Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert 2019

[Barbirollians]

Agreed! I would add Kerri-Lyn Wilson to the list. I've worked with her twice in London opera productions. She's excellent. I hope the managemnet permafrost will thaw soon, but as you say... :rolleyes:

NVV

Judging by the fantastic Pizzicato Polka Mirga gave as an encore in Birmingham last year I think she would be ideal.

[LMcD]

Did anyone who watched this year's concert happen to notice how many ladies there were in the VPO?

[LHC]

Agreed! I would add Kerri-Lyn Wilson to the list. I've worked with her twice in London opera productions. She's excellent. I hope the managemnet permafrost will thaw soon, but as you say... :rolleyes:

NVV

Kerri-Lyn Wilson is one of only 4 female conductors to conduct at the Vienna State Opera, the others being Simone Young, Julia Jones and Speranza Scappucci. Scappucci has also led the Vienna State Opera Ball (replacing an indisposed Bychkov). I don’t think Marin Alsop has ever conducted the Vienna Philharmonic, or at the Opera.

I doubt the orchestra would invite a conductor they are unfamiliar with to conduct the NYD concert, so I would have thought one of the four named above have a better chance of being the first woman to lead the NYD concert than anyone else.

[Nevilevelis]

Kerri-Lyn Wilson is one of only 4 female conductors to conduct at the Vienna State Opera, the others being Simone Young, Julia Jones and Speranza Scappucci. Scappucci has also led the Vienna State Opera Ball (replacing an indisposed Bychkov). I don’t think Marin Alsop has ever conducted the Vienna Philharmonic, or at the Opera.

I doubt the orchestra would invite a conductor they are unfamiliar with to conduct the NYD concert, so I would have thought one of the four named above have a better chance of being the first woman to lead the NYD concert than anyone else.

Yes, that seems probable. Here's hoping...

[Nevilevelis]

Judging by the fantastic Pizzicato Polka Mirga gave as an encore in Birmingham last year I think she would be ideal.

[oddoneout]

Did anyone who watched this year's concert happen to notice how many ladies there were in the VPO?

Didn't watch but on the radio version Petroc mentioned there were 11.

[Stanfordian]

Did anyone who watched this year's concert happen to notice how many ladies there were in the VPO?

Just the usual sprinkling. No women playing brass or double bass.

Nevertheless the music sounded still great to me.

It still disturbs me how Solti said the orchestra treated him.

[Richard Barrett]

Just the usual sprinkling. No brass or double basses.

And of course still no players of non-Caucasian origins as far as I could see.

What struck me most when listening to the music, which isn't a repertoire I listen to very often, was nothing to do with who was conducting and how wooden or animated his conducting was, but the great imagination of the music in terms either or both of melodic inventiveness and orchestration. Obviously the Strausses had a pretty classy ensemble available for their performances and an endless store of more or less extreme variations on the pool of Viennese turns of musical phrase. I thought the introduction to Sphärenklange, for example, was the equal of anything else being written around that time, harmonically not so far removed from the Munich Strauss in fact. I'm sure there are plenty of hidden gems that hardly get an outing even in this concert series.

[Prommer]

Just the usual sprinkling. No women playing brass or double bass.

Nevertheless the music sounded great to me.

At least one non-sequitur there!

[Stanfordian]

At least one non-sequitur there!

I hope you are not insinuating that I believe the music sounded great because of the lack of women players?

[Prommer]

I hope you are not insinuating that I believe the music sounded great because of the lack of women players?

The reverse, actually - as implied by use of the word "nevertheless".

[Stanfordian]

Good! Because that was the furthest thing from my mind.

[Pianorak]

I thought Petroc mentioned 13 women in the orchestra.

[LMcD]

I thought Petroc mentioned 13 women in the orchestra.

Perhaps a couple had initially been hiding behind the drums.

[Pianorak]

Perhaps a couple had initially been hiding behind the drums.

Well, as Oddoneout says Petroc mentioned 11 initially, but upped it later to 13 (on TV).