Instrumental Women: Conducting Business
taken from the "Plugged In" supplement of Minnesota Monthly magazine
March 2002
by Steve Anderson

As Minnesota Public Radio celebrates Women's History Month with Instrumental Women: Conducting Business-the latest program in a series on women in classical music-host and producer Lauren Rico talks about the issues explored in the new special and the inspiration for the series.

Q. What have been the main challenges facing women conductors?

A. It seems to be the same problem that women in many fields have experienced-they simply haven't been seen as leaders. A conductor is the ultimate figure in leadership. It's the conductor's vision that is carried out in the music. It is the conductor's interpretation that the musicians follow. The conductor stands in front of this big group and makes the decisions. [Seeing women in this role] has been a very hard thing for people to swallow.

Sometimes the obstacle comes from within. There are conductors who have a hard time assuming that role of authority. They aren't necessarily comfortable with the assertiveness that's required, both in performing and in marketing their own skills.

So, it's really been about perception how the musicians perceive them, how audiences perceive them and how they perceive themselves.

Q. Where do things stand today?

A. Well, there still is not a woman conducting a major American orchestra. What was disturbing actually was that there have been several posts available over the last few years and not one woman was openly and publicly considered for any of them. In fact, the bigger debate seemed to center on American MEN vs. European MEN. Women didn't even factor into the equation.

Another issue is how women conductors are treated by critics. Patronizing terms and descriptions seem to perpetuate the idea that women conductors are different from men conductors.

But really the biggest obstacle goes beyond the scope of any one orchestra or conductor. It's about the entire future of classical music. Something that came up over and over again in my interviews with these women was their concern for the lifespan of arts organizations in general. As much as we'd all like to see a woman conducting the New York Philharmonic someday, it may be a moot point if there's not enough funding for the orchestra to sustain itself.

Q. This is the second installment of your Instrumental Women series. What inspired you to produce the series?

A. I am a French horn player. In high school, that meant that I was a girl in a brass section filled with boys who didn't think I belonged. It wasn't long before I started to believe it too. Later on, in college, low self-esteem turned to bitterness toward those same male musicians. Finally I realized that it wasn't them, it was ME.

The whole experience made me really consider the women playing instruments around me. Why weren't there more female trumpeters? Why did everyone think it was "so cool" that there was a girl timpanist? Why did the female band director feel like she had to be more businesslike and strict than the male orchestra director?

By the time I was a graduate student I was really searching for answers-data, interviews, statistics, anything. It wasn't until I landed at Minnesota Public Radio that I had the opportunity to ask these questions of people who knew the answers the women themselves. Experience, curiosity and opportunity-that was how Instrumental Women was conceived.

Q. You've looked at the rise of female instrumentalists and now female conductors. Any future segments in the works?

A. I think the natural progression here is to cover the women who actually write the music. I'll be interviewing female composers and composition students about the obstacles they've overcome in the past and about what the future holds for them.