By Jennifer Fowler
published in IAWM Journal Volume 12, No. 2 - 2006
The BBC Proms season is an annual series of mainly orchestral concerts held in the summer in London, United Kingdom. The 2006 Proms (running every night from July 14 to September 9) was bigger than ever and covered a broader field. There were 59 main-evening Proms and nine late-evening Proms, all in the Royal Albert Hall (capacity 6000), all broadcast on Radio 3 and many on BBC television. In addition, the schedule included six daytime Proms in the RAH, eight chamber music Proms in the Cadogan Hall, five “Proms in the Park” and, for the first time, four Saturday matinee Proms in the Cadogan. As well as being broadcast in the UK, many of these concerts were heard and seen all over the world. The BBC Proms season is the biggest music festival on the globe.
So where are the women? The 2006 Proms included no women composers and no women conductors.
A Proms season always features a significant representation of contemporary music. Indeed, in an introductory article in this year’s Proms booklet, Paul Driver comments on society’s marginalization and ignorance of living composers as contrasted with writers and visual artists. His remedy? “Go to the Proms!” As he says: “Here connections are drawn, contexts proliferate, and a forum for today’s composers exists that genuinely reaches a large public—global one, indeed—and seems uniquely able to persuade people to put music at the forefront of their minds.” The article concludes: “One thing is sure, though. Thanks to the Proms, the prospects for new music, and its wider appreciation, are hugely enhanced.” In the 2006 Proms 27 living composers were featured and many others only recently died. All of them were men. The 2006 “forum for today’s composers” and “prospects for new music” are not for women, it seems.
For some years past, I have been surveying the numbers of women represented in the BBC Proms for the organization Women in Music. I chose the Proms to survey, not only because it is the largest music festival in the world, but also because the BBC generally has a good record with regard to women. For instance, the BBC orchestras employed women in all sections long before the other main European symphony orchestras employed any. When I compared the Proms with other music festivals in the UK, I found that it was fairly typical, and certainly not the worst, in its inclusion of repertoire by women. However, in other UK festivals that have a significant proportion of contemporary music, the numbers of women composers—as one would expect—have been expanding in recent years. This makes the absence of any women in the 2006 Proms very surprising, especially given the rising number of smaller chamber concerts in the Proms.
What proportion of women should listeners expect? The British Music Information Centre, which represents contemporary composers in the UK, lists some 17 to 20 percent women. Music centres in some countries include up to 25 percent women, although others have considerably less than the UK.
So what proportion of women composers have been featured in Proms seasons since 1989 (when I first started counting)? All of those seasons included works of over 100 composers (up to 126 in 2002). The Proms from 1989 to 1993 included one woman composer in each year (less than 1%). After that the numbers mostly went up to five, although in 1996 no women were included. From 2000 to 2005, the numbers were: 3, 3, 3, 5, 2, 4. These numbers must be qualified in that most of the women composers were included in late-night or lunch-time concerts rather than in the main evening series. In 2001 all three women composers were in evening concerts and one was a BBC commission. In 2003 some BBC commissions or co-commissions were given to women, but last year, when works by 17 living British composers were played, 16 of them were men. Nine BBC commissions and co-commissions were given. All men. This year, no women at all.
The inclusion rate of women conductors is even more depressing. The figures since 1989 range from zero to two, with the exception of 2000 when there were three (but only one in a full evening concert). In contrast, the total number of conductors in each season is exceptionally large, ranging from 43 to 64. Women instrumental soloists range from nine to 25 percent. In 2006 nine out of 62 (about 14%) were women.
To what extent do these figures represent a genuine lack of women at the top from which to choose? For me, it all began in 1989 when I was leafing through the Proms booklet of that year and was struck by the contrast between the pages listing singers—half of whose photos were of women—gifted, famous, glamorous women—and the pages listing composers, instrumental soloists and conductors, most of whom were men. I have never heard anyone claim that among singers, women are inferior to men in technique, musicianship, personality, ambition, dedication, drive, and “seriousness,” or any of the other qualities that might be needed for an international career in music. Yet these are all reasons that are given to explain the imbalance in numbers between men and women who reach the top in other areas of music-making. Clearly, there are fewer women at the top in every field except singing. It is, therefore, even more important that our main music festivals should engage some of the outstanding women musicians who are available.
Numbers, of course, are a crude way of vetting concert programming. A season of programs needs to follow some basic themes and cross-references, which may not allow other considerations to take precedence. One would expect peaks and troughs in particular categories of works. This, however, does not explain the consistently low numbers of women, nor does it address the possibility of change. The lack of new commissions given to women, compared to men, is particularly dismal.
One of the themes in most recent Proms has been the recognition of composer anniversaries. This year marks the 100th year of the birth of Elizabeth Lutyens and Grace Williams, yet neither composer is represented in the 2006 season. Anniversaries that are acknowledged are Mozart (250), Shostakovich (100), Dutilleux (90), Henze (80), Kurtag (80), Feldman (80), Steve Reich (70), Colin Matthews (60) and Marin Marais (350). The Queen (a woman) is given an 80th birthday tribute by the Poet Laureate and the Master of the Queen’s Music (both men).
The BBC is funded by the public and should strive to avoid discrimination. Indeed, it should be leading the way to the future. In an article in the Proms booklet, Lincoln Abbotts emphasizes the many ways in which the BBC is expanding the learning experience of the Proms. As he says: “the Proms play a pivotal role in introducing classical music to a huge new audience. Our learning programme sits at the core of this intense two months of musical activity.” In the light of the ever expanding, educative, and otherwise exciting BBC Proms seasons, I repeat: “Where are the women?”
After I had written the above article, but before it was published, the Director of the Proms, Nicholas Kenyon, heralded the 2006 season with various triumphant announcements: “We have an amazing richness of new and recent work in each Proms season.” “Giving composers an opportunity to be heard has [always] been a vital component of the Proms mix.” “We want to perform that service (i.e. opportunities) for an outstanding new generation of living British composers.”
Surprisingly, no one spotted the lack of women until I mentioned it. Certainly, in boasting of what the Proms does for living composers, Nicholas Kenyon showed no sign of noticing the omission.
After the publication of my article on July 8th, however, there was an explosion of interest. The issue was taken up by a number of journalists, including Ivan Hewitt in the Daily Telegraph, and Richard Morrison in The Times, letters on the topic were published in newspapers and online, and I was interviewed on Radio 4. The omission of women was mentioned by many other commentators—indeed, the problem was discussed nearly every time the Proms was mentioned, although the lack of women was usually treated as something accidental and untypical, something that applied only to this year. Director Nicholas Kenyon, in an article in The Guardian, defended himself with such statements as: “We achieve balance over several seasons, not every season.” Morrison responded that his defense was “pretty limp” (The Times).
During the debate, the term “positive discrimination” kept cropping up. Why? My article suggested that the Proms had not been representing women fairly—not that women wanted special consideration. I think there is confusion here. For most people, the norm is male composers. The inclusion of ANY women then seems “positive.”
To achieve the balance mentioned by Nicholas Kenyon, some seasons would need to include more than a “fair number” of women in order to make up for the years in which there are fewer. Would it be possible for the BBC to do that without an outcry? At any rate, it hasn’t happened yet.
One consequence of note is that when other women composers were asked for their reactions, some of them decided not comment at all, and others said: “I wouldn’t want to be selected as part of a quota.” It would be interesting to do a gender reversal: “The Proms concerts include 27 living women composers and no men; men composers are reluctant to comment.”
Again, if I could reverse another comment quoted: “There are some hot male composing talents coming up. In 50 years time the Proms season will always include work by men.”
Jennifer Fowler is a free-lance composer, originally from Western Australia, and resident in London, UK, since 1969. For additional information, please see her article, “Words from a Composer,” IAWM Journal 12/1 (2006): 14-20. “Where are the Women?” was first published in a somewhat different version in Classical Music (Rhinegold Publishing Ltd, London WC2H, www.rhinegold.co.uk, July 8, 2006).