Marin Alsop still suffers ‘archaic, old-fashioned views’ even from young male colleagues
The world’s leading female conductor has said that there is a plateauing in the fight for equality in the orchestral pit as she prepares to bring an opera based on Billie Jean King’s epic Battle of the Sexes to Britain.
Marin Alsop said that there were still “archaic, old-fashioned views” that women could not conduct and revealed her shock at this response from even young male conductors when she first took the helm for the Last Night of the Proms.
Alsop was speaking as it was confirmed that she will conduct the world premiere orchestral version of Laura Karpman’s opera Balls, which tells the story of King’s 1973 tennis victory over the male player Bobby Riggs.