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That's Marin Alsop with Leonard Bernstein in the photos I've just added to the right hand side-bar. And the New York Times are thinking Alsop as well. They have an excellent feature on her today.
Cue link to the New York Philharmonic's first woman conductor.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
'According to data on US orchestras compiled by the International Association of Women Conductors (IAWC), 22 out of 270 music directors of C level orchestras - below a $1m (£505,000) annual budget - are women. At the top end of the spectrum, Marin Alsop and JoAnn Falletta are the only female music directors of the 38 orchestras that have a budget of more than $10m per annum. '
From Baton of the sexes in today’s Guardian, now read how the BBC Proms lack the eternal feminine
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Who was the first woman to conduct at the BBC Proms? No it wasn't the ubiquitous Marin Alsop. It is more than ten years since Odaline de la Martinez made her first Proms appearance, and it doesn't do any harm to shift some of the attention on women conductors over to this very talented lady, especially as she also composes.
Born in Cuba and raised in the USA Odaline de la Martinez is now based in London. She retains strong links with South America, and was awarded the Villa-Lobos Medal by the Brazillian government. As well as guesting with mainstream orchestras Martinez is also founder and music director of contemporary ensemble Lontano. Her first opera, Sister Aimée was premiered in the US in 1984. She has her own record label Lorelt which specialises in music by women composers, Latin American and contemporary composers.
To give a taste of her composing style here is a short extract from the second movement Song of the rider of her 1983 Canciones for voice, piano and percussion. 
This is available on the Lorelt CD British Women Composers Volume 2 together with works by Judith Weir, Melinda Maxwell, Hilary Tann and Eleanor Alberga.
Odaline de la Martinez is very much a lady of many talents, and one whose work is well worth exploring further.
If you enjoyed this post take an overgrown path to First performance - Douglas Weiland's Second Piano Trio, Pavey Ark
I'm a big fan of Marin Alsop. But last night her BBC Prom performance with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra playing her own sequence of the suites from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet was strangely unsatisfying. Tempi were pulled around, and rather than adding to the tension the wayward performance weakened it. When it finished I wanted some 'in your face' music making that was over the top, but which really worked. So as Marin Alsop was a pupil of Bernstein's I put on his 1971 recording of his own Mass, a work I don't listen to very often.
Is Mass Bernstein's unrecognised masterpeice? Or is it a failed experiment in using the vernacular and exploiting street chic? (But wasn't the 'parody mass' a legitimate renaissance musical form which exploited contemporary music such as L'homme arme?) My view used to be that Mass was simply a failed experiment, but I have to confess I am slowly moving towards the view that it may be a misunderstood masterpeice. I would be interested in readers views, and guidance on what to make of it. Just post your views using the comments facility at the foot of this post.
And while you ponder those questions, here's a video of Marie-Adele McArthur singing A simple song from Mass. Whatever you think of the work as a whole this is beautiful music.
Now take An Overgrown Path to Laminar flow region.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
That's Marin Alsop with Leonard Bernstein in the photos I've just added to the right hand side-bar. And the New York Times are thinking Alsop as well. They have an excellent feature on her today.
