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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In honour of International Women\u2019s Day, we recognize women in Toronto\u2019s classical music scene breaking the glass ceiling one day at a time.<\/p>\n
![\"FAWN](\"http:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/Amanda_Smith.jpg\")
One facet of the classical musical scene Torontonians can be most proud of is Toronto\u2019s wave of indie opera companies. And some of the best news on this Women\u2019s Day? Many of the leaders of these groups are female. From Essential Opera\u2019s co-artistic directors Erin Bardua & Maureen Batt, to Fawn Chamber Creative\u2019s artistic director Amanda Smith, to Liederwolfe\u2019s co-directors Francesca Perez and Lindsay Michael, to Loose Tea Music Theatre\u2019s artistic director Alaina Viau, to MYOpera\u2019s artistic director and general director Kate Applin and Stephanie Applin respectively, to Opera Five\u2019s artistic director and general director Aria Umezawa and Rachel Krehm respectively, to Renaissance Opera\u2019s Debi Wong and Arianne Abela, to Bicycle Opera\u2019s artistic director Larissa Koniuk, to Urban Vessel\u2019s co-artistic directors Juliet Palmer and Christie Pearson\u2026 The number of female opera administrators in Toronto\u2019s indie scene would inspire any young opera-loving female entrepreneur.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/11\/Stephanie-Martin.jpg\")
Although the principal conductors of many of Toronto\u2019s largest ensembles may not be female,\u00a0 it would be remiss not to mention just how many female conductors quietly dominate the city\u2019s choral music scene. Since 1996, Stephanie Martin has been artistic director of the Pax Christi Chorale, conducting and composing countless works for the ensemble. Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt is Director of Choral Activities at the University of Toronto, and is artistic director of Exultate Chamber Singers. Lydia Adams has served as conductor and artistic director of the Amadeus Choir since 1984 and leads the Elmer Iseler Singers, Cheryll Chung is artistic director of the Cantabile Chamber Singers, Teri Dunn conducts the Canadian Children\u2019s Opera Company, taking over from Ann Cooper Gay who artistic directed the ensemble for many years, and Elise Bradley is artistic director of the Toronto Children\u2019s Chorus.<\/p>\n
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More and more female composers are beginning to take precedence in Toronto\u2019s new music scene. Audiences can look forward to Opera 5\u2019s presentation of an upcoming partnership with TorQ Percussion Quartet and Canadian composer Cecilia Livingston sometime in 2019. One of Canada\u2019s most widely acclaimed operas internationally in the past few years has been Ana Sokolovic\u2019s Svadba,<\/em> which has been presented in Europe and the United States, as well as at home. Jocelyn Morlock may not be Toronto-centric, but as composer-in-residence for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, she\u2019s an inspiration to us over here out east. Nicole Liz\u00e9e, another Canadian composer, has had pieces premiered by the Toronto Symphony, Tapestry Opera and other Toronto groups. Another female composer you\u2019re likely to hear being premiered by Toronto groups is Alexina Louie, one of Canada\u2019s most sought after composers. Luckily for us, this list goes on and on.<\/p>\n Toronto is home to an embarrassment of riches of chamber ensembles, many of which feature female leadership and performers. Tafelmusik, one of the world\u2019s top baroque ensembles, was incredibly fortunate to have Jeanne Lamon as music director from 1981-2014, who continues there as chief artistic advisor. Tafelmusik’s new Artistic Director Elisa Citterio now takes up the mantle of strong females leads this summer. Pocket Concerts, another well-known chamber group in Toronto, has Emily Rho, pianist, as co-director. Carol Gimbel serves as founding artistic director of Music in the Barns, Dorothy Glick artistic directs Syrinx Concerts, Cheryl Duvall and Ilana Waniuk lead Thin Edge New Music Collective, Kerri McGonigle artistic directs Academy Concert Series and Nadina Mackie Jackson music directs Bassoon Out Loud. If you like Bach, Sheila Jaff\u00e9 and Catherine Cosbey lead Bach from the Heart\u2026 As far as chamber music goes, Toronto\u2019s female musical leaders have you covered.<\/p>\n Many of the most important female figures in Toronto\u2019s musical community are not the ones audiences recognize from podiums and billboards. They comprise the teachers, coaches, performers, assistant conductors, publicists, artist managers, music journalists, section leaders and early childhood educators without whom the Canadian music scene would not exist. Canada boasts some of the most accomplished musicians per capita to come out of anywhere in the world. We wouldn\u2019t be there without the wonderful teachers passing on discipline, high standards and inspiring young musicians behind the scenes. Toronto\u2019s Royal Conservatory of Music, universities, schools and private studios boast hundreds of wonderful female teachers.<\/p>\n We are proud to live in a city where so many women dominate the classical music scene. The more this becomes the norm, the more inspired young women will be to take positions of leadership on podiums, boards, panels and in composing and writing new works. As Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada and Toronto resident pointed out, \u201cUntil women become deans of medical faculties and law schools, heads of departments, and senior partners in law firms, they do not hold the levers of power.\u201d Many women in Toronto\u2019s classical music scene do hold power, and the more work we can do to ensure that this spreads through all echelons of cultural and civic institutions and that women have equal pay, recognition and representation, the better. Here\u2019s to having even more women to celebrate on next year\u2019s women\u2019s day.<\/p>\n We’ve missed a lot of women on this list. Help us out and contribute in the comments.<\/p>\n In honour of International Women\u2019s Day, we recognize women in Toronto\u2019s classical music scene breaking the glass ceiling one day at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":43527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,4967,63],"tags":[9488],"yst_prominent_words":[9008,11623,20946,20940,20944,20938,6715,20942,6985,17979,20943,6616,10415,11443,10443,20941,20947,20948,20945,20939],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/womens_day-MT-quote.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-bk2","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43526"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43535,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43526\/revisions\/43535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43526"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=43526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Chamber Music<\/h3>\n
![\"Carol](\"http:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/carol.jpg\")
Behind the Scenes<\/h3>\n
Final thoughts<\/h3>\n
#LUDWIGVAN<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"