List members may be interested to know that the history of women as
orchestral and opera conductors is at least 110 years old.  There are
some 80 names of women who gained professional recognition many decades
ago, their courage matching their talent as they struggled against the
prejudices of orchestra players and Board members.  It must have been
especially galling to see how many leading Board members were, in fact,
women as well, and equally antagonistic to the prospect of women leading
their ensembles.

For many talented women musicians, remedy and opportunity lay in creating
their own ensembles, leading them, and winning recognition thereby.  A few
examples will suffice:

(Bay Area) Women's Philharmonic, San Francisco, 1981-
Boston Fadette Lady Orchestra, f 1880
Brico Symphony Orchestra, Denver, f 1950s
Chicago Women's Symphony
Cleveland Women's Orchestra, f 1935
Columbus Women's Orchestra, Ohio
Eichberg Lady (string) Orchestra, Boston, f 1884
Ethel Stark Symphonietta, 1954
European Women's Orchestra, London
London Women's Symphony, c 1922
Los Angeles Women's Symphony, f 1893
Montreal Women's Symphony, f 1940
Montreal Women's Symphony Strings, f 1954
New England Women's Symphony
New York Symphonette, org 1936
New York Women's Chamber Orchestra, f 1938
New York Ladies Orchestra, c 1888
New York Women's Symphony
Orchestrette Classique, later Orchestrette of NY (1932-1943)
Wien-Damen Orchester, f 1867; in 1871 they toured the US
Women's Concert Ensemble of Chicago, f 1936
Women's String Orchestra, f 1897
Women's Symphony Orchestra of Boston, f 1939
Women's Symphony of Philadelphia, f 1925

Members may be aware that Nadia Boulanger was the first woman to conduct
the Boston, Philadelphia, and NYPhil orchestras, and was entrusted by
Stravinsky with the world premiere of his 'Dumbarton Oaks'; Antonia Brico
was first to conduct the Berlin Phil; Mary Davenport-Engberg was from
1921-1924 the music director of the Seattle Symphony; and so on.

All the above is a *very* partial list.  Other names worth attention
in the field include Dame Ethyl Smyth, whose works were performed at
the Metropolitan Opera (1903), Covent Garden (1902), and the Berlin
Opera (1902), and who appears to have led rehearsals in each house; Ethel
Leginska, who founded an all-woman orchestra in Chicago; Sarah Caldwell and
her Boston Opera; Louise Heritte-Viardot, who was conducting professional
orchestras in Stockholm before WWI; and, the extraordinary Clara Roesch
Herdt, founder of a women's symphony orchestra who studied with Mitropoulos
for four years.

It is certainly true that in recent years young women are finally beginning
to enter the ranks of international conductors.  They would be the first to
tell you that their way was paved by pioneer work many years before under
circumstances of astounding difficulty, ridicule, and unfairness.  (Some
people even think that the US will have a woman President within, say, 100
years or so.)

Charles Barber