Page 670 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

This year, Harrison was chosen to take part in a high-level course with Royal Northern
Sinfonia, the orchestra of Sage Gateshead, alongside six other women.

Over a period of two years, Harrison and her fellow conductors will be given the
opportunity to hone their skills with a full orchestra and mentoring from Farnham
herself.

The WoCo Gateshead 2022/23 course is an exciting new chapter for female conductors,
Farnham tells me. Historically speaking, women have been scared to make mistakes,
fearing they’ll be more harshly criticised than their male counterparts. “We’re giving a
safe platform for these conductors to try things out and take some risks,” she says.

“In the past, there’s been the idea of the maestro, you know?” conductor Lada Valešová
reflects on a video call from Oxford.

“The big, tyrannical, crazy-haired person with a stick in their hand – but those times
are over.” Valešová conducted a female-led production of Ana Sokolović’s a cappella
opera Svadba at the Waterperry Opera Festival last month.

Over the past few years, Valešová – a fellow WoCo Gateshead conductor – has noticed
a shift in mentality with the young women she’s been working with: “They don’t see
why they can’t have a place here.”

When Farnham started Women Conductors nearly a decade ago, many women were
too inhibited to take up space in the most literal sense of that phrase. She calls it
“sharp elbows”; back straight, shoulders back, arms wide. “They could see how
powerful it was but gradually they would hide themselves.”

These days, the opposite is true – a transformation that has much to do with the
grassroots level initiatives that have flourished.

“Charisma is something encouraged in boys and men, but not in women as much, so it
needs drawing out,” Farnham muses.

For Valešová, Harrison and others, this level of coaching has been invaluable – but
there’s still so much left to achieve. “Some men feel like things are tougher for them
now. And you know what? It is. Because the other half of the population are in play,”
Farnham shrewdly points out.

“What I always try and get across to women is: ‘You’ve just got to give it a go’,” says
Harrison.

“To look at a woman conducting and for that not to be a big deal, that’s what we’re all
aiming for, isn’t it?”