Roll over, Beethoven: let’s celebrate women
The “white male titans” of classical music such as Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert are putting young people off the art form, Lucy Noble, the Royal Albert Hall artistic director, has claimed, while female composers and those from ethnic minority backgrounds are much less celebrated. Young people are also suffering from a lack of access to the genre because of the poor level of music education, she says, which needs to be addressed if gender parity is to be achieved.
THE “white male titans” of classical music are putting young people off the art form, the Royal Albert Hall director has claimed.
While Mozart, Beethoven and Bach are all household names, female composers and those from ethnic minority backgrounds are much less celebrated, according to a survey.
Young people are also suffering from a lack of access to the genre because of the poor levels of music education in the UK, says Lucy Noble, artistic and commercial director at the Royal Albert Hall.
Ms Noble said arts education need to be addressed if gender parity in the industry is to be achieved.
Data released by the Royal Albert Hall indicates the top 10 classical composers most recognised are male.
Mozart (recognised by 70 per cent), Beethoven (70 per cent) and Bach (60 per cent) topped the list in a survey of 1,000 adults. However, female composers were far less recognised, with Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann and Hildegard von Bingen known to just 30 per cent, 17 per cent and 7 per cent of respondents respectively.
The relative lack of awareness around Fanny Mendelssohn’s work may be explained by the fact that much of her music was published under the name of her famous brother Felix.
Ms Noble said: “History has left us a legacy of great classical composers – Mozart, Bach and Schubert to name a few. But we must make sure that young people are exposed to not just these white, male titans, but women, and those from minority backgrounds.”
She also pointed to a lack of education as the reason Britons are more likely to recognise a male composer than a female one.
She said: “With modern composers, it needs to start with the grass roots. And if people aren’t getting into music and having the music education that they require in the first place, then that in a way comes before the gender equality part.
“So what is happening is this divide being created between people with the knowledge, and who can afford it, being able to give their children access to music. But for people who don’t have the know-how or can’t afford to pay for private lessons, and the schools aren’t delivering that really important music education, then what hope have they actually got? The opportunities just aren’t there for them at all.”
Asked whether this was widening the gap between the advantaged and the disadvantaged, she said “absolutely”.
“Those from a more challenged background ... are not going to have the opportunities that the people who are more wealthy and have the opportunities do,” she said.
Ms Noble added that schools need to “step up” to make sure everyone has access to music, but that institutions like the Royal Albert Hall also have a role to play.
The hall offers opportunities off the stage for young women through its apprenticeships programme and Young Producers initiative.
‘We must make sure that young people are exposed to not just these white, male titans, but women, and those from minority backgrounds’