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France Launches Effort to Right Classical Music's Gender Imbalance

Lisa Bryant

   Only about six percent of the world's professional classical music
   orchestras are headed by women. But in France, there is a drive to
   change that, including La Maestra -- an international competition for
   women conductors in Paris.

   The winner of the contest, which attracted more than 200 applicants
   from Asia, Europe and the Americas, will be announced later this month.

   Laurent Bayle, director of the Paris Philharmonic which is co-hosting
   La Maestra, said the victor and runner-ups will get two years of
   intensive mentoring and other support.

   Experts say there is a need for that kind of encouragement. While women
   head nearly 40 percent of Belgian orchestras, just three percent of
   French orchestras have female conductors. In the U.S., only eight
   percent of orchestras are led by women. The Philharmonic is doing
   better-- 30 percent of its visiting conductors this current season are
   women, an uptick from a few years ago.

   A mix of factors hamper women's advancement in the field, from
   historical to cultural. Bayle said that in France, for example, the
   country's theoretically egalitarian, so-called "Republican values"
   frown on affirmative action initiatives supporting women and other
   minorities.

   Claire Gilbault is one of France's rare female conductors, heading the
   Paris Mozart Orchestra, which is co-hosting this event. She noted that
   men head all major musical institutions -- and share power among
   themselves. This contest is breaking new ground in another way: the
   jury is headed by a female conductor and is gender balanced.

   Of course, for this all-women competition, performance is the key
   criteria.

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