Ioan Holender On Women’s

Limited Abilities

Ion Holender, the Executive Director of the Vienna State Opera, made the following statement to Austrian State Television in 1997:

“There are, indeed, differences that nature has made between man and woman... Naturally, these differences have an effect on instrumental performance. Naturally, there are different lung constellations between men and women, and naturally there are different mouth constructions, and naturally there are different lips between men and women. And for certain instruments, women are less appropriate than men. That is a fact.”

[From a television interview, “Achtung Kultur”, February 24, 1997, 10:30 pm, Second Austrian State Television.]