OMFG A Concertmistress In Vienna WTF!!!???

The Wiener Staatsoper, most of whose orchestra members comprise the Vienna Philharmonic, appointed a woman as its concertmaster. Albena Danailova, of Sofia, takes first chair in September. According to custom, if all goes well for two years, she will then move into the position permanently.

Her appointment is significant for two reasons: One, she is the first woman to have the post at the Staatsoper, and two, in her new job she will oversee a core of instrumentalists -- the Vienna Philharmonic -- that has long deemed women musicians to be inferior to men. The Philharmonic has only recently invited women to audition, and only one, a harpist, has made the cut permanently.

Coming soon to Vienna: coed restrooms. Like, eeew.

                                                                                   (foto Brevard Theatrical Ensemble)

Comments

[La Cowntessa]

I read about this yesterday, and I tell you, I nearly fell into a swoon right here in my chair.

Wimmenz! Making music! In Vienna!

I'm sure a bunch of the old farts in the orchestra are plotting her demise as I type.

[rompicolleone]

The first year I was working in a professional orchestra (1978) my mother sent me a clipping from that Metropolitan (?Diary?) column of the NY Times, where people report funny things they've overheard in NYC. This time, a couple was a Carnegie Hall before a Vienna Phil concert and the woman, glancing at the musician's roster, noted that there were't any men. The man smugly replied, "Yes, it's the Vienna Philharmonic." After the wild applause at the end of the concert the man looked at the woman with a look of, "see?!?" and the woman replied, "Yes, but can you imagine how much even better it would have been with some women playing?"

Bravissima to Ms Danailova!!! -- since things haven't really changed THAT much in the classical orch world, she probably played three times better than her nearest male competitor ...

[Diva In Training]

Yes the classical orchestra world has changed a lot, just not in Vienna.