program (UK) has announced that their program is taking a new step in their efforts to address gender imbalance in conducting. They have recently changed their name to Royal Philharmonic Society Conductors (RPS Conductors), and are accepting applications from “any conductors at a sufficiently high level who can articulate how – through their lived experience, background or personal characteristics – they have encountered barriers to progress or limited access to an experience like [RPS Composers], and why it would therefore be transformative to their prospects.” The program was founded in 2014 by Alice Farnham as the Women Conductors Program, and was affiliated with Morley College, London. One of Farnham’s many inspirations was Marin Alsop’s 2013 conducting of the Last Night of the Proms—an important “first” moment in the 21st century that sparked many conversations about women’s representation on the podium in classical music. The program was an immediate splash, and has cultivated partnerships with the Royal Philharmonic, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and the Glasshouse International Center for Music. The Royal Northern partnership in particular helped to begin a mid-training course for women conductors, notable as many programs are focused on young conductors. While young conductors can participate, the program is also open to older participants who might be considering conducting for the first time, have not had opportunities to field-test it, or who have been discouraged from pursuing conducting in the past. The program has 500 graduates (and counting) from all walks of musical life.
The Donne Foundation in partnership with the Independent Society of Musicians have released a new report on the BBC Proms 2024 Program (last year’s programming). Their analysis examines the programmed music of the festival, with consideration of the composers represented, for the representation of gender equity. In sum, the report congratulated the BBC Proms for exceeding its 2022 goal to commission half of all its new works from composers. In addition to commissions, the Proms continues to promote diversity and inclusivity (broadly defined) in classical music. The report also found that the overwhelming majority (almost 90%) of music performed at the Proms is by male composers, and 77.6% of all programmed music is by historical (i.e., dead) composers. 8.6% of the composers programmed were women, and 1.5% were gender-unspecified. The measurements were done in minutes instead of number of pieces, which also sheds some light on what kinds of pieces are being included. Programmed pieces by women tend to be fewer, smaller, and farther between. Progress is being made, but it’s definitely not going to be done by Tuesday (or anytime soon)
Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy has analysis of this year’s programming (2025!) here!
On Sunday July 13, composer Grace Ann Lee‘s Cello Concerto will premiere at 10 am EST at the Tanglewood Music Center as part of the 2025 Summer Festival. The performance will feature the sinfonietta arrangement of the concerto, which is a world premiere commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center. Lee’s work has also been supported by the Merwin Geffen, M.D. and Norman Solomon, M.D. New Commissions Fund. Lee is a 2024 Tanglewood Music Center Fellow.
Below is a performance of Lee’s Emerald Night Sky (2022) for orchestra, to offer a sample of her orchestral writing. This performance is by the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, Rice University, conducted by Jerry Hou.
On Thursday July 17th, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch‘s 100th birthday concert will be given at Wigmore Hall, London. Lasker-Wallfisch survived Nazi concentration camps as a cellist and played in the camp’s Women’s Orchestra, and later had a career as a professional cellist in London.
Composer Gabriela Ortiz will be the curator of Tanglewood’s 2025 Festival of Contemporary Music, July 24–28. The composer will curate and present six concerts of chamber and orchestral music, exploring some perennial themes of migration, identity, tradition, and ritual. She will also participate in the weekly Tanglewood Talks & Walks series with Anthony Fogg, the BSO’s Vice President of Artistic Planning, to offer listeners some insight into her thinking and artistic process. All programs for the festival can be viewed here, and the lineup will feature many of Ortiz’s own pieces, a traditional part of curating the festival. For those who do not already know Ortiz’s work, the Festival will be a fantastic opportunity to get acquainted with her style for ensembles both large and small as well as with complementary pieces by other composers. One of those additional composers is a WPA favorite: Ellen Reid. Her West Coast Sky Forever will appear on the July 27th 10am program “The Natural World” and her When the World as You’ve Known It Doesn’t Exist will appear on the July 28th 8 pm program “TMC Orchestra Perform Ortiz, Reid, and Smith.”
Finally, as WPA reported on June 23rd, Marin Alsop was named the recipient of the Gold Baton Award—the highest distinction that the League of American Orchestras offers. Her remarks and acceptance of the award are included below.
Let us know what you’re listening to! Email us at info@wophil.org