An interview with Jaime Martino on advocacy for the next generation of female conductors. 

Interview by Matt Heller

At this point, seeing a woman on the podium is no longer a novelty or a rarity. Yet for all the progress, we’re nowhere close to equity. Women in Musical Leadership (WML), an organization founded by the leadership at Tapestry Opera in Toronto, including dancer and choreographer Jaime Martino, is working to move things along. They are partnering with arts organizations and orchestras all across Canada. So if you haven’t heard of WML yet, you likely will soon, perhaps in your next season brochure or the bio of a terrific guest conductor. We connected with Jaime to learn more about WML, and to meet a few young conductors in the program.

Women in Musical Leadership is relatively new, but already making an impact. When and where did the idea come from?

Following #metoo in 2017, greater scrutiny into gender disparity led to more frequent conversations at the leadership level in opera. Following one of these meetings — which ended with unanimous willingness to hire women as conductors, but a frustrating consensus that there weren’t many qualified Canadians — my colleague Michael Hidetoshi Mori (Tapestry Opera’s General Director) and I asked ourselves what we could do. Women in Musical Leadership started with Tapestry Opera — the 10th largest opera company in Canada — creating assistantships and hiring the women we already knew, like the wonderful Rosemary Thomson. The idea that there was national willingness, but no clear pipeline, nor tons of money, helped led Michael and I to envision a national program that was affordable and attractive for partners to take part in, considering with the promise of significant artist impact. Thanks to a founding partnership with Pacific Opera Victoria and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, pilot funding was secured and the program was launched. 

Conversations about systemic change and exclusionary, deeply embedded practices in our sector can feel overwhelming. Thinking about trying to change the world can be overwhelming enough to prevent people from trying. But what we wanted to do with this program is find a way to change the things that we could, rather than everything that needs to change. When you start by changing what you can, over time, what you can change grows and expands. That’s how we change the world.

Tell us a bit about the program: how are conductors chosen, and what kinds of career development support does it provide?

Women in Musical Leadership offers conductors a three-year, full-time, salaried position, structured as a series of conducting placements with 25 partner organizations across the country. Over three years, participating conductors’ responsibilities will increase: beginning with observing and assisting, and then earning opportunities to conduct rehearsals, movements in a performance, and full programs and operas. Our partners’ placements feature everything from cutting edge new chamber music to world premiere operas to Baroque on period instruments to symphonic masters and opera classics. As the Conductors are with the program for three years, they not only get to work across Canada with an enviable network that spans symphonic, opera, and new music scenes, but they return to the same companies time and time again, building real relationships with music staff who get to witness their growth and artistry. They receive mentorship from Tania Miller, JoAnn Falletta, Rosemary Thomson, Karen Kemansek, and Gustavo Gimeno as well as leadership coaching and self-directed professional development opportunities.

The selection process is a competitive open call audition, presided over by a selection committee that includes leading conductors and Tapestry Opera, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Pacific Opera Victoria artistic leadership. The criteria includes conducting and primary instrument musicianship and technique, but also looks to leadership potential and an openness for learning.

Are there other programs like this, in Canada or internationally?

There are increasingly programs designed to cultivate female and non-binary conductors and many people who are working to change the statistics on women in leadership positions across the industry. A few of them are quite well-established and well-respected - the Dallas Opera Conducting Institute and the Taki-Alsop Fellowship come immediately to mind, and there are programs similar to those at the Royal Academy of Music in the UK, Perth Symphony Orchestra, the Irish Royal Academy, and doubtless many others. 

What sets this program apart is the combination of breadth and depth of experience and long-term commitment to the conductors. Because our conductors become full-time employees of Tapestry Opera, they are supported to focus on conducting only - they don’t need to teach or work other jobs if they don’t want to. And the 3-year duration of the fellowships mean that they are afforded the time to truly grow, to be mentored, and to build real relationships with each other and with the leadership and music staff at Canada’s greatest music organizations.

What are you hearing in terms of feedback? 

We began this program in 2020, just ahead of the summer of racial justice and hot on the heels of the peak of #metoo, which had implicated some very significant names in the music sector. Heads of institutions were being asked to think about things they hadn’t had to before, in some broad and very public ways. So we found that the response to the program was extremely positive; people were looking for ways to participate in sector-wide change, they were looking for ways to do it at their own organizations, and we offered them something very concrete with very clear avenues for success. (See managers sidebar)

For classical musicians, there's sometimes an idea that our identities don't or shouldn't matter -- we sort of disappear ourselves into the composer's ideas and intention. What's your take on that?

This is such an interesting question, and such a key principle to keep in mind as we have conversations about what leadership means, how to support musicians to do their best work, and how we think about the structures of our organizations into the future. (See conductors sidebar)

Any last thoughts or stories you'd like to share with the community of Canadian orchestral musicians?

The program is showing real successes in the lives of the conductors: One conductor had never conducted symphonic music, and after two years of working within the program won a major national residency. Another had never worked in opera or musical theatre and had her conducting debut at the Shaw Festival in her first year. We are all part of building up the generation of musicians, artists, and leaders who will come after us, and they’re coming up now. This program is breaking down barriers to make Canada a village capable of raising the leaders we deserve.