the woman conductor bibliography

women conductors | database of international conductors
europäische dirigentinnen | database of european conductors

MAESTRA is a 2023 documentary about La Maestra, the only competition in the world for female orchestra conductors. Personal stories of survival, passion and perseverance are woven together with the drama and excitement of this one-of-a-kind event created to break yet another glass ceiling for women.

... But I was a Girl: The Story of Frieda Belinfante (1999). A 69-minute documentary on Dutch conductor Frieda Belinfante, written and directed by Toni Boumans. Distributor SND Films, Amesterdam.

ANTONIA: A PORTRAIT OF THE WOMAN. A Documentary on Antonia Brico by Judy Collins and Jill Godmillow (1974, restored in 2022)

A WOMAN IS A RISKY BET - six orchestra conductors (1987)
Original Swedish Title: Dirigenterna
Language: Swedish, English, Norwegian and Russian
Genre: drama (feature/documentary)
Duration: 80 min
Director and Scriptwriter: Christina Olofson
Featured conductors: Kerstin Nerbe, Victoria Bond, JoAnn Falletta, Veronika Dudarova, Ortrud Mann, and Camilla Kolchinsky.
Distributor: Telepicture Marketing Ltd

The Conductor - a portrait of MARIN ALSOP (2021).
Director: Bernadette Wegenstein. Waystone Productions

KNOWING THE SCORE. Biopic of Australian conductor Simone Young

Contemporary Women Conductors' Channel

books and chapters of books


Elke Mascha Blankenburg: Dirigentinnen im 20. Jahrhundert. Porträts von Marin Alsop bis Simone Young.
Women Conductors in the 20th-Century. From Marin Alsop to Simone Young.

Publisher's contact information:
Europäische Verlagsanstalt. Bei den Muhren 70, D-20457 Hamburg
info@sabine-groenewoldverlage.de

Europäischer Dirigentinnen Reader
European Women Conductors Reader

Publisher's contact details:
Archiv Frau und Musik
Fürstenbergerstrasse 221, D-60323 Frankfurt a.M.
info@archiv-frau-music.de

Rachwal, Maria Noriega. From Kitchen to Carnegie Hall: Ethel Stark and the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra. Toronto: Second Story Press, 2015.

On the Podium: Women Conductors | Laura Hamer, in: Laura Hamer, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Women in Music since 1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2021), 64–79.

Women on the Podium | Michele Edwards, in: José Bowen, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Conducting, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2003), 220-36.

Feminizing the Stage: Early Lady Orchestras and Their Maestras | Maria Noriega Rachwal, in: Eugene Gates and Karla Hartl, eds., The Women in Music Anthology (Toronto: The Kapralova Society, 2021), 230–43.

Christine Ammer: History of Women in American Music. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 2001.

Relevant chapters:
Opera Composers and Conductors (pp. 192–211)
Today's Orchestras, Conductors, and Instrumentalists (pp. 249–81).

Programming Orchestral Repertoire by Women Composers: Challenges and Opportunity | Joanna Drimatis, in: Linda Kouvaras, Maria Grenfell, and Natalie Williams, eds., A Century of Composition by Women (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022), 225–46.

Beth Abelson MacLeod: Women Performing Music: The Emergence of American Women as Classical Instrumentalists and Conductors. Jefferson: McFarland, 2000.

Alice Farnham: In Good Hands: The Making of a Modern Conductor. London: Faber & Faber, 2023.

Interviews with conductors Marin Alsop, Kalena Bovell, Olivia Clarke, Sian Edwards, Jane Glover, Helen Harrison, Tianyi Lu, Maria Seletskaja, and others.

LaToya A. Webb and Julia L. Baumanis: Go On, Tell YOur Story! Chicago: GIA Publications, 2023.

Life stories of trailblazing women band directors.

articles

Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh. "Women conductors on the orchestral podium: Pedagogical and professional implications." College Music Symposium, 48 (2008).
Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh. "Conducting motherhood: The personal and professional experiences of women orchestral conductors." Outskirts: Feminisms along the edge, 15 (2006).
Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh. "Reflections on females conducting." In E. Mackinlay, D. Collins & S. Owens (Eds.), Aesthetics and experience in music performance (pp. 235-242). London: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2005.
Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh. "Professional female orchestral conductors and the male canon." In L. Kouvaras, R. Martin & G. Hair (Eds.), Loose canons (pp. 83-92). Canberra: Southern Voices, 2003.
Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh. "Female conductors: The incarnation of power?" Hecate: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Women’s Liberation, 29(2) (2003): 228-234.
Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh. "Re-embodying the 'gendered podium.'" Context: Journal of Music Research, 23 (2002): 39-47.
Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh. "You're a woman and our orchestra just won't have you": the politics of otherness in the conducting profession." Hecate: an interdisciplinary journal of women’s liberation 34, No. 1 (2008).
Canadian Encyclopaedia. "Conductors and Conducting.
Cheng, Marietta Nien-hwa. "Women Conductors: Has the Train Left the Station?" Harmony: Forum of the Symphony Orchestra Institute, 6 (1998): 81-90.
Sierra Farquhar-Wulff. "Discounting Our Colleagues: Gender Inequity in the Choral Conducting Profession." Choral Journal 63 no. 8 (May 2023): 9-21.
"Female Conductors and Composers Breaking Down Barriers." Odaline de la Martinez interviews Nicola LeFanu. Newsday. BBC Radio 3. Audio. December 24, 2015.
Hanusiak, Xenia. "Will Women Overturn the World of Classical Conducting?" Aenon, January 12, 2023.
Hetzel, Lori R., and Kay Norton. “Women Choral Conductors at the Collegiate Level: Status and Perspectives.” College Music Symposium 33-34 (1993): 23-40.
Hinely, Mary Brown. "The Uphill Climb of Women in American Music: Conductors and Composers." Music Educator’s Journal 70, no. 9 (May 1984): 42-49.
Jagow, Shelley M. "Women Orchestral Conductors in America: The Struggle for Acceptance. A Historical View from the Nineteenth Century to the Present." College Music Symposium 38 (1998): 126-45.
Jones, Perry. “The History of Women’s Liberation in Choral Music.” Choral Journal 16, no. 6 (February 1976): 12-14.
Reel, James. “Pioneer Spirit: America’s Foremost Female Conductor Breaks a Major Gender Barrier in the United Kingdom. But for Marin Alsop, Music Remains the Message.” Strings 18, no. 3 (October 2003): 62-69.
Tindall, Blair. Call Me Madame Maestro. New York Times, January 14, 2005.
Tsioulcas, Anastasia. What Is Classical Music's Women Problem? Deceptive Cadence, October 9, 2013.

interviews

I haven't looked back since. Interview with conductor Odaline de la Martinez. Kapralova Society Journal 14. no. 2 (Fall 2016): 8-11.
Love to make people cry. Interview with conductor Maria Segura-Thijssen. Kapralova Society Journal 10. no. 1 (Spring 2012): 11.
The 'frauenkomponiert' project. Interview with conductor Jessica Horsley. Kapralova Society Journal 14. no. 1 (Spring 2016): 6-8.
There will be joy. Interview with conductor Laurence Equilbey. Kapralova Society Journal 12, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 8-11.
I love diversity. Interview with conductor Eva Meitner. Kapralova Society Journal 15, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 6-9.