20 August 1984

Odaline breaks new ground

It took nearly 90 years since Henry Wood first flourished his Proms baton, but at last the conductor’s podium was filled by someone with two X chromosomes, with Odaline de la Martinez (above) stepping up to lead her own Lontano ensemble in works by Schoenberg, Gerhard and others. ‘I remember contacting the BBC and suggesting I do a programme there,’ de la Martinez later said in an interview. ‘They agreed, and it was only a few weeks before the performance that someone said to me, “Do you realise that you are the first woman to conduct a performance at the Albert Hall?” So I rang the BBC and they confirmed it!’