On June 26, the Allegra Chamber Orchestra debuted “at a benefit concert for Music Heals, an organization that supports music therapy programs in British Columbia,” writes Gavin Fischer on Monday (6/27) at Canada’s CBC News site. “Founder and conductor Janna Sailor said the Allegra Chamber Orchestra is one of the few all-female orchestras in the world. ‘For many years now … I wanted to do something to enact social change through music,’ said Sailor, who is also the conductor of the Vancouver Youth Symphony Debut Orchestra…. To prepare [for auditions for conducting positions], she asked her friends and colleagues in the musical community to let her conduct them for practice. ‘People approached me afterwards and said, “We really enjoy working with you. If you ever want to create an orchestra, we’d be happy to be involved,” ’ she said. ‘All those people were women.’ … So she decided to form an all-female orchestra…. Sailor said she hopes to set up a mentorship component in the orchestra, since she said there are certain instrumental groups—such as brass and percussion—where women are ‘vastly underrepresented.’ ” Also included is an audio interview with Sailor, concertmaster Carolyn Cole, and soprano Melanie Krueger.
Posted June 29, 2016
