Classical music and girl power: The Conductor at Oslo/Fusion
Feature - Arina Kosareva
Marin Alsop is the first female conductor to run world famous orchestras on three continents: North and South Americas and Europe. The Conductor (2021), brought to Norway by Oslo/Fusion Film Festival, follows Alsop’s professional and personal life, proving that there is nothing a woman can’t do—especially if she is told so.
Beethoven, Sarasate, Tchaikovsky – Bernstein, von Karajan, Dudamel. The world of classical music belongs to men. It is a man’s man’s man’s world. And even though there have been female composers and conductors – take Germaine Tailleferre or Nadia Boulanger – no female music director of a world-famous orchestra has ever been appointed. Until Marin Alsop.
As long as I can remember myself, classical music was an intrinsic part of my life. Mother would play cassette tapes of Swan Lake when I was no older than three years old, and I reveled in this masterpiece, dreaming of fairies and princesses. Now I have very little time and patience to listen to classics, but if the opportunity presents itself, I jump right on it – and this was precisely the case with The Conductor.
Directed by a feminist storyteller Bernadette Wegenstein, The Conductor is a 1,5-hour marvel. It is a well-written – and yet real-life! – narrative about a strong woman who had the guts to pursue her dream. Marin Alsop, a nine-year-old at the time, listened to Leonard Bernstein concert once and decided: she was going to be just like him.
“You’ll never be a conductor,” her music professor told her.
“Sir, conducting is the only thing in life I want to do,” she replied.
How do you stop a force of nature? Easy: you don’t. You step aside and let her do her thing –reshape the world to her liking. Alsop’s appointment as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was met with resistance – so she went and won over the players that initially opposed her. A pivotal moment in the world of classical music, and a chance for other female conductors to follow in Alsop’s footsteps.
Yet, The Conductor is not just about Alsop’s astonishing career. It is also about her: a loving mother, a devoted partner, a thorough student, a demanding teacher, a daring and determined dreamer. And how can her story not inspire us, young women at the very beginning of our life, to aspire to reach our goals, whatever they may be?
“Girls can’t do that.” So naturally, we, girls, go and do it. And I, personally, choose Marin Alsop’s performances to guide my way.
You can watch the trailer for The Conductor here: