Your editorial (Time for women to take the baton, 30 August) highlights the lack of equality in the orchestral conducting world. Regrettably, women are even less visible in the higher echelons of choral conducting.
As far as I am aware, there are in the UK only two female directors of professional choirs, no female director of a major symphony chorus and only one female director of music at a Church of England cathedral. The track record of the BBC Singers in engaging women directors is unfortunately no better than that of the BBC Proms or the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
The situation is improving, thanks to some excellent role models, increased numbers of women applying to conservatoires to study choral conducting and to initiatives such as Alice Farnham’s women-only conducting courses and the Association of British Choral Directors’ recent highlighting of women in choral leadership at its national convention. But there is still a very long way to go.
Sarah Tenant-Flowers
Acting head of choral conducting, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
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