Chicago Opera Theater Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya “conducted the opening of the Mark Alamo opera ‘Becoming Santa Claus’ in Chicago on Dec. 11,” writes Alexandra Svokos on Wednesday’s (1/5) Good Morning America. “Five days later, she gave birth. And three days after that, she was back at the podium to conduct the closing of ‘Becoming Santa Claus.’ ‘When I started conducting, people told me that women shouldn’t be doing this job because of its physical demands,’ she wrote in a Twitter thread…. ‘When I had my first kid, people told me that … I couldn’t possibly conduct while caring for a newborn, and that being a mother and being a conductor are incompatible. I forged ahead with virtually no U.S. role models in this endeavor.… I hope we are beginning to let go of this ridiculous, sexist stigma. Pregnancy and childbirth are personal matters and do not impair a woman’s ability to judge for herself whether she is in a position to perform’ … Yankovskaya made her debuts this fall at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Houston Grand Opera—while about 7 1/2 months pregnant…. She acknowledged in her tweets her ‘incredible husband, who truly sees having kids as an equal partnership.’ ”
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