/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC: Mexico’s First Women’s Orchestra

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Jul 1 2003 (IPS) - Female classical musicians in Mexico, who must swim against the tide in a field dominated by men, are now auditioning for a spot in the country’s first all women’s symphonic orchestra.

Since early June, dozens of female musicians from all over the country have been auditioning in the capital in front of members of the non-governmental organisation ”Mujeres Pro Música” (Women for Music), eager to win one of the 70 spots in the ”Mujeres del Nuevo Milenio” (Women of the New Millenium) symphonic orchestra.

According to the group’s plans, the public will first be able to take in a concert by the new orchestra, which will mainly interpret pieces written by women composers, in October.

Orchestra director María Eugenia Enríquez, who is at the head of the initiative to set up a women’s orchestra, admitted that it has not been easy to find female musicians who play certain instruments as well as, or better than, their male colleagues.

Enríquez, one of less than 20 female orchestra directors in Mexico, said many women fail to perfect their playing technique, because they are aware that opportunities for them are limited in a classical music scene dominated by men.

Less than one-third of the musicians in the roughly 400 youth and professional orchestras in this Latin American country of 100 million are women.

The Mujeres del Nuevo Milenio orchestra will be made up of the highest quality musicians, but will also provide a space for women to develop their talents, said Enríquez, who has directed several symphonic orchestras in Mexico, including the one in Mexico City.

The orchestra’s first season, in which it will perform six concerts, will be used to gauge the public’s response before Mujeres Pro Música continues on with its plans to expand the orchestra and schedule more recitals.

It will be up to the public to decide on the orchestra’s future, said Enríquez, who is respected locally as a highly qualified musician and director and as a talented composer.

But private and public financing will also have to be sought, as maintaining an orchestra is costly, Mujeres Pro Música spokesman José Ignacio Oliva told IPS.

Mujeres Pro Música was created in December on the initiative of Enríquez and several of her female colleagues, with the aim of setting up a women’s orchestra.

There are few women directing orchestras globally, and in Mexico there are also few women playing in orchestras, since ”women musicians sort of hold themselves back from entering a man’s world,” and because many directors are reluctant to accept female musicians, said Enríquez.

But now, many talented women musicians in Mexico will have a new opportunity to develop and showcase their skills.

Carla Quirarte, 25, who has studied violin since she was 10, told IPS that she would audition for the new orchestra out of an interest in developing her technique and carving out a future for herself.

”It is very difficult to make it into an important orchestra, and more so if you are a woman with legitimate aspirations to grow in your profession,” she said.

Music does not provide sufficient income to live on, ”especially for a woman,” which means it is necessary to hold down another job as well, said Quirarte.

However, according to Oliva, women are slowly but steadily gaining ground in Mexico’s classical music scene, although they still account for less than one-third of the country’s symphonic musicians.

Enríquez is one of the few women in Mexico who has enjoyed a successful career as an orchestra director.

Mujeres del Nuevo Milenio will fill a vacuum, but it will nevertheless be difficult to keep the orchestra busy, ”because there is still a very limited public for high-brow music,” said Ecuadorian writer and classical music lover Vladimiro Rivas.

Although symphonies are offered every weekend in Mexico City, the theatres are nearly always over two-thirds empty, Rivas pointed out.

Oliva, meanwhile, said the initiative to set up a women’s orchestra has received a warm welcome. Although symphonic orchestras are expensive propositions, the enthusiasm expressed by potential sponsors in both the public and private spheres has been promising, he noted.