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Classical Music

After Tár: women conductors to watch in London

By Claudia Pritchard on 30/1/2023

Highly-praised film Tár has put women conductors into the spotlight. Here are just a few of many, at work in London shortly. Make a date, and maybe take a daughter too...

Oksana Lyniv

Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv caused a sensation when she conducted Tosca at the Royal Opera House in 2021. The first woman to be made music director of an Italian opera house, since 2022 she has headed up the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. In London she will conduct the Philharmonia in Tchaikovsky's surging Symphony No 6, the Pathétique, welcome Benjamin Grosvenor as soloist in Chopin's Piano Concerto No 2, and open with music by her countryman Borys Lyatoshynsky.

WHEN

Sun 5 Feb 2023, 3PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Marin Alsop

Protegée of the great American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, Marin Alsop was the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms, and has been an inspiration to a whole generation of young women in music. Critical of Tár, partly because sexual predation of musicians comes so much more commonly from male conductors, Alsop's concerts are always charismatic. Hear the London Symphony Orchestra play Beethoven under Alsop, with piano soloist Eric Lu.

WHEN

Wed 8 Feb 2023, 6:30PM to 7:30PM

WHERE

Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS

Olivia Clarke

A regular artist at English National Opera where she is a Mackerras Fellow, Olivia Clarke also works with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Glyndebourne, and Longborough Festival Opera. Catch her conducting Carmen at ENO on 22 February (Kerem Hassan conducts other performances) before she gets to work assisting on ENO's Akhnaten.

WHEN

Wed 22 Feb 2023, 7:30PM

WHERE

English National Opera, Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES

Barbara Hannigan

A singer in her own right, Canadian Barbara Hannigan has a special affinity with the voice, but also conducts orchestral works and is a thrilling presence on the podium. See her in London conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in an entertaining and electic programme of classics and new music, including works by Bach and the moving Alban Berg Violin Concerto.

WHEN

Thurs 2 March 2023, 7PM

WHERE

Barbican Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS

Lidiya Yankovskaya

Born in St Petersburg and a dancer as a child, Lidiya Yankovskaya grew up in the United States, where she is a big draw, appearing with a number of prestigious orchestras. Committed to both Russian music and new music, she has conducted 40 world premieres, including 17 operas. At ENO she conducts Henryk Górecki's moving Symphony of Sorrowful Songs in a staged performance.

WHEN

Thurs 27 April to Sat 6 May, six performances. Running time c 1hr with no interval

WHERE

English National Opera
London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4ES

Kārin Hendrickson

When she moved from the US to the UK to train at the Royal Academy of Music, Kārin Hendrickson sang with the London Philharmonic Choir. Now she conducts choirs and orchestras all over the world, encourages youngsters into music – and is to make her debut with Opera Holland Park in June, conducting Hansel and Gretel, as part of the company's long summer season.

WHEN

Sat 10 June to Fri 23 June 2023. Five performances, start times vary

WHERE

Opera Holland Park, Ilchester Place, London W8 6LU

Jessica Cottis

Raised on a sheep farm in Australia, Jessica Cottis started out as an organist, pianist, and trumpeter, but it is as a conductor that she has made her mark with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, London and at the Royal Opera House and BBC Proms, among many engagements. At Opera Holland Park she conducts Jonathan Dove's exciting new opera Itch, based on the periodic table.

WHEN

Sat 22 July to Fri 4 Aug 2023. Start times vary

WHERE

Opera Holland Park
Stable Yard, Holland Park, London , W8 6LU

Not forgetting...

There are plenty of other brilliant women musicians who have made their mark on the podium. Listen out for Emanuelle Haïm, Odaline de la Martinez, Nathalie Stutzmann, Xian Zhang, Elim Chan, Susanna Mälkki, Karina Canellakis, and Keri-Lynn Wilson (pictured). Then there are Sarah Ioannides, Laurence Equilbey, Lada Valešová, Valentina Peleggi and many, many more. And hello to Charlotte Politi: born in Paris, raised in Italy, trained in Germany and beyond, and now appointed one of two inaugural Fellow Conductors by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. With luck these brilliant women will be heading to a London concert hall or opera house soon...