Page 44 - Alison Balsom Quiet City FULL BOOK

in my early twenties having a very demanding schedule with radio
performances with radio orchestras. So obviously, with radio

performances, no one can tell your gender, how old you are, what you

look like… they just hear you playing, and it’s whether or not it sounds
good. It was called BBC New Generation Artists, and you get lots of

opportunities to play different repertoire with the different BBC

orchestras. You can never repeat repertoire, which for trumpet players

is a challenge! Especially as you’re looking for the big, meaty concerti

that work well with a full orchestra, or you’re constantly coming up
with recital programmes. But you can never repeat a piece. So you

can imagine how that was a baptism of fire for me. There wasn’t really

much of a path to follow. Of course, there were people like
Hardenberger or John Wallace, but their careers and musical tastes

were very different. Again, I wasn’t really aware of what repertoire

they were choosing; I just knew I had to follow my own path. And so,
being female in the musical sphere has not been that relevant for me.

The only thing is that the press talks about it a lot. But as the years go

by, the more I realise that often the press just grabs on to the most

obvious things and doesn’t delve into what you’re actually doing and
the details. Often it’s about the first impressions with them, so you’ve

just got to take it with a pinch of salt and keep being honest and

authentic to yourself. You have to say what it is you want to say and

hope that other people want to hear that. It does also depend on the
kind of musician you are and where you find yourself. If you’re in an

orchestra, it’s a very different political scene. If you’re a soloist or in a

band or an opera orchestra, so you’re always in one place or always
on tour… I think both men and women have challenges — ups and

downs to every situation. For me, I’ve just focussed very much on the

positives, and I just keep going.
Take positive criticism when people say that you could have done

something differently. Of course, learn from that! But don’t spend any

energy on the playground politics of it all, whether it’s about gender or