Proms 2022: Missy Mazzoli – Violin Concerto (Procession) (European Première)

by 5:4

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4 comments

starrynight August 17, 2022 • 10:37 - 10:37

I was wondering why there have been so many women composers over men in this category so looking on the internet I found out why. Apparently it’s a policy to have equal female composers in modern music (whatever point that is assessed from). Thankfully Gavin Higgins wasn’t a casualty of this as his piece is still the best so far.

5:4 August 17, 2022 • 10:45 - 10:45

Festivals have been trying – in some cases, not remotely hard or quickly enough – to improve the balance from being hitherto male-dominated. i assume, and certainly hope, that the Proms is doing this too. It’s something i wrote at length about a few years back (on Sounds Like Now), and they do seem to be finally improving, in this area at least (though not in others). This year’s premières are a roughly 50/50 split women to men.

In what sense could Gavin Higgins’ piece have been a “casualty” of this?!

starrynight August 17, 2022 • 10:53 - 10:53

If he hadn’t been picked because he was male.

There’s gender inequalities in other areas, in many areas of fiction I expect there’s more women published than men now.

5:4 August 17, 2022 • 10:54 - 10:54

Well, Higgins has been featured at the Proms before, so even if he wasn’t chosen this year, he’s hardly missing out. It’s a relief that contemporary music is (admittedly, very slowly) finally getting itself sorted, but there’s still a lot to do.

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