City of London Sinfonia has announced it is to go even further in its quest for equal representation of women across its ranks.
Currently the orchestra proudly boasts that 60% of its principals are female – and it already offers flexible working arrangements for primary carers. Now CLS plan to take their commitment further by announcing that, from autumn, its artistic leadership will be 50% female. This means that at least one female conductor or director will perform at every one of its major artistic series.
A City of London Sinfonia statement said: ‘’[We] want to be part of a movement that changes that. [We] believe that classical music can transform people across all areas of society and in order to do that we need, and want, to present an orchestra that better represents that society.”
“There are many issues to tackle here, but on International Women’s Day we want to highlight the issue of gender, and make sure that any young woman who sees the orchestra – whether in a concert hall or in schools – to look at any role in the orchestra and think, I can do that.”
“City of London Sinfonia can’t change the orchestral world overnight, but [we] can make sure that those talented young female musicians watching CLS can see a realistic [and] aspirational vision of what they might themselves become.”
From Autumn 2017, City of London Sinfonia will be led by creative director and violinist Alexandra Wood and principal conductor Michael Collins.
