Taking up the baton as a conductor? You must identify as a woman, say music festival chiefs

A TOP classical festival has banned men from enrolling on its conductors course, saying they will only accept candidates ‘who identify as women’.

The Dartington Trust, based at Dartington Hall, near Totnes in Devon, says the ban is designed to rectify the gender imbalance in the profession.

But the move has divided opinion in the normally sedate world of classical music, with one critic saying that it is proof the festival has been hijacked by ‘agendasetting ideologues’.

The Dartington Music Summer School and Festival, which has been running since 1953, offers courses, workshops and events that are open to amateur and professional musicians.

This year’s course on conducting will be taught by Sian Edwards, head of conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, and Alice Farnham, artistic director of women conductors with the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS).

It will have just six students on the two-week programme, which in the past has launched many successful careers. In a statement, Ms Farnham said: ‘The conducting world has changed a great deal and there is much to celebrate, but there is still work to be done.

‘The gender ratio in the profession is still well under ten per cent, and this is a wonderful opportunity to help tip that balance.’

Figures previously produced by the RPS show that only 22 of the 371 conductors with British agents were women.

That accounts for just 5.5 per cent of the profession.

However, the ban on male candidates for the Dartington course has not been universally welcomed. Norman Lebrecht, who runs the Slipped Disc classical music blog, called it ‘a total perversion of values’.

He added: ‘In the name of inclusivity, which Dartington is supposed to represent, they are excluding men from the opportunity of learning how to conduct. Dartington used to be the happiest of summer festivals, open to all regardless of origin and ability, and to all musical ideas on an equal basis. As someone who once taught a course in musical irony at the festival, I am distraught to see it taken over by agenda-setting ideologues.’

But Professor Debbie Wiseman, one of Britain’s most celebrated composers and conductors, welcomed the Trust’s actions, saying that too many women were still intimidated by the idea of taking up a leadership position within the industry.

She said: ‘We have had some very silly comments over the years that women on the podium make the minds of men in the orchestra drift to other things. You would never say something similar about a man on the podium.’

She added: ‘I think a course like this will help talented budding conductors who happen to be a woman but feel they are still very much in a minority, with role models hard to find.’

Last night, Sara Mohr-Pietsch, the artistic director of the Dartington Music School & Festival, told The Mail on Sunday that the organisation was ‘delighted’ to be taking part in ‘an international, industry-wide commitment to address the significant, long-standing gender imbalance in the conducting profession.’

She said that more than 90 per cent of professional conducting opportunities were given to men, and even at Dartington only 25 per cent of their applicants were female.

She added: ‘As incoming artistic director, I was keen to do my part in encouraging more women to have the confidence to put themselves forward for this unique opportunity.’

‘Taken over by agenda setting ideologues’