PhilHERrmonic | Morning in the City
Katarzyna Jackowska
Szczecin Philharmonic
The first concert of this season’s FilHERmonic series will see the Symphony Orchestra joined by Korean cellist Sul Yoon, prizewinner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and German conductor Katharina Morin, winner of the Deutscher Preis.
The series also invites reflection on the long and difficult history of women in classical music. From early figures such as Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre and Maria Theresia von Paradis, to Clara Schumann and pioneering violinists including Camilla Urso and Maud Powell, women gradually challenged the limits placed on them as performers and composers.
The conductor’s podium proved even harder to reach. Mary Wurm conducted the Berlin Philharmonic as early as 1887, while Nadia Boulanger became the first woman to conduct a New York Philharmonic subscription concert in 1938. Yet major institutions remained slow to change: the Berlin Philharmonic admitted its first female member only in 1982, and the Vienna Philharmonic followed in 1997.
Today, women are far more visible in concert life, but the story is still unfolding. FilHERmonic is not about special treatment, but about restoring balance between talent and visibility. The aim is simple: a female artist should no longer have to be treated as a sensation. It should be enough that she is outstanding.
