Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme Monday 31 January 2022 The NCH Female Conductor Programme, in association with the National Symphony Orchestra is proudly supported by Grant Thornton.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
FÁILTE/WELCOME FROM NCH CEO We are delighted to present the finale of the Female Conductor Programme. Providing a platform and a means of engagement for women conductors to explore conducting opportunities and develop new skills is critical in ensuring cultural equity and in defining a path forward for those who wish to pursue a career on the podium. We are aware of the challenges that currently exist for women conductors in classical music and are intent on continuing to provide support and create opportunities for those who wish to develop their potential as a conductor. Our thanks to Grant Thornton for their continued support in making this programme possible. We wish all the participants well in their finale and the very best as they continue in their conducting careers.
Robert Read CEO National Concert Hall
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
MESSAGE FROM GRANT THORNTON Grant Thornton are delighted to welcome you to the finale of this programme and hope you enjoy the evening. The Female Conductor Programme was jointly created to redress the gender imbalance in conducting. It is clear that our programme makes a real difference and this current iteration has built momentum from the programme’s inaugural beginnings in 2017. The role of the modern day conductor aligns very closely to that of a freelancer or entrepreneur. Grant Thornton is a world leader in delivering innovative solutions to a range of business challenges, and using this expertise, our strategy has been to supplement the excellent technical coaching provided by Alice Farnham, David Brophy and the NCH, with essential business, communication, and leadership skills to enable each participant to navigate successfully the opportunities they face in future. This programme is innovative, providing a unique fusion between the arts and business. Developing talent, challenging the status quo, and pushing boundaries is something we are passionate about. The participants are an inspiration to others, and we are sure they will break the glass ceiling and encourage women to consider leadership positions in the world of conducting. It has been a pleasure to work with the NCH, Alice Farnham, David Brophy, the participants and everyone involved over the course of this journey.
Paul Jacobs Partner Forensic & Investigation Services Grant Thornton
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
MESSAGE FROM NSO The current pandemic has underscored the importance of the arts as an essential and integral part of the fabric of our society. The encouragement, education and development of aspiring musicians is a vital element in preserving this music ecosystem. As Ireland’s only full-time symphony orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra is dedicated to developing young musicians of the future. We are pleased to partner with the National Concert Hall and Grant Thornton for the second Female Conductor Programme, and to offer participants crucial hands-on-experience of conducting a professional symphony orchestra. We were particularly pleased that, despite the restrictions in place, participants had some opportunities to meet with, and to seek advice from, our conductors and to attend our rehearsals and concerts. We hope that all participants enjoyed this important initiative and wish them well for the future.
Anthony Long General Manager National Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
Tonight in this insightful and significant event Alice Farnham will work with three of the participants of the Female Conductor Programme as they rehearse sections of Haydn’s Symphony 104 and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings with the National Symphony Orchestra. Together they will raise the curtain on the workings of conductors and orchestras in preparing for a performance. It is the culmination of over two years of workshops, masterclasses and tutorials, both in person and online, led by Alice Farnham which also featured contributions from Irish and world-renowned conductors including American conductor Marin Alsop, David Brophy and Eimear Noone covering topics such as leadership, conducting technique, interpretation, practice, and the power of music to effect social change.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
The National Concert Hall launched the Female Conductor Programme in 2017 to address and highlight the gender imbalance in orchestral conducting, and encourage women in classical music to take up the baton and become orchestral conductors. In this insightful and significant event, the curtain will be raised on the workings of conductors and orchestras in preparing a symphony for performance. It is the culmination of over two years of workshops, masterclasses and tutorials, both in person and online, led by Alice Farnham and featuring contributions from Irish and worldrenowned conductors including American conductor Marin Alsop, David Brophy and Eimear Noone. These expert tutors covered topics such as leadership, conducting technique, interpretation, practice, and the power of music to effect social change. The participants also benefited from an extensive programme of leadership and professional development workshops delivered by programme partner Grant Thornton. Overall, the programme enabled the twelve participants to develop and hone their conducting skills despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, making this finale a particularly significant showcase event for the participants.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
The Female Conductor Programme was devised to address gender inequality on the conducting podium, one of the most enduring glass ceilings for women in the world of classical music. The overall aim of the Programme is to take steps in redressing this imbalance in orchestral conducting through this innovative programme designed to coach, mentor, encourage and promote talented women musicians at the outset of their conducting careers. Now in its second course, the NCH and Grant Thornton Female Conductor Programme won the Best Large Sponsorship category at the 2019 Allianz Business to Arts Awards. While progress has been made, the issue of gender imbalance in the world of conducting still endures. In 2013, Bachtrack first reported that only one of the top 100 conductors in the world was a woman, in 2019 this had increased to eight. Things are beginning to change, but the conversation must continue and evolve.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
ALICE FARNHAM Artistic Director & Conductor
Alice Farnham is listed in the Classic FM Today’s Ten Best Women Conductors and in the BBC Woman’s Hour Music Power List, and Mail on Sunday’s - 21 Most Extraordinary Women of 2021. Recent conducting engagements include the BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Opera House, Mariinsky Theatre, Calgary Opera, Folkoperan, Wermlands Opera, Royal Academy Opera, Singapore Lyric Opera, Teatru Manoel Valetta, and English Touring Opera. Upcoming engagements include productions with Welsh National Opera, Belfast Ensemble, Opéra de Rouen, and Longborough Festival. She has been a Guest Conductor with the Royal Ballet Covent Garden, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Danish Royal Ballet. Alice is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Women Conductors with the Royal Philharmonic Society. She was Organ Scholar at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University and trained for three years with the legendary pedagogue Ilya Musin in St. Petersburg.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
The twelve participants for 2019/2022 Programme are:
ÁINE GELL Having completed her BA TSM Degree in Music and Modern Irish at Trinity College Dublin, Áine was supported by the Arts Council to travel to Kecskemét to pursue postgraduate studies at the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary. It was here that she specialised her skills in Music Pedagogy through the Kodály Concept and in Choral Conducting under the direction of Peter Erdei. Since then, Áine has worked as a freelance musician facilitating Early Years Music and Vocal Programmes in primary schools around in the South Dublin area through Music Generation South Dublin. Áine currently teaches musicianship and conducts the Children’s Choir at Leeson Park School of Music, Rathmines. She anticipates her completion of a Professional Masters in Primary Education (PME) from Hibernia College Dublin in July 2022. Áine hopes to continue her pursuits in both conducting and music education in the coming years, through local primary schools and community music projects.
AMY RYAN Amy Ryan is a conductor, educator and performer based in Dublin. Amy currently lectures at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and previously at Trinity College Dublin. As a conductor, she founded Cuore Chamber Choir in 2014 and led them to first prizes at all the major choral competitions in Ireland. Amy is Artistic Director of the UCD Philharmonic Choir, and has appeared as a guest conductor with the UCD Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of MTU Cork School of Music, she completed her studies at the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy of Music, Hungary, earning both a Master’s degree in Kodály Music Pedagogy and Advanced Diploma in Choral Conducting.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
MARGARET BRIDGE Prior to the pandemic, I was working full-time as a freelance singer. Ensembles included Chamber Choir Ireland, The Handel and Haydn Society under Harry Christophers, and the Monteverdi Choir under John Eliot Gardiner, with whom I still sing regularly. I have had contracts with numerous opera companies across Ireland, the UK and North America, including Glyndebourne, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Memphis, Opera Collective Ireland, Northern Ireland Opera, Chautauqua Opera and Irish National Opera, and I have appeared as a soloist with the Ulster and RTÉ concert orchestras. I trained at the Royal Irish Academy of Music Dublin and the New England Conservatory Boston after completing an undergraduate degree in Musicology with first class honours at Trinity College Dublin, where I was also a scholar of the college. My love of conducting was born at Trinity, where I conducted the college chapel choir for two years alongside a number of community and children's choirs. The Female Conductor Programme has offered me a welcome opportunity to re-explore this facet of my music-making and I have enjoyed every second of it. It's made me not just a better conductor but a stronger musician and a more confident leader and communicator. I used the COVID-enforced career break to complete a Higher Diploma in Computer Science at University College Dublin and now enjoy juggling a day-job as a software engineer with an active performance career. Plans for 2022 include solo recitals in the US and Ireland, collaborations with composers and a number of European Tours with the Monteverdi Choir.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
CELINE LEONG Born in Malaysia, Celine moved to Ireland in 2019. Before moving to Dublin, Celine went to Hungary to receive a higher musical training. She earned a Diploma in Music Pedagogy and a Bachelor's Degree in General Music Studies at the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. She was awarded the Sarolta Kodály Scholarship offered by the International Kodály Society. The degree focuses on solfege and music theory along with a specialisation in advanced choral conducting. Celine has received training in choral conducting with Zoltán Pad, Katalin Kiss and Péter Erdei. Alongside conducting, Celine's passion also lies in choral singing and has sung in many choirs and ensembles. Celine has recently completed her master's studies at Maynooth University in Creative Music Technologies and has been working alongside with choral conductors to produce virtual performances.
DARA PENDER Dara Pender completed her BMusEd in Trinity College and DIT. Dara is a freelance French Horn player and has played in many bands, orchestras and shows. Dara began conducting as a participant on an advanced wind band workshop in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, with Head of RIAM Connect and Outreach Brendan Breslin and Dublin Concert Band. Dara was selected to be a participant in the London Conducting Workshop with John Farrer, Music Director of the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, California and Howard Williams, Professor of Conducting at the Royal College of Music in London. In the past Dara has conducted concert bands and choirs. More recently she has had the wonderful opportunity from Dr Ciaran Crilly, Head of School in the UCD School of Music, to conduct the UCD Symphony Orchestra where she conducted Egmont, Beethoven. Dara was deputy conductor with the Dublin Orchestral Players where she spent several weeks preparing them for a concert which was postponed due to COVID-19.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
EMILY COX Emily is a graduate of the Bachelor in Music Education programme in Trinity College Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, graduating with a First-Class Honours with Gold Medal Award. She is now pursuing a Masters in Choral Studies in DCU. She is currently Assistant Conductor of Cantairí Óga Átha Cliath (winners of the Grand Prix at Festival Internacional de Coros, Aveiro in 2019) and has performed with Irish Youth Choir, Dublin Youth Choir Singers, Ardee Concert Band and RIAM Chorale. Emily is passionate about music education, as Head of the Music Department at Lusk Community College and has been involved in education initiatives such as Quavers to Quadratics, a music and science programme for primary school pupils presented by the NCH, TCD and UCD. She is also a member of the Kodály Ireland committee.
MUIREANN NÍ DHUBHGHAILL Muireann Ní Dhubhghaill is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin (Bachelor in Music Education) and the Royal Northern College of Music (Master of Music in Performance), and was awarded a Fellowship in Flute Performance by the ABRSM in 2016. As a flute and piccolo player she has performed with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bands of the Irish Defence Forces, Hibernian Orchestra, Co-Orch, Dublin Orchestral Players, Irish Film & Pops Orchestra, Irish Symphonic Wind Orchestra, Dublin Concert Band, and the National Flute Orchestra of Ireland. Muireann recently completed a Higher Diploma in Psychology in the DBS School of Arts, and hopes to undertake further study in the field of music psychology. She also holds an MA in Cultural Policy & Arts Management and a Professional Diploma in Leadership & Management from UCD, and currently works full-time as Artistic Administrator with Irish National Opera.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
SIOBHÁN O’DONNELL Siobhán O' Donnell is a conductor based in Cork. She graduated from MTU Cork School of Music in 2018 with a 1st class honours Bachelors Degree in Music. She is a percussionist and singer, and teaches percussion and musicianship while also conducting a choir. Siobhán is an aspiring orchestral conductor, with much experience playing in both orchestras and wind ensembles across the country. She is currently the co-leader of the Irish Symphonic Wind Orchestra's percussion section and leader of the Cork Concert Orchestra percussion section. She has previously been a member of the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble, Irish Youth Orchestra, MTU CSM Symphony Orchestra and more. Siobhán has sung professionally with choirs and ensembles across Munster, and is currently a member of the Cork based choir Madrigal 75. She has a keen interest in composition and has had two of her works publicly performed.
SÍOFRA NÍ DHUBHGHAILL Síofra Ní Dhubhghaill began playing the harp at the age of eight when she received a scholarship to the RIAM to study with Áine Ní Dhubhghaill. She went on to study with Prof. Clíona Doris at TU Dublin Conservatoire where she received a BMus (Pedagogy) in 2020. She has performed with a number of orchestras in Ireland and abroad including: the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Dublin Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Symphonic Wind Orchestra and Sibelius Academy Orchestra. As a soloist she has received multiple prizes in the ESB Feis Ceoil, most notably first prize in the Contemporary Irish Music Cup and VHC in the Aileen Gore Cup. She was awarded first prize in the DIT Senior String Recital competition during her studies. In previous years she received first prize in the ESB Feis Ceoil Senior Harp competition and has been awarded the Feis Ceoil Rosebowl on multiple occasions. She currently teaches at Churchtown School of Music and Mullingar Harp School.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
MARY WALSH Mary is a Dublin-based conductor who has completed an MA in Conducting and a BMus degree in the MTU Cork School of Music, Cork. During her masters, Mary conducted Stravinsky’s Soldier's Tale, Mozart’s Linz Symphony and Barber’s Adagio for Strings. In 2021, she was selected to take part in the Sorrell Women’s Conducting Programme in the Royal Academy of Music, London under the guidance of Sian Edwards and Alice Farnham. This year, Mary will be working as an assistant conductor to conductor Elaine Kelly on the opera production of Horse Ape Bird, a children's opera produced by Irish National Opera, Music Generation Kildare, Music Generation Meath and Solstice Arts Centre. Mary’s professional work lies primarily in choral conducting. She is currently the conductor of Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir and Newpark Junior Choir. As a choral singer, Mary sings with New Dublin Voices directed by Bernie Sherlock.
MEADHBH CAMPBELL Meadhbh Campbell is a piano and musicianship teacher, conductor and organist. A graduate of CIT Cork School of Music (2019) with a BMus Hons degree, she is currently studying at the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Hungary. Prior to her current studies, Meadhbh enjoyed a varied career as a teacher and accompanist in Cork, Ireland, and has continued to conduct the ‘Belonging@Apple’ Choir remotely throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. During her degree, Meadhbh studied piano with Dr. Gabriela Mayer and is now a student of Anikó Novák. In CITCSM she also specialised in conducting and choral arranging and was awarded the Alan Cutts Memorial Award for highest-placed conducting elective student.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
TAMASINE PLOWMAN Tamasine Plowman for the last 7 years has run Mad about Music school in Limerick, and she currently works as part of the Irish Chamber Orchestras ‘Sing Out with Strings’ project across Limerick city. Educated firstly at Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music as a double bassist and violinist she went on to complete her MA in classical string performance as a violinist at the University of Limerick under the tuition of Mariana Sirbu. A published poet, Tamasine draws on her varied life experiences and unique creative vision as a performer and teacher to inspire future musicians.
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Finale of the NCH Female Conductor Programme
QUOTES FROM PARTICIPANTS “The NCH Female Conductor Programme has been an immensely valuable experience for me, not only in developing my technical skills as a conductor but in my development as a musician. I have gained a wonderful group of friends and colleagues, and fantastic training from our tutors. The seminars and workshops led by Grant Thornton have helped with my personal and professional development and have been a great support in navigating the world of freelance work for musicians.” Meadhbh Campbell
“This course has changed my outlook to music, enabling me to see a bigger picture and have the confidence to experiment with sound. This has helped me gain confidence as a person and as a musician.” Tamasine Plowman
“This programme has been pivotal in my journey as a musician and has given me the confidence and skills I need to become a conductor.” Muireann Ní Dhubhghaill
“Through this programme I have experienced immersing myself in music, finding the gestures to communicate the musical expression I’ve discovered to a group of players, building my confidence and hearing the sound that I create. Being a conductor, whether on or off the podium, has, at its heart, communication and leadership.” Emily Cox
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