Reflections on the Bieito 'Fidelio'

A fascinating business, this: coming back from that very Beethoveny trip to Bonn and landing bang in the middle of Calixto Bieito's production of Fidelio at ENO.

This staging seems to have left audiences not so much divided as ranged round a spectrum of 360-odd viewpoints. Predictably, many hated it - and yes, there was some booing of the production team on opening night, though it was counterbalanced by cheering elsewhere in the house. Here are two contrasting reviews to demonstrate that range: Andrew Clements in The Guardian and Tully Potter in the Mail. (Production pics by Tristram Kenton.)

Bieito's concept, you'll have gathered, is that the prison is our mind, and each character, with the possible exception of Leonore, is trapped within a type of living rabbit-hutch of his/her own making. It is art that sets us free, not least because temporal authority - Don Fernando, whose shock appearance at the end said much about our lack of trust in leaders today - can't be relied on. Don Fernando in the original Munich version of this production resembled not the 18th-century fop who graces the ENO stage, but the Joker from Batman. He is more than an unreliable leader: he is the cruelty, capriciousness and vile irony of fate itself (at least, if you share Bieito's dark view of life).

The other day I stood in front of Beethoven's Heiligenstadt Testament: the document in which he wrote to his brothers of the agonising recognition that he, a musician, was losing his hearing; and declares that he had come close to suicide, but did not want to leave the world before he had accomplished all he felt he had come here to do. (Full text here.) That prison was not of Beethoven's own making, but remained an anguish-inducing fetter nonetheless; yet without that, would he have composed the same music that has reached us today, in the form of the greatest of his symphonies, the late quartets, the Diabelli Variations, and this opera too? Art may not have set him free from that ailment, but his music has lived on to prove what glories a human being can create, given the necessary courage and strength, and that there is beauty and truth in art even when we can find little of it anywhere else. He brings us (as Andras said the other day) courage. That's a liberation in itself.

As Bieto floats the brave Heath Quartet above the reunited Florestan and Leonore, the first violin and cello each in an individual cage, the second violin and viola together in a third, drifting overhead but somehow able to play the (truncated) Heilige Dankgesang of Beethoven's Op.132 quartet despite their boxes wandering in draughts from side to side, the point is proven. (More here...)

This is not in the original Fidelio. But it works. Bieito may not be bringing us a Fidelio that we recognise, or a literal one that could have been seen in the 1950s, but instead a personal vision of the work that speaks volumes about our world today and the enduring power of Beethoven within it.

The musical performance, by the way, was red-hot under Ed Gardner's direction, with the glory that is Stuart Skelton as Florestan and the central force of Emma Bell's idealistic and beautifully sung Leonore. And the chorus was magnificent.

So why the vitriol? A case of chacun a son gout, of course. But my own little problem with all of this is not about Bieito's concept. It's about the language. I have no objection to Bieito's choice of using quotes from Jose Luis Borges, the Argentinian-born magical realist (pictured below), whose image of the labyrinth seems to underpin the elaborate contraption that forms the set, and whose words take the place of the usual dialogue. But is something being lost in translation?

Here are a few Borges poems, translated. And here are some more, in Spanish. Now, my Spanish is, er, a bit rusty. But read them aloud, to the best of one's limited abilities, and you can still feel the music in the syllables.

A translation can bring us the literal message; but without the music inherent in the words the poet created, half the real meaning may be gone. I remember, many years ago, my Russian then-boyfriend discovered that I wasn't familiar with the poetry of Osip Mandelstam and disapproved of this major gap in my cultural education. I bought a volume in translation - only to suffer bitter disappointment at the pedestrian nature of what I was reading. My friend took one look, chucked the book over a shoulder, and recited one of the poems by heart, in the original. I understood not one literal word - yet it remained one of the most beautiful things I had ever heard.

Translating is difficult enough. Translating well is harder still. And translating singably is an art all its own. I've had a shot at it myself recently: earlier this year I prepared an English version of Roxanna Panufnik's Tallinn Mass: Dance of Life for a recording that has just been made. Faced with literal translations of 19 poems by two of Estonia's leading poets, and Rox's painstaking and extraordinarily beautiful settings of the original Estonian, I had to make the new English words fit her existing music: you need open syllables on the longer, higher notes, you need the right emotional inflection on the appropriate harmony, and so forth. Some of them had to rhyme; all of them had to make rhythmic sense. And in literal translation, the poems might well have lost the essence of their poetry; a few liberties had to be taken, paradoxically, in order to restore some of that to the concepts. The poets, fortunately, are alive and kicking and able to approve the texts, which they have done. But talk about a learning curve...

Many people in the regular ENO audience love opera in English. That is the company's raison d'etre and normally, these days, it goes unquestioned. Opera-goers frequently troop into the Coli only too pleased to hear a performance in our own language, while despairing over the avant-garde concepts and experimental outlooks that are being fostered there. I realise now that I do the opposite. I am happy that in ENO today we have a thoroughly modern European opera house that's engaging directors to preside over a great deal more than crowd-control and park-and-bark productions and that enters partnerships with houses like Munich and the Met to make greater ambitions reality. But I'm trying to remember the last time I rejoiced in principle at hearing an opera in English that is not originally in English and I can't think of one single occasion. I have enjoyed individual translations at ENO by Jeremy Sams, whose sparkling versions of La Boheme and The Magic Flute, for example, do work wonders. He, though, seems to be the exception.

We don't have that issue with Peter Grimes (come and hear it tonight at the RFH, incidentally). It's not about the language itself; English is perfectly singable - Britten, Delius, Tippett, Vaughan Williams, Thomas Ades, George Benjamin and many others prove it every day. But composers set words according not only to their meaning, but according to the music they feel inside the language the poet has used.

A translation is, essentially, bound to be a compromise. Some succeed better than others, but I'm unconvinced that opera in translation can ever be entirely successful. I'd love to try doing one myself, of course, even if I know the cause may ultimately be lost. But for me that was the single biggest problem with the Bieito Fidelio: the translation, whether of the libretto or the Borges poems. Now that there are surtitles at ENO, is it not time to reopen the whole debate?

It remains only to wonder how on earth Stuart Skelton is managing, this week, to alternate Florestan and Grimes, often on consecutive evenings, and also preside over a charity gala. Perhaps that's what Heldentenors are truly about: heroism.

Beethovenfest Bonn 2: Ludwig Lives!

 

Bonn is roughly the size of Cardiff in terms of population (about 350,000). Yet the musical riches within this pleasant and manageable Rhineland city have to be seen to be believed. 

The day before my pilgrimage to the house where Schumann died, I visited the one where Beethoven was born, only a short pootle away in the town centre. Here you can see two of Beethoven's pianos, his viola (yes, Beethoven was a viola player - get used to it...), his ear trumpets, his conversation books, his spectacles, his magnificent walnut-veneered writing desk - which Stefan Zweig later owned for a while - and the Heiligenstadt Testament, among many other exhibits; and I can thoroughly recommend the detailed audioguide. 

But the Bonn Beethovenhaus is much more than a shrine to the great Ludwig. It's a vital centre for musicological research, on the one hand, and a fine location for concerts, on the other; and it owns a raft of terrifically important manuscripts, notably that of the Diabelli Variations, acquired from a private collection after numerous fundraising concerts by the likes of Andras Schiff and others; there's a magnificent digital archive of huge value to scholars, yet also online resources to help introduce children to Ludwig's world. Do go onto the site and have a good old explore.

All of this was possible because I had to go and interview Andras, who has a big birthday coming up and needs writing about, but isn't in London again until well after my deadlines have passed. He is currently in the middle of a series of Beethoven sonata recitals in the Bonn Beethovenfest; I was fortunate enough to arrive in time for the programme that involves the Op.31s and the 'Waldstein'.

Listening to Andras play Bach or Schubert has often seemed the aural equivalent of swimming in Walchensee: you're immersed in cool, soothing, pure waters that run very deep indeed. Yet over the past decade his Beethoven journey has opened up new pianistic vistas: a different variety of deep heat, if you like, with a phosphorescent edge that makes the soundworlds of Op.31 No.2 in D minor or the mighty 'Waldstein' shimmer in a visionary way, while Op.31 Nos 1 and 3 bounced and swung with humour and clarity. Bonn's Beethovenhalle - a sizeable Rhineside creation from the 1950s - was packed to the nines and provided a standing ovation. The next morning we talked for two hours (pic above) about matters musical, technical and Beethovenian. Beethoven, Andras says, has given him new courage. More of this in the official outlets in the months ahead.

Huge thanks to the Beethovenfest for making this remarkable 36-hour trip possible. Really have bought the t-shirt - a purple one with a Beethoven portrait and the words LUDWIG LIVES, in which you might someday spot me jogging around Richmond Park. Prost!

TOMORROW: 'Hungarian Dances' goes to Bournemouth

Our very old friend Jack Maguire was for many years co-leader of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, is now musician-in-residence for the Bournemouth Arts Festival and has a passion for Gypsy music and the folksongs of eastern Europe. He's had some training in the style from the Hungarian Gypsy violinist Josef Szegely. And he took a liking to the idea of doing a Hungarian Dances concert-of-the-novel with me. I'm heading south west tomorrow to meet him and pianist Barbara Henvest for a special performance in the Mary Shelley Theatre, Boscombe Manor. Full details and booking here.

We are adapting the programme in several ways: Kodaly and Faure both put in an appearance, there's to be some bonus Brahms at the beginning, and we are promised a certain authenticity of approach in Monti's Csardas.... There's also a special appearance in the interval by the Hungarian cellist Josef Koos, also ex-BSO, whom I will interview about his experiences escaping Hungary during the revolution in 1956. While I was researching the novel I spent a very happy day visiting Jo for a lengthy discussion. Anyone who has read the book will find certain aspects of him ever so slightly familiar.

This theatre was built for Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein and wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, in the 1840s. It fell into semi-dereliction (as pictured), but a community project began work on a loving restoration earlier this year, which has included the arrival of 220 seats from the demolished Bournemouth IMAX. Developers have now bought it. A news story from the BBC here.

Best of all: the weather forecast for tomorrow is really not bad, and apparently this place is 200m from the beach.

Do come along if you're in the area!

Beethovenfest Bonn 1: The Death of Schumann

Yesterday I stood in the room where Schumann died. 

It's a little room on the top floor, at the end of a long, old building in Endenich - a rather out-of-the-way and very leafy suburb of Bonn. This house was, in its time, a mental hospital; here Schumann spent the last two-and-a-half years of his life. He had one of the better chambers, with windows on two sides. Today only two rooms of the building form the Schumannhaus museum; downstairs is home to the town's music library and much of the upper floor, before you reach the Schumann space, is taken up by a largish area, bookshelf-lined, that hosts concerts.

In Schumann's room now stands a small piano that was once played by Liszt. Schumann was not allowed a piano there; one feels this instrument's presence is perhaps a rectification of rather an injustice. Atop it is a coverlet that belonged to Schumann's friend Joseph Joachim, the great violinist, embroidered by a number of Berlin ladies with his initials JJ and some musical motifs from his compositions. Photos of Schumann, Clara, Joachim and Brahms adorn the walls, while some of their letters and a copy of the manuscript of the Geistervariationen are on display in glass cases. Among them is Schumann's last (?) letter to Clara, dated about a year before he died. He saw Clara again - and for the last time - only when he was on his deathbed.

Schumann's last illness was pneumonia, brought on by starvation. The info in the museum says that he refused to eat, believing that (as a number of inmates apparently thought) the food was poisoned. I have read opinions elsewhere that suggested he may have been deliberately starving himself - a slow suicide over the fact that there was no way out. The writer Bettina von Arnim, who visited him earlier, had apparently found him in good health and longing to go home. Mental illness at that time was a terrible stigma. Perhaps, effectively, he was being "buried alive".

Here is an extract from the museum's information sheet:
Q: What type of therapy was administered at that time?
A: In those days, medications such as mood brighteners or drugs able to alter or enhance one's mental state did not exist. Dr Richarz advocated a treatment of non-restraint in opposition to coercive torture-like methods practiced in the public "crazy houses" of that time. Some of the therapies which patients were subjected to in good fait, and today seem nonsensical, were the dousing of patients with cold water and the boring of holes in the skull to allow the escape of "bad fluids" - similar to blood-letting. Richarz could not completely do without some of the extreme methods when dealing with severely ill patients (eg strapping patients to their beds). Alcohol was administered as a medication.

Brahms, with Clara and Joachim, hurried to Schumann's bedside when news came to Düsseldorf from the doctors that they must hurry if they wished to see him again. He wrote:

"At first he lay for a long time with eyes closed, and she knelt before him, more calmly than one would believe possible. But after a while he recognised her. Once he plainly desired to embrace her, flung one arm wide around her. Of course he had been unable to speak for some time already. One could understand (or perhaps imagine one did) only some disconnected words. Even that must have made her happy. He often refused the wine that was offered him, but from her finger he sometimes sucked it up eagerly, at such length and so passionately that one knew with certainty that he recognised the finger...

Tuesday noon, we came half an hour after his passing. He had passed away very gently, so that it was scarcely noticed. His body looked peaceful then; how comforting it all was. A wife could not have stood it any longer..."

The room is light and peaceful; the chestnut tree beyond the window may or may not have been there then. The scene is almost unimaginable, but we imagine it anyway, as best we can.

I've just been to Bonn for the Beethovenfest. Packed an extraordinary number of amazing experiences into barely two days. Stand by for Beethovenfest post 2 - which might even be about Beethoven...

JD meets... CALIXTO BIEITO

In which the Bad Boy of Opera turns out to be a pussycat. I went to see him to preview his Fidelio, which opens at ENO this week. Some of the interview is in today's Independent, here, but I am putting the director's cut (ie, long version) below. First, the beginning of his Don Giovanni...

You might expect Calixto Bieito to resemble a cross between Count Dracula and Quentin Tarantino. The Spanish director, often called “the bad boy of opera”, has become notorious for extreme productions that often feature explicit sex and violence, their concepts including a cannibalistic post-nuclear Parsifal and a present-day Don Giovanni that involved vicious scenes of rape, drug overdose and murder. Audiences at his shows are no strangers to sights that have variously included toilet activities, nudity and a great deal of blood. Now, in a co-production with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Bieito is bringing his staging of Beethoven’s Fidelio to ENO and traditionalists are quaking in their boots.

Yet when he emerges from rehearsals in east London, clad in his trademark black, it turns out that Bieito is a pussycat. He’s a soft-spoken family man with a social conscience and anxieties about threats to democracy and free speech; and he acknowledges that he often takes a bleak view of life. “I have to be careful,” he says, “because I sometimes suffer from melancholia, and this is why my work can become quite dark.”

Nevertheless, he seems mystified by the degree of hostility that’s been expressed against his work. One critic referred to his Don Giovanni as “the most reviled opera production in the recent history of British theatre”; others believe he is out to shock. He insists not. “I promise I have never tried to shock people in that way,” he protests quietly. “I don’t think that doing a show to shock people is the right way to approach it. The direction must come naturally from inside you. It’s as if you find the hidden meaning of dreams emerging.”

Such dreams can be fairly horrifying. That Don Giovanni, he says, illustrated “what happens every Friday night” among young people across Europe, “though with a very sad ending”. The arrival of the Commendatore to threaten the Don with hell became a drug-induced hallucination, reducing Giovanni to a helpless wreck; the other characters then murder him. “I have strong emotional responses, and for me this Don Giovanni was sad because there was a sense of no hope,” Bieito comments. “There is no hope in young people killing another young man – and it was based on a real incident. I was completely surprised at the reaction.” But it’s worth remembering that other critics responded to the production with words like “stunned admiration”, and I, for one, found its raw and desperate humanity extraordinarily powerful.

British reactions to Bieito have generally been more prurient than those in Germany, where modern, provocative productions are de rigeur. But if Britain’s tastes are conservative, those of the US are even more so. Bieito is soon to work with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, in another co-production with ENO, but the details of what, when and how are closely guarded – possibly due to the likely degree of resulting fuss.

Bieito was first drawn towards directing while a pupil in a Jesuit school, where he says music and theatre were crucial parts of education. He left drama college after one year, “because it was too posh for me”. Music has been central to his life since childhood; his mother insisted on piano practice, his father had a passion for Italian opera and his brother became a professional musician. Despite his father’s influence, Italian bel canto is apparently Bieito’s blind spot: “I enjoy watching it, but here I feel I have nothing to say. I can’t direct an opera if I don’t love the music.”

Despite managerial belt-tightening in opera houses around the world, Bieito is essentially optimistic about the future of the artform. “Opera is an art of the future – it brings together so many elements – and I hope that we will survive together, with some brave intendants,” he says. He recognises that in difficult financial times decision-makers might become risk averse, but feels this is not necessarily a sensible path: “I did my Carmen 13 years ago and now it is being taken up everywhere,” he points out. “That means something is changing. Even if the intendants start to be more conservative, it’s not possible to stop the new feelings of the people.

“It’s a completely wrong thing when people say ‘this opera has to be done like this’ – usually it only means that the costumes look a little bit old,” he adds. “You cannot reproduce the atmosphere of the first opening of a Mozart or Verdi opera. They were very modern in their time, very involved with people. Verdi was known in all of society.” That is the kind of immediacy he is after.

His Fidelio could prove chewy. In Beethoven’s opera, the heroine Leonora’s husband, Florestan, is a political prisoner; she disguises herself as a man named Fidelio to infiltrate the prison and rescue him. Bieito’s staging, unlike his hyper-realistic Carmen and Don Giovanni, is complex and symbolic, set in a labyrinth that some reviewers of its Munich performances compared to The Matrix. “All the characters are lost in the labyrinth, imprisoned,” he says. “Sometimes our minds are our prison. I find Fidelio’s story quite weak if it is approached realistically, but if you take the philosophical side more seriously, then you can say much more about human beings today: what freedom means for us, or love, or loyalty, or justice. That is very important to our democracy.”

Above all, Beethoven’s idealistic humanism in Fidelio strikes a special chord with him. “I think we need a new humanism in Europe in the very open, cultural sense, and Fidelio gives me the opportunity to talk about this,” he says. But his characters do not live happily ever after: “It is very hard to believe in the possibility of justice,” he says – melancholic again, thanks to his cynical view of politics in Spain.

 “There are people who’ll say ‘I don’t like Calixto Bieito, I don’t like anything he does’,” he comments. “I don’t know how to convince them. You cannot go to an exhibition thinking it’s going to be crap and you can’t go into a restaurant thinking ‘Oh, the food will be terrible’. This I cannot change. But I’m talking about these topics: justice, love, liberty, loyalty, freedom. We have to value these issues and we have to protect our democracies very strongly from corruption. I think, when it’s not just commercial, art is a way to freedom.”

Fidelio, English National Opera, from 25 September. Box office: 020 7845 9300

Look who I'm off to see tomorrow

OK, it's not much to do with Schubert, the trip tomorrow. It's the Beethovenfest in Bonn and Andras will be playing a programme of sonatas including the D minor Op.31 No.2 and the 'Waldstein'. I haven't been to Bonn before and am a little excited at the prospect of seeing Beethoven's birthplace and also - unexpectedly, as I didn't know until yesterday that it existed - a Schumannhaus museum at the former asylum in Endenich (a suburb of Bonn), which is where our unlucky and much-loved Robert died in 1856. With Andras I'll be talking Beethoven, Bach, Bartok and big birthdays.

Meanwhile, enjoy his beautiful film about Schubert.

A quick explanation of the Flattr button

You'll have noticed a new little green button at the top of the sidebar and beneath each JDCMB post. Flattr is a nice invention for us "content creators": it facilitates "microdonations", by which you can give a few cents or whatever as a sign of your appreciation of something you have read online. You set up an account, send it a small budget of your choice, and when you see something that seems to merit a few pennies, you can click on its Flattr button to donate some. Proceeds from Flattr on JDCMB all go towards JD's blogging expenses, including train tickets, gluten-free porridge and, of course, Solti's cat food. More about Flattr from its site here. And also more about how it works, here.

A good night at the Gramophones...

A wee bit disorientating to find the Gramophone Awards shifted a) to mid September, b) to LSO St Luke's. But a fine venue it proved, hipper and airier than the good old Dorchester, snazzy in the pink spotlights which illuminated the heat-haze of some 115 candles.

Gone were the sexist comments of yesteryear, ditched in favour of fine words about the power of music to enhance lives and bring people together, and dedications of awards to a variety of parents, teachers and young music-lovers around the world. Gone, too, the all-male line-up of last time: Artist of the Year went to Alison Balsom, Record of the Year to Patricia Kopatchinskaja's disc of Hungarian violin concertos. Guitarist Xuefei Yang was there to perform some Britten songs with Ian Bostridge and Hungarian violinist Katalin Kokas played Bartok duos with her husband, Barnabas Kelemen. Not all good on the sexism front, though, as Decca's little film (they were record of the year) had to be started off by a simpering dollybird of a soprano who is perfectly good, but. No sign of Kaufmann or Calleja having to be anything but their good selves in the later images.

Many much-loved figures among the great and good were present, notably Julian Bream who received the Lifetime Achievement Award and thanked the industry, with sparkles intact, for recognising that he was not a bad guitarist.

It was a particular good night for Bartok, whose Violin Concerto No.2 played by Patricia K was Record of the Year and whose music for violin and piano played by Barnabas Kelemen and Zoltan Kocsis won the Chamber award. Wonderful to see Barnabas pulling in at the top - regular JDCMB readers will know that I've been shouting out about him for quite a while. He is not only a magnificent player technically, but the most thorough and exacting of all-round musicians in that fabulous tradition that Hungary's Franz Liszt Academy has long championed: pure, penetrating, powerful. The Gramophone Awards are a fine way indeed to be put firmly on the map, and with luck megastardom should await. Hear Barnabas, Katalin and their string quartet at the Wigmore on Sunday morning and get his recording here. I am hoping to go and see them in Budapest later in the year.

A fine night, too, for pianists. We had a performance from Benjamin Grosvenor, whose next album is due out in February - exact content still under wraps, but to judge from his glinting, whimsical Albeniz and Shostakovich transcriptions, there'll be some intriguing Golden-Age-style stuff on it. He handed over the Young Artist of the Year title to 18-year-old Jan Lisiecki, who played Bach's Partita No.1 exquisitely. Steven Osborne was Instrumentalist of the Year and treated us to a short extract from his winning disc, Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

No pics by me this time because my phone was out of juice (as was I) after a lengthy day going to Bristol and back for, er, the BBC Music Magazine Awards jury panel meeting. I've been ploughing through a very, very, very large pile of discs for that. A topic for another time.

UPDATE, 4.15pm: One spotted James Rhodes leaving early. Perhaps this was why: http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/sep/18/james-rhodes-classical-music-needs-an-enema-not-awards?CMP=twt_gu
It didn't help, I might add, that they took 2 hrs to present 6 awards, and no food materialised til 10pm.

Guest post: Frances Wilson introduces the South London Concert Series

A little way round the South Circular from my neck of the woods, pianist, teacher and blogger Frances Wilson - whose blog The Cross-Eyed Pianist has become a must-read for the keyboard-inclined - has been busy organising a brand-new series of very social concerts involving both professional and amateur pianists. Here she is to introduce it. JD

Music for Friends: the South London Concert Series

By Frances Wilson

The South London Concert Series is a unique new concert concept, created and curated by myself and fellow pianist, harpsichordist and piano teacher Lorraine Liyanage, in which we offer professional and amateur pianists the opportunity to perform in the same formal concert setting.

The series developed out of the London Piano Meetup Group, which we took over hosting in May 2013. The group, run via Meetup, a social networking platform which allows people with shared interests to plan events and get together, had been rather dormant up to this point, but it has now been transformed into a lively and friendly “club” for amateur pianists, with monthly performance platforms, masterclasses and workshops with visiting teachers and professional pianists, concerts and courses, and social events in and around London.

Lorraine and I met in September 2011 on a weekend course hosted by my teacher, Penelope Roskell. We hit it off almost immediately, not least because we were both working for diplomas and had the same two pieces by Liszt and Messiaen in our programmes. Talking during the coffee and lunch breaks on the course, we discovered a mutual love of all things piano, in particular a desire to support and inspire amateur pianists to perform, share repertoire and meet other like-minded people.

‘We both enjoy performing and we love meeting other pianists!’ says Lorraine, who is very active in her local community in south-east London, running the busy and successful SE22 Piano School and Dulwich Music Festival (now entering its third year). ‘We set up the London Piano Meetup Group because we felt amateur pianists lack opportunities to perform, particularly on a really fine piano and before an audience.’

In many ways, I have Lorraine to thank for encouraging me to start performing regularly again (something I had not done since school in the 1980s), and the opportunities she gave me – at her student concerts, and via the London Piano Salon (the precursor to the London Piano Meetup Group) – undoubtedly helped me gain confidence and an ability to communicate with an audience which led to success in both of my performance Diplomas. I understand the value of being able to put repertoire before a non-critical audience, whether in advance of an exam, festival or concert, or simply to share music.

I come across many amateur pianists who are extremely talented, who play at what can be considered a “professional” standard in terms of repertoire, technique and artistic flare, but who have chosen a career path other than music. Many of these pianists lack performance opportunities: our Meetup group provides regular performance experience in a central London location, enabling pianists of all levels to put repertoire before an informal and friendly audience in a supportive and encouraging environment (most events are held at Peregrine’s Pianos). Our events are nearly always sold out almost as soon as they are advertised, and the feedback afterwards is incredibly positive. We enjoy a varied range of repertoire, from Baroque to contemporary classical and jazz, and we often extend the meeting into the pub afterwards, where the “piano chat” can continue over a glass or two of wine.

The South London Concert Series is our latest initiative. The idea grew out of the London Piano Meetup Group's launch event in May 2013, at which Emmanuel Vass, a prize-winning recent graduate from the Royal Northern College of Music, gave a short recital, including his stunning Lisztian ‘James Bond Concert Étude’ (his own “mash up” of three iconic themes from the James Bond films, complete with sparkling cadenzas and vertiginous virtuoso passages). It was so popular with members, especially the opportunity to meet and talk to Emmanuel afterwards, that we decided to extend the format. 

Keen to support young and emerging musicians, and pianists focusing on lesser-known and rarely-played repertoire, we hope the series will provide a unique way of presenting classical and contemporary music in an intimate venue. My many conversations with professional pianists reveal, by and large, a great willingness to support and inspire amateurs, for we are all quite humble when we sit at the keyboard. Lorraine and I hope that by bringing together professional and amateur pianists in the same concert setting we can provide opportunities for young musicians (students in conservatoire or people who are just embarking on a professional career) while also offering inspiration and encouragement to amateur pianists.

The concert format is quite simple: an hour of music, including a recital by a guest artist of around 30 minutes, followed by socialising and a chance for everyone to meet the performers. The venue, the beautiful 1901 Arts Club near Waterloo Station, is ideal for this: it recreates a nineteenth-century salon in its décor and ambiance, and boasts a fine Steinway C grand piano. We hope the atmosphere will be very much one of “music for friends and amongst friends”.

The South London Concert Series launches on Friday 29^th November 2013 at the 1901 Arts Club with a recital by Helen Burford, featuring works by Satoh, Magi, Butler and Rakowski, and guest performances by Susan Pickerill, Daniel Roberts, Emma Heseltine and Mark Zarb-Adami. Future concerts will include performances by pianists Emmanuel Vass and Angelo Villani.

Tickets cost £15 and are by application only: please contact southlondonconcerts@gmail.com to apply for tickets. The 1901 Arts Club's exclusive bar and lounge will be open for the enjoyment of ticketholders after the concert.

South London Concert Series

http://www.slcs1901.wordpress.com

Twitter: @SLConcerts

London Piano Meetup Group

http://www.meetup.com/LondonPMG/

Twitter: @LonPianoMeetup

Frances Wilson is a pianist, piano teacher, concert reviewer and blogger on music and pianism as The Cross-Eyed Pianist. Twitter @CrossEyedPiano

Memories of Theresienstadt

This is a trailer for a film about Theresienstadt and the musicians who were incarcerated there, including Alice Sommer Herz and Coco Schumann. The associated CD by Daniel Hope, Anne Sofie von Otter and friends was released several years ago, and it is very good to see that they've now turned it into a documentary. DVD due out soon. Please watch and listen.

TOMORROW in Wales!

Going to Pembrokeshire tomorrow for a Hungarian Dances Concert-of-the-Novel at PenFro Book Festival in the gorgeous setting of Rhosygilwen Mansion. David Le Page on violin, Anthony Hewitt on piano, me on words. Full details here. Do join us if you are anywhere nearby!

We are expecting a slightly adventurous journey. Wish us luck.

Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman Conductor - this time in The Independent

Here's my feature for the Indy about what we can learn from the little list here on JDCMB t'other day. Thanks again to all the doughty JDCMB readers and tweeters who contributed to it!
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/its-time-to-pass-the-baton-on-to-our-female-maestros-8807322.html

Lise Lindstrom shines as Turandot

Meet Lise Lindstrom, the American dramatic soprano whose voice lit up that old crowd-pleaser production of a Turandot (directed by Andrei Serban) in her house debut at Covent Garden yesterday. Here's my review for The Independent.

Many plaudits too to Eri Nakamura, the fabulous Liu, and in the pit, Henrik Nanasi from Hungary, who like Lindstrom was making his debut with the Royal Opera.

But I'm dreaming of a really good, up to date, best-of-Regietheater Turandot - one that goes more than costume-deep. Where is Calixto Bieito when you need him? (Actually, we know exactly where he is: down the road at ENO preparing Fidelio...).

We want a bit of psychology here, a bit of believable drama. What drives Calaf to become obsessed with Turandot? How does he really wake her up from ice-maidendom? How is Liu's love divided between Calaf and his father, and what does that say about their relationship? Why is Calaf's name so secret? This is a story about sexual obsession, which isn't pretty, but can be glorious if handled well (in staging terms, that is). And how about this: supposing Liu is actually Calaf's mother? Just think about it.

My first (real) Last Night

I was here the other night... Yep, Last Night of the Proms. Sneaky admission: I've been watching it on TV for decades, thinking about how amazing it must be to experience it. Last time I tried to go it was 2001, two days after 9/11, and the entire jamboree was ditched. This, though, was the real thing.

There's nothing else like it anywhere else, that's for sure. It may be crazy - it is crazy - but still, it felt like a true celebration of everything that we've experienced in that hall in the last two months, and of everything it stands for: great music for all, shared with love, open enthusiasm and absolute dedication.

There couldn't have been finer choices for the soloists. Nigel Kennedy, in case you wondered, is a truly mesmerising violinist. Nigel is Nigel and you take him as you find him: what other musician would trot on for the LNOP in a football shirt and carrying a cup of tea? Yet if his appearance bothers you, that's your problem, not his, because his playing is exquisite. The Lark Ascending was hushed, loving, sensitive, breathtaking. As for the Csardas, those who object to improvisatory interjections might do well to reflect that that is the genuine bit. Vittorio Monti is fake Gypsy music; Nigel improvising is the real thing. Nigel gets away with everything he gets away with - even bursting one of Marin's pink balloons with his bow - because he is a bloody incredible musician. Like it or lump it.

No sartorial questions over the divine Joyce DiDonato, who wore a blood-red Vivienne Westwood gown in the first half, and glittering peach in the second (left: curtain call), and delivered singing of such glory that it was a privilege to hear her, let alone sing along in 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. She dedicated Somewhere Over the Rainbow to the LGBT community "whose voices are being silenced" - handling this by explaining on social media beforehand rather than announcing from the platform, which I suspect will be the way of the future (nuff said...).

The whole evening was in fact a great celebration of inclusivity. Music was included from Handel to Anna Clyne. A woman (indeed, a gay woman) conducted the event for the first time ever, and judged the content of her speech to perfection. Bernstein's  Chichester Psalms are sung in Hebrew - and how beautiful they are, and how marvellous Iestyn Davies was as soloist. Nigel did his Gypsy improvisation alongside rare Brit composers Granville Bantock and George Lloyd (read about the astonishing story of that piece here). (Missed the sea shanties, though.) Verdi was there - the chorus of the Hebrew Slaves; and Wagner too - the overture to Die Meistersinger, the only one of his major operas that doesn't seem to have been bustin' out all over this year; and Britten, in The Building of the House and his arrangement of the national anthem to close.

What, then, of all those patriotic songs? Well, if you try to sing 'Land of Hope and Glory' but, for any reason, even if you are waving a flag (my nice Scottish neighbour, hedging her bets, had brought both, so she lent me the Union Jack), you just can't do the words properly given the reality outside the hall, it won't be noticed amid a crowd of 5000+ if you change them a teeny bit, in good and appropriate spirit, so... All together now:

"I LOVE EDWARD ELGAR,
HE'S THE MAN FOR ME!
HE'S OUR GREATEST COMPOSER
AS TONIGHT WE SEE..."

The important thing, though, is not the words. It's the singing. I believe I have tracked the magic of the Last Night, and it is not what we sing, but the fact that we do sing, and we all sing together, and we are the audience but we are joining in the concert ourselves, with the world's top musicians. And that's the ultimate in sharing music. And that, dear friends, is what the thrill of the Last Night is all about.

Over and out.

Fanfare for the uncommon woman conductor

Following that rather daft public row about Vassily Petrenko's alleged remarks re women conductors, I thought we'd do something constructive. I spent some of yesterday afternoon tweeting the names and websites of as many women conductors as I could think of. You all wrote in with suggestions and we ended up with a very fine list indeed. Special thanks to my doughty colleague Toby Deller, who also had the good sense to introduce a hashtag. [NB I am still updating the list below - plenty more of them! So please keep tweeting the missing links and keep checking back for our additions...]

A few of the conclusions to draw here are as follows.

1. There are more women conductors than you think. People believe our dear Marin Alsop is the only one. She ain't.

2. They don't often get the important dates that will be reviewed. Some people want to blame us journalists for their lack of recognition, but with concert review space tighter than it has ever been in history, it is usually the "big gigs" that get the attention, and the women conductors - with the exception of Marin and the Last Night of the Proms - are not being given the big gigs.

3. The women conductors I know are heartily sick of being asked why there aren't more women conductors - mostly because there are.They would like, please, recognition first and foremost and, ideally, only for their work as musicians, regardless of gender...

4. [Update, 5 Sept, 13:49] I think that's what's emerging here, as the list steams on with well over 50 names and rising, is that there are plenty of women who are conductors, but one heck of a glass ceiling regarding where they work. [Update, 7 October, 18:49 - the list is now NEARLY 100 strong! Thank you to everybody who has written in to contribute!]

In no particular order, here's the march of the women.

Zoi Tsokanou. http://www.zoitsokanou.com
Was in Gustav Mahler Bamberg competition this year & Haitink masterclasses in Lucerne.

Monica Buckland Hofstetter http://www.buckland.ch/english/news.htm …
British-Swiss, formerly in charge of conducting chorus & orchestra at the University of Dresden, now based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Jessica Cottis http://jessicacottis.com
Young Australian-British conductor whose name came up more often in suggestions on Twitter yesterday than anyone else's.

Anu Tali http://www.harrisonparrott.com/artist/profile/anu-tali …
Estonian suprema, music director of Sarasota Orchestra & Nordic Symphony Orchestra.

Julia Jones: http://www.rayfieldallied.com/artists/julia-jones/
Admired Brit, extremely well recognised in Germany, did Cosi at Covent Garden not so long ago.

Xian Zhang. http://www.harrisonparrott.com/artist/profile/xian-zhang …
I have loved the performances of hers that I've heard at ENO.

Simone Young http://www.simoneyoung.com/titel/
Extremely well-established, has been chief conductor at the Hamburg Opera (just leaving now).

Eve Queler http://www.evequeler.com
New York-based operatic expert.

JoAnn Falletta http://www.joannfalletta.com
Music director of the Ulster Orchestra.

Suzi Digby http://www.suzidigby.com/
That ultimate mover and shaker of choirs and galvaniser of community and youth music.

Nia Llewellyn Jones @niallewellynj
Young conductor fresh out of Cambridge, being nurtured by CBSO.

Jane Glover: http://www.janeglover.co.uk
Arch-Mozartian and author.

Sian Edwards http://www.ingpen.co.uk/artist/sian-edwards/ …
She is head of conducting at the Royal Academy of Music.

Susanna Mälkki http://www.harrisonparrott.com/artist/profile/susanna-malkki …  
Much-admired principal conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of Los Angeles Philharmonic. 

Alondra de la Parra http://alondradelaparra.com/  
Among much else, an official cultural ambassador for Mexican tourism.

Emmanuelle Haim http://www.leconcertdastree.fr/  
Extraordinary Baroque specialist from France.

Kelly Lovelady http://kellylovelady.com
From Australia, with an unforgettable name.

Odaline de la Martinez http://www.lorelt.co.uk/lontano/odaline.htm …
Founder of Lontano.

Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla http://www.cami.com/?webid=2551
Music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Kristiina Poska http://www.rbartists.at/en/dirigenten_dtl.php?id=486&TACookie=rv3a0901nslhali2lc4gai8035 …
Prizewinning Estonian who's been rising fast, not least via the Komische Oper, Berlin

Ewa Strusinska http://www.ewastrusinska.com  
Spent some time with the Halle and now works internationally from Poland 

Jeanne Lamon http://www.tafelmusik.org/about/orchestra/bios/jeanne-lamon … 
Baroque marvel, head of Tafelmusik

Sarah Ioannides http://sarahioannides.net/  
Born in Australia, grew up in the UK, now based in the US.

Tania Miller http://www.hughkaylor.com/Miller-Tania-Bio.html
 Music director of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Canada

Claire Gibault http://clairegibault.fr/  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Gibault …
Both conductor and MEP!

Barbara Hannigan http://www.barbarahannigan.com/
This extraordinary soprano, star of Benjamin's Written on Skin, is also a conductor.

Gemma New http://www.gemmanew.com/
Assistant conductor at New Jersey SO

Rebecca Miller http://www.rebeccamiller.net/
London-based US conductor

Alice Farnham http://www.alicefarnham.com/
Music director of Welsh National Youth Opera for Paul Bunyan this year

Akiko Ohtomo http://hokusaiorchestra.com/test/prof.html
Director of the Hokusai Orchestra (formed in 2010)

Anne Manson http://www.annemanson.com/
Among much else, she was the first woman to conduct at the Salzburg Festival

Yip Wing-Sie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yip_Wing-sie
Music director of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Sybille Werner http://www.ljova.com/sybille.htm
Mahler authority

Alicja Mounk http://www.dirigentinnen.de/1mounk.htm
A long and distinguished career

Holly Mathieson http://www.hollymathieson.com/
Young New Zealander, based in Berlin

Monique Krus http://401nederlandseoperas.nl/en/componisten/208-monique-krues.html
Dutch conductor, composer and soprano (site above doesn't mention the conducting, but she is recommended by a friend who saw her conduct last week)

Laurence Equilbey http://www.laurenceequilbey.com/
Fine French maestra, especially noted for opera. Another one for the appropriate-names department.

Jennifer Condon http://www.owlsnestopera.com.au/?page_id=6
Music director of the wonderfully-titled Owl's Nest Opera in Austalia

Karen Kamensek http://www.lewin-management.com/artists/18_Karen+Kamensek/englishbio
Music director of Staatstheater Hannover

Carolyn Watson http://www.carolyn-watson.com/biog.html
Orchestra director, Interlochen Arts Academy

Han-Na Chang http://www.harrisonparrott.com/artist/profile/han-na-chang
She's the most fabulous cellist and now she's become a conductor!

Mei-Anne Chen http://meiannchen.com/
Music director of Chicago Sinfonietta and Memphis Symphony

Joana Carneiro http://imgartists.com/artist/joana_carneiro
Music director, Berkeley Symphony

Amy Bebbington http://www.amybebbington.co.uk/4.html
Choral specialist

Laura Jackson http://www.laurajackson.net/web/home.aspx
Music director, Reno Philharmonic

Halldis Rønning http://www.harmonien.no/default.aspx?pageId=33
Assistant conductor, Bergen Philharmonic

Carolyn Kuan http://www.hartfordsymphony.org/about/music-director/
Music director, Hartford Symphony

Matilda Hofman http://www.esm.rochester.edu/iml/spotlight/spotlight_may_2008_hoffman.php
Music director, Diablo Symphony, California

Nicolette Fraillon http://www.australianballet.com.au/about_us/artistic_staff/nicolette_fraillon
Music director & chief conductor of Australian Ballet

Sarah Grace Williams http://www.sarahgracewilliams.com/
Chief conductor & artistic director, The Metropolitan Orchestra, Sydney

Speranza Scappucci http://www.icartists.co.uk/artists/speranza-scappucci
Is opening the forthcoming Scottish Opera season with Don Giovanni

Susan Hollingworth http://www.sinenom.com/bio.html
Conductor of Sine Nomine Choir and much more

Sarah Baldock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Baldock
Master of the choristers & organist at Chichester Cathedral. One of the first women ever to be appointed at one.

Katherine Dienes-Williams http://www.katherinedienes.com/KD/Welcome.html
Master of the choristers & organist at Guildford Cathedral (see above)

Sarah Macdonald http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/chapel/People/
Director of Music in Chapel, Selwyn College, Cambridge.

Kim Diehnelt http://www.kimdiehnelt.com/
Music director & chief conductor, Northwest Symphony Orchestra, US

Jeri Lynne Johnson http://www.jerilynnejohnson.com/web/home.aspx
Founder & conductor, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, US

Isabelle Ruf-Weber http://www.dirigentinnen.de/1rufwe.htm
German conductor based in Baden-Wurttemberg

Sinead Hayes http://www.sineadhayes.com/
Young Irish conductor who opened the RTE Concert Orchestra's summer lunchtime concert series.

Roberta Peroni http://www.linkedin.com/pub/roberta-peroni/28/44b/58a 
Conductor & chorus manager in Bari, Italy.

Talia Ilan http://www.taliailan.com/bio.aspx
Music director of the Israel Stage Orchestra & guest conductor with many Israeli orchestras.

Ewa Michnik http://www.opera.wroclaw.pl/1/index.php?lang=_pl&page=4&perf_id=1
Director, Opera Wroclaw, Poland.

Eun Sun Kim http://www.lewin-management.com/artists/19_Eun+Sun+Kim/englishbio
Is conducting Die Fledermaus at ENO this season.

Maja Matelska http://majametelska.com/en/
Polish conductor, has scooped quite a few competition prizes.

Marzena Diakun http://diakun.com/en/biography/
Polish, winner of 2nd prize in last year's Fitelberg Competition, and highly recommended by one of my colleagues who's in the know.

Gisele Ben-Dor http://www.giseleben-dor.com/
Israeli conductor laureate of Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Bond http://victoriabond.com/
American composer and conductor. Her website says she has been staying in the guest flat at Brahms's house near Baden-Baden (this has long been my own aspiration!) and writing an opera about Clara Schumann.

Rei Hotada http://reihotoda.com
Has been assistant conductor at the Dallas Symphony and has been making important debuts around the US & Canada this season.

Sarah Hicks http://sarahhicksconductor.com/web/bio.aspx
Staff conductor at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, among much else.

Anna Skryleva http://www.annaskryleva.com/annaskryleva/Home.html
Russian, has been working in some fine German opera houses including Karlsruhe & Hamburg

Tara Simoncic http://www.greenwichsymphony.org/tara-simoncic-associate-conductor
Young American conductor, has been featured in the Guardian

Amelia LeClair http://www.brandeis.edu/wsrc/scholars/profiles/leclair.html
Scholar and early music choral conductor, based at Brandeis University

Nicole Paiement http://music.ucsc.edu/faculty/nicole-paiement
Director of Ensembles, University of California Santa Cruz.

Rosemary Thomson http://okanagansymphony.com/about/music-director/2997/
Music director, Okanagan Symphony.

Dalia Atlas http://www.dalia-atlas.com/Biography.html
From Haifa. Has recorded a lot of Bloch.

Graziella Contratto http://www.graziellacontratto.com/
Swiss conductor with a fine track record.

Jessica Gethin http://perthsymphony.com/2012/09/20/perth-symphony-orchestra/
Principal conductor of the Perth Symphony Orchestra, Australia

Carolin Nordmeyer http://www.theater-augsburg.de/content.php?backlink=L2NvbnRlbnQucGhwP25hdj0zNCZzdWI9MzYmL011c2lrdGhlYXRlci9FbnNlbWJsZS5odG1s&sel=1&mitID=240
Theater Augsburg, Germany

Alissa Firsova http://alissafirsova.com/
Multi-talented composer, conductor and pianist. Daughter of the composers Dimitri Smirnov and Elena Firsova.

Nathalie Stutzmann http://www.nathaliestutzmann.com/
The noted French mezzo-soprano is conducting as well. 

Andrea Quinn http://www.andreaquinn.com/
British conductor, now based in the US. Was chief conductor at New York City Ballet, then at Norrlands Operan, Sweden.

Anne Marie Granau http://www.linkedin.com/in/annemariegranau
Chorus master at Royal Danish Opera, Copenhagen

Silvia Sanz Torre http://www.silviasanz.com/silviasanz/index.php
Spanish conductor - intrigued to see she has conducted rare Albeniz opera The Magic Opal.

Kate Tamarkin http://www.ktamarkin.com/ktprofile.htm
Music director, Charlottesville and Univesity Symphony Orchestra, Charlottesville, US

Natalia Luis-Bassa http://www.natalialuisbassa.blogspot.co.uk/
Venezuelan conductor in the UK. Hit headlines a few years ago by walking out on the Huddersfield Philharmonic due to interpersonal problems with players being "disrespectful". Was a mentor in BBC's Maestro series. Teaches at RCM.

Sarah Tenant-Flowers http://www.tenantflowers.co.uk/
Choral conductor, UK, teacher, animateur - and also a mentor on Maestro.

Elizabeth Schulze http://www.flagstaffsymphony.org/about_conductor.php
Music director, Flagstaff and Maryland Symphony Orchestras, US

Sandra Horst http://www.music.utoronto.ca/faculty/faculty_members/faculty_a_to_m/Sandra_Horst.htm
Chorus master of Canadian Opera

Grete Pedersen http://solistkoret.no/en/artistic-leader/
Artistic leader, Norwegian Soloists Choir

Mary Chun http://www.earplay.org/index.php/music-makers/mary-chun-conductor-bio/
In demand in contemporary music and opera, US. Premiered Adams's I was looking at the ceiling...

Sara Jobin http://www.hughkaylor.com/jobin-sara-bio.html
Artistic director, Centre for Contemporary Opera, New York.

Renee Baker http://www.chicagomodernorchestraproject.org/artistic-director/
Music director, Chicaco Modern Orchestra Project

Beatrice Jona Affron http://www.paballet.org/pennsylvania-ballet-orchestra
Music director and conductor, Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra

Natalia Salinas http://www.linkedin.com/in/salinasnatalia/en
Conductor based in her native Argentina

Ann Krinitsky http://annkrinitsky.com/Bio.html
Director, Marin Symphony Youth Performance Programmes, etc - based in the Bay Area.

Karina Canellakis http://www.karinacanellakis.com/Site/Karina_Canellakis_conductor_violinist_BIOGRAPHY.html
Winner, 2013 Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship (founded by Marin Alsop)

Sebrina Maria Alfonso http://southfloridasymphony.org/about-the-conductor/
Music director, South Florida Symphony

Diane Wittry http://www.dianewittry.com/index.html
Music director, Allentown Symphony  

Denise Ham http://www.denisehamconducting.com/
Sought-after teacher of conducting in the UK

Sharon Choa http://sharonchoa.co.uk/
Artistic director & principal conductor, Chamber Orchestra Anglia, which she founded in 2001

Rachael Young http://rachaelyoung.eu/
Has been assistant conductor to Paavo Jarvi & Leonid Grin, will Russian Virtuosi of Europe at Cadogan Hall in June 14.


Kayoko Dan http://chattanoogasymphony.org/artists/kayoko-dan/
Music director, Chattanooga Symphony & Opera 

Apo Hsu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apo_Hsu
Assistant conductor of Oregon Symphony under James de Priest

Joana Mallwitz http://www.artistainternational.com/en/conductor/joanamallwitz/index.php
Is conducting Das Rheingold in Macau in October 2013 and has been doing more Wagner in Riga.

Yuri Nitta http://www.yuri-muusikko.com/e-profile.htm
Tokyo-born Nordic music specialist

Keiko Mitsuhashi http://www.concert.co.jp/en/artist/keiko_mitsuhashi/
2nd prize & audience prize in 2010 International Conducting Competition 'Arturo Toscanini'; 1st prize in 2008 Antonio Pedrotti Conducting Competition. 

Kanako Abe http://www.kanakoabe.com/about.html
Born in Osaka, now based in Paris. Co-founder & music director of Ensemble Multilatérale

Yoko Matsuo *Link needed, please send if you have one!*
Pioneer of women conductors in Japan and first woman to win the Besançon competition in 1982. 

Lindsay Ryan http://www.harmonysinfonia.co.uk/conductor.php
London-based conductor, founder in 2009 of Harmony Sinfonia  

Heather MacLaughlin Garbes http://www.heathermaclaughlin.com/
Lives in Seattle, works with Baltic Studies Department/Baltic Choral Library at the University of Washington
 
Zheng Xiaoying http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/conductors/zheng_ziaoying/
Principal conductor of the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra and artistic director of her own Opera Centre.

Shi-Yeon Sung http://shiyeonsung.com/biography/
Winner of 2006 Sir Georg Solti International Conductors Competition.

Keri-Lynn Wilson http://imgartists.com/artist/keri_lynn_wilson
Canadian-born conductor, currently music director of Slovenian Philharmonic. Triumphant London debut at ENO for The Girl of the Golden West.

Susanne Riddell http://www.wessexyo.com/home/cwym-staff
Cellist, teacher and conductor of the Wessex Youth Orchestra, Poole, with further plans in the offing.

Janet Wheeler http://www.janetwheeler.co.uk
Choral conductor and composer

Catherine Winnes http://www.cathrinewinnes.com/about/
Norwegian orchestral conductor, artistic director and chief conductor of Swedish Wind Ensemble

Kerstin Nerbe https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerstin_Nerbehttps://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerstin_Nerbe
Senior Swedish conductor who made her name long before the rest

Cecilia Rydiner Alin https://www.kmh.se/backstage/om-backstage/nyhetsarkiv/nyhetsarkiv/2017-11-29-cecilia-rydinger-alin-ater-som-rektor.html
Rector of KMH - the Royal Conservatory, Stockholm

Rachel Worby http://muse-ique.com/worby.php
Artistic director, conductor and founder of MUSE/IQUE, Virginia

Maria Badstue http://www.mariabadstue.com
Danish conductor, former pupil of Jorma Panula

Inma Shara https://inmashara.com/en/home/
Spanish conductor with fine track record and particular name for supporting charities

Jasmina Novoknet http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Jasmina_Novokmet
Serbian conductor and professor

Tomomi Nashimoto http://www.tomomi-n.com/en/profile/
Principal conductor and artistic director of IlluminArt Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan

Simone Menezes http://www.simonemenezes.com
Young Brazilian conductor, involved with the Villa Lobos Project

Tania Léon http://www.tanialeon.com
Cuban composer and conductor

Thea Kano http://www.nycmasterchorale.org/about-nycmc/artistic-staff/
Artistic director of New York City Master Chorale

Huan Jing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huan_Jing
Resident conductor of Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra

Maria Guinand https://www.laphil.com/philpedia/maria-guinand
Artistic director of Schola Cantorum de Venezuela

Gabriella Teychenné http://equilibrium-youngartists.com/eq-is-everywhere-gabriella-teychenne/
Young British conductor of Argentinian background, currently (2018) assisting Barbara Hannigan

Hortense von Gelmini https://www.hortense-von-gelmini.com
Austrian conductor and painter

Michi Gaigg http://www.lorfeo.com/en/michi-gaigg/
Award-winning baroque violinist and conductor

Valéria Csányi https://www.naxos.com/person/Valeria_Csanyi/36161.htm
Hungarian conductor who has recorded some fascinating Hungarian repertoire for Naxos

Linda Bouchard http://lindabouchard.com
Canadian composer and conductor

Karen Gorden http://www.karengorden.com
Principal guest conductor of Bingen Festival Orchestra, Germany



SO, ARE YOU STILL GOING TO ASK WHY THERE ARE NO WOMEN CONDUCTORS?
Didn't think so. Ask instead why we do not hear them more often. 

(Oh, and please, please, please stop throwing mud at Petrenko. Enough, already. Let's get some sense of proportion into this - many worse things are going on around us than that, and the chances are that he was joking/misquoted/manipulated for sensationalisation purposes, probably all three.)