BBC PROMS SURVEY 2019
For
some years Women in Music (UK) has been doing a survey of the numbers of women
represented in the BBC PROMS season. The
Proms is the largest classical music festival in the world. This year there are
58 main evening orchestral concerts, as well as chamber music concerts, daytime
events and late-night concerts. The audiences in the Royal Albert Hall are of
many thousands, and all the concerts are broadcast, many on television.
The figures for women in the
2019 BBC Proms season are:
Composers: 29/160 (18%) [Last year
was 21/133]
Living
composers: 20/59 (33%) [Last
year was 17/43]
BBC
Commissions
(or
co-commissions): 5/15 (33%) [Last
year was 12/19]
Conductors: 7/60 (11%) [Last
year was 4/58]
As
for last year I have made a new category for the number of living composers
whose works are substantial (more than 15 mins) and are featured in main
evening concerts. This is because many of the new commissions are for short
pieces in chamber concerts or “family” concerts.
Substantial
works by living composers: 2/9 (22%) [last
year was 5/14] (36%)
The
women composers are: Lera Auerbach, Grazyna Bacewicz, Sally Beamish, Zosha Di
Castri, Sofia Gubaidulina, Fanny Hensel, Hildegard of Bingen, Dorothy Howell,
Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Joanna Lee, Mica Levi, Elizabeth Maconchy, Thea
Musgrave, Laura Mvula, Carly Paradis, Ailie Robertson, Iris ter Schiphorst,
Clara Schumann, Maddelena Laura Sirmen, Alexia Sloane, Linda Catlin Smith,
Barbara Strozzi, Dobrinka Tabakova, Outi Tarkiainen, Anna Thorvaldsdottir,
Freya Waley-Cohen, Errollyn Wallen, Judith Weir, Stevie Wishart. (and Alissa
Firsova, no details given)
The
conductors are: Karina Caneliakis, Elim Chan, Jessica Cottis, Mirga
Grazinyte-Tyla, Sofi Jeannin, Dalia Stasevska, Nathalie Stutzmann.
To
analyse the results: These figures maintain the substantially
better figures of last year. Rather fewer composers but more women conductors
(reflecting the fact that there are more women conductors making their mark in
the world generally). It seems that the marked improvement of the figures last
year is set to continue. The BBC Proms season has always reflected, or been
better than, the proportion of women composers and conductors in other concert
series around the world. Now we need to look at what is happening elsewhere.
Jenny
Fowler
NOTE: To maintain
consistency with past years, I take my figures from the BBC booklet, rather
than the website, which may be slightly different.
Anyone is welcome to quote
these statistics, but please mention the source. The figures for past Proms
seasons are also available on the Women in Music (UK) website: http://www.womeninmusic.org.uk/
