Just when we women brass players thought we were making good progress in the classical music world, this happens. And only a week or so after my good friend, Abbie Conant had sent out a post on Facebook congratulating Ms. Mayumi Shimizu for winning the Solo-trombone position with the Suedwestfunk Symphony Orchestra Freiburg, one of Germany's top symphonies.
However, Abbie recently sent out a FB message questioning the logic of Jacques Mauger, the host of the ITF (International Trombone Festival) posting on his FB page: "ITF PARIS 2012 -- the best trombonists in the world will be there, why not you???" Abbie responded: "Why not? Because there are 42 men invited as soloists and 0 women. And all 7 composers are also men. Total: 49 to 0! This is insulting to all women trombonists, all women musicians, and all enlightened men." Monsieur Mauger has yet to write back to her.
Trombonist extraordinaire and an inspiration to young women brass artists the world over, Ms. Conant, professor of trombone at the State Conservatory of Music in Trossingen, Germany, is probably the most qualified person in the world to address this issue. In 1980, she had won the position of solo-trombone for the Munich (Germany) Philharmonic. After performing as Principal for the first probationary year, her orchestra colleagues voted to give her tenure. However, the conductor, Sergiu Celibidache, who was opposed to her hiring from the beginning (the orchestra voted her in and he was still new and in negotiations with the city at the time) wanted to demote her to second trombone saying outright: "You know the problem. We need a man for solo trombone."
Abbie fought this discrimination through a lawsuit which she won after having to undergo medical tests to measure the capacity of her lungs, an audition with a "trombone specialist" who praised her playing to the court, and 43 testimonials of her musicianship from guest conductors and fellow musicians. She won her position back and then she had to fight to receive the back pay that was due her. Her determination and backbone serve as a great example to all embattled women musicians everywhere.
Eventually, Ms. Conant left the orchestra to teach at the State Conservatory in Trossingen and began soloing and performing works that her husband, composer William Osborne wrote for her. She has also been a featured artist at many festivals including the International Women's Brass Conference where she was warmly embraced not just for her artistry but for her courage and leadership.
I have the honor of not only knowing Abbie personally, (having been a classmate of hers at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA) but playing with her in "The Liberty Brass Trio," a chamber group started by me on French horn, my sister Nancy on trumpet and Abbie on trombone in 1975. I have great memories of that group. Some of my best musical experiences are of performing with Nancy and Abbie. We had such a blend, resonance and perfect intonation that we sounded like a full brass choir instead of three players. I guess at the time we did not realize the unusualness of an all-woman brass group, but we sure did gain attention from some of the most prestigious male brass players of the time at the New College Music Festival in Sarasota, Florida in the summer of 1976.
I was hoping that by the year 2012, women brass players would be widely accepted and respected by the classical music world. Apparently not in the ITF. According to Abbie, it was not a case where women were asked and they were not available or declined, they just were not invited.
This is disappointing but it is also an opportunity for women brass players of the world to unite. The days of out-of-touch, misogynist conductors such as Celibidache are over. Expert women brass artists such as Abbie Conant in Munich, Susan Slaughter in St. Louis (Symphony), Rebecca Bower of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Heather Buckman in San Diego paved the way for the Philadelphia Orchestra's Principal hornist Jennifer Montone and Carol Jantsch, a tuba player. These and countless others have shown that women do have the lung capacity and can excel at expressing beautiful and powerful music through brass instruments.
Now if only someone could convey that message to Jacques Mauger and the International Trombone Festival.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article lumped the International Trombone Festival in with the International Trombone Association. In fact, they are separate organizations that are incorporated independently.
Labels when it comes to actions determined by gender is what's giving me a hairball.
The world is going backwards.
Do you know how expensive women are ???
Raymond Horton,
Bass Trombonist,
Louisville Orchestra, since 1971
Raymond Horton
And yes, I know this is very basic. But I'm hoping HuffPost can get the basics down before we move on to anything more complicated. In the meantime, please fix your headline.
Since I deal with these issues for a living, I don't think I'm grasping at anything other than the correct usage of the word (and meaning). If you think the headline is fine, good on you. But it is incorrect.
Actually, to be nit-picky, picky, picky, parisnoire is correct, but no one uses it that way anymore. Maybe teachers of English while in the classroom, but it is one of those things which will change with time. Since everyday usage is changing, formal usage will follow over time.
Are you still having to pay for it?
Surely had someone like Abbie Conant sent a rational *private* message to Jacques Mauger and the ITF/ ITA, this issue could have been resolved amicably and with grace. Instead a different route was chosen - the ever popular social media storm. What woman would now want to play at the festival (if invited), knowing that she is likely only now being invited because she is a woman - in an effort to meet a "quota" of female performers Why didn't someone as powerful in the community as Abbie Conant take care of this privately with her colleagues in France? This is not newsworthy. Not in 2012. Haven't we moved past only looking for the number of women and men on a list? On Abbie Conant's Facebook wall, and she celebrates female trombonists almost exclusively. Could one infer that she is in fact a "sexist" herself? No. This is just what she and others have done in this situation. On Jacques Mauger's Facebook page, he has several female students, and he appears to adore them. So much for sexism. The ITF must have made their choices for performers on something based on more than the sex of the player. (Kudos to the ITF!) Why doesn't a powerful female trombone artist such as Abbie Conant host an ITF? She could invite all women! And, you know what, I bet no men would complain!
Certainly. Absolutely true. But, perhaps none would be interested, given the way this was handled so publicly and so rashly. No flaming intended, but just for thought, Wouldn't it just give the impression that they have been asked to pacify a few squeaky wheels (and a handful of others who like to jump on the bandwagons of squeaky wheels)?
Isn't it Mauger's prerogative to chose to invite artists that best celebrate the French trombone tradition? We know that historically that doesn't include a great female presence. Why should someone be invited just to appease a handful of people (who arguably had no intention of attending the event in the first place), when the invitee might not "fit" with the tradition being celebrated anyway?
Certainly ITA events in the USA will have more female involvement, because we are clearly further along than the French when it comes to matters like this. However, I certainly don't think it's fair to imply that Mauger etc. are intentionally sexist.