“2018 was Leonard Bernstein’s centenary, celebrated across the globe with such enthusiasm that Lenny became the third most performed composer (after the regular holders of the 1 and 2 slots, Beethoven and Mozart),” reads Bachtrack’s Monday (1/7) annual summary and infographic of “the 33,578 concerts, opera and dance performances in our database…. In the 2,891 contemporary orchestral works played last year and input to our database, just 12.8% were written by [women]…. Women composers from the past have started to be programmed more. We have looked at the top 30 composers over a 5-year period: 26 are now ranked within the top 400 composers, twice the number of 5 years ago…. The top slot in the list of busiest orchestras goes … to the United Kingdom’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra…. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla got into the top 50 [busiest] conductors despite taking four months off for maternity leave…. A newcomer to the conductor list is Karina Canellakis [who] takes up the baton at the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in September…. The combination of Verdi, Puccini and Mozart continues to make up a third of all [opera] performances—as it has for every year since our records began.”
Posted January 9, 2019
