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Vienna Philharmonic Update 2009
December 31, 2009 (Corrected January 7, 2010.) Under intense international protest the Vienna Philharmonic agreed to admit women in 1997. Unfortunately, in the first ten years after that momentous decision, they hired only one, harpist Charolotte Balzereit. Recently two additional women have completed their tenure in the State Opera Orchestra and have also been admitted into the Philharmonic. This means that after 12 years, there are now 7 women in the State Opera Orchestra, and that 3 of them are tenured into the VPo. The three in the VPo are[2]:
Isabelle
Ballot, first violin
Ursula
Plaichinger, viola
Charlotte
Balzereit, harp
Cellist
Ursula Wex has been in the Staatsoper Orchestra for 6 years but she has
still not been admitted to the VPo. The orchestra is denying her
tenure due to maternity leave.
The
Philharmonic averages 137 positions in total, so the representation of
women twelve years after it opened its doors to them is only 2.1%.[3]
This
slow rate of employment is also found in the Berlin Philharmonic.
It began admitting women in 1983. Twenty-six years later women
represent only 12.5% of the orchestra.[4] By comparison the
National Orchestra of France, the Zurich State Opera Orchestra, and the
New York Philharmonic all have close to 40% women.[5]
On
the positive side, concertmistress Albena
Danailova is doing well in the
Staatsoper. She won her audition in 2008 and began working
with the orchestra in September of that year.
Concertmasters have a two year trial period before they are tenured in
the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and are admitted into the VPo, so if
all goes well, Ms. Danialova should become a member of the VPo in
September 2010.
The current 2.1% ratio for women in the VPo after 12 years is dismal, but the appointment of a
concertmistress in the Staatsoper might be a sign of progress.
Though the Vienna Philharmonic has historically maintained gender and ethnic uniformity among its members, they have allowed for outside influence through guest conductors and soloists. They have found it beneficial to consciously use these guests to rehabilitate the orchestra's public image, while at the same time quietly denying rank and file membership to women and "visible" racial minorities. This has been an effective public relations device for resisting change, and fits with sociological models that suggest that isocratic groups form controlled relationships with outsiders to mutually enhance their image and status. The employment of a woman concertmaster might be a continuation of this strategy. As recently
as two years ago, a woman tutti violinist in the
Staatsoper Orchestra was treated in ways that were widely viewed
unfair. Her case vividly illustrates the problems women in the
orchestra can still face. On the other hand, the attitudes of some of the orchestra’s members are slowly changing. And in general over the last 30 years, the average representation of women in most other top German-speaking orchestras has risen from less than 5% to almost 20%.[6]
The
Vienna Philharmonic has still not hired a visible member of a racial
minority. The orchestra has traditionally felt such individuals
would destroy the ensemble’s image of Austrian authenticity.[7]
This policy is directly mainly toward the many Asian musicians who study
at the University of Music in Vienna – often a quarter or more of the
student body.[8]
It
is still very difficult to obtain information about the Vienna
Philharmonic. Secrecy is strictly enforced among the members due
to the negative press caused by the ensemble’s employment practices.
Musicians who speak publically can face severe punishment[9].
It
is also problematic that feminist musicologists in the German-speaking
world write very little about the Berlin or Vienna Philharmonics’
employment practices. And what little has been written has not
been widely distributed. There are several complex reasons for
this. Among them, Germany and Austria have very authoritarian
histories that to this day inhibit some forms of social protest. The
societies are also somewhat less individualistic. Those who
protest against important national icons, like the Berlin and Vienna
Philharmonics, can face career problems in the music world, including
mobbing and ostracism. These orchestras are also used to represent
their countries abroad. Even some feminist musicologists strongly
resent that activism against these orchestras has taken place mostly in
the English-speaking world. The lack of participation by
German-speaking musicologists is unfortunate, because there are some who
could be very helpful with the IAWM’s efforts. When I contact
them here in Germany and Austria, I often meet not only with a lack of
cooperation, but sometimes even hostility. (The most notable
exception is Regina Himmelbauer who has been central to the IAWM’s
efforts.) The relative silence among the general German-speaking public,
and among German-speaking feminist musicologists, has allowed the Berlin
and Vienna Philharmonics’ discrimination against women to continue
into the 21st century. This is unfortunate, because
these institutions have a great deal of iconic power, both within their
countries and abroad. With three women members after 12 years, are
seeing progress, but it is unnecessarily slow.
William
Osborne
[You
may forward this post. Please include the endnotes.]
[1]
This number can be confirmed on the orchestra’s website at:
<
http://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at
> In the listing of musicians, those in asterisks have passed their
trial year at the Staatsoper, but have not completed the three year
tenure necessary to become official members of the Philharmonic.
[2]
ibid.
[3]
ibid.
[4]
Fritz Trümpi, „Oder glauben Sie, ich sei ein Mann?“ Berliner
Zeitung (December 30, 2008) This article also contains
a rare interview with the new concertmistress, Albena
Danailova. The article is online:
[5]
Regina
Himmelbauer, Der
Anteil an Frauen in europäischen und US-amerikanischen Orchestern
Zusammengestelt auf Grundlage der
eigenen Website-Angaben der Orchester (zw.16.11. und
23.11.2005)
[6]
Sabrina Paternoga: "Orchestermusikerinnen. Frauenanteile an den
Musikhochschulen und in den Kulturorchestern. Geschlechts- und
instrumentenspezifische Vollerhebung an deutschen Musikhochschulen und
in den Orchestern", Das
Orchester, 5/05, p. 8.
[7]
William Osborne, “Symphony Orchestras and Artist-Prophets:
Cultural Isomorphism and the Allocation of Power In Music Leonardo
Music Journal (Vol. 9, 1999) M.I.T. Press.
[8]
The orchestra has two half-Asian members, but their family names are
German, and their appearance does not make their racial make-up
immediately apparent.
[9]
William Osborne, Tokenism and
Firings: The status of
women and people of color in the Vienna State Opera Orchestra/Vienna
Philharmonic ten years after it nominally ended its discriminatory
policies. Decebmer 12, 2006.
<
http://www.osborne-conant.org/ten-years.htm
>
(This version of the update, posted on January 7, 2010, contains corrections about the date of Albena Danialova's tenure which had been posted earlier.)
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