Podium dynamics
The NZSO’s Principal Conductor Gemma New
Photo credit: Sylvia Elzafon
When Gemma New takes the podium for seven concerts with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington and Auckland this week and next, she does so as the first New Zealander to hold the role of principal conductor of our national orchestra since the 1950’s. In something of a marathon she’ll conduct four concerts with American violinist Hilary Hahn and three with English pianist Paul Lewis over just eight days.
As well, New is the first woman in the NZSO role, although New Zealand audiences are becoming accustomed to female conductors. While New conducts in Wellington, Shiyeon Sung returns to the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s podium - the first Korean female conductor working with international orchestras. When she was appointed assistant conductor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2007, she had already won the Solti and Mahler competitions.
Korean conductor Shiyeon Sung
…a return visit to the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra..
Does gender on the podium make a difference? There’s evidence that women conductors are more likely to support women composers, another under-represented group in classical music. Sung, billed as a trailblazer, will conduct the APO in music by New Zealander Salina Fisher and French composer Lili Boulanger alongside Stravinsky’s Firebird. New has conducted Fisher’s Rainphase with several international orchestras and also programmed New Zealand composer Robin Toan in one of her first NZSO concerts in 2020. Holly Mathieson, another New Zealander making a career on the podium, worked with both APO and NZSO in 2021, introducing the Auckland audience to the 19th century French composer Louise Farrenc and conducting music by New Zealander Dorothy Ker with the NZSO.
Maestra Marin Alsop, advocate for women conductors:
“…society interprets women’s gestures differently.”
The gender issue for conductors, though, seems to be mainly one of equity of opportunity. Certainly in the US in the #MeToo era, the dearth of women conductors receives plenty of attention. Do double standards apply? American conductor Marin Alsop, a strong advocate for her female colleagues, suggests “society interprets women’s gestures very differently; if women exude an aura of extreme confidence, that can be deemed off-putting, whereas it’s desirous for men.” Earlier this year New, always dynamic with the baton, was chastised by a Dallas critic for “extravagant acrobatics” and “enormous gestures”, while he admitted the Orchestra “played well anyway”.
Conductor Gemma New with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC
“…always dynamic with the baton.”
New, as Principal Guest Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, was included in the “up-and-coming” list in a New York Times article last September, headlined “Top Orchestras Have No Female Conductors. Is Change Coming?”. The NYT lamented that, with Alsop’s departure in August after 14 years at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, no women at all held music director roles with the 25 largest American orchestras. A month later, the same writer celebrated the appointment of Nathalie Stutzmann to lead the top-tier Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. “I’m just looking for equality,” the Frenchwoman said on taking the role. “That we will one day not be considered a minority.”
NZSO IMMERSE with Gemma New (conductor) and Hilary Hahn (violinist) Wellington August 4, 6 & 7, Auckland August 5.
APO FIREBIRD with Shiyeon Sung (conductor) and Javier Perianes (piano) Auckland August 4, broadcast live on RNZ Concert.
NZSO IMMERSE with Gemma New (conductor) and Paul Lewis (piano) August 12, 13 & 14, featuring Beethoven piano concertos.