Classical Music Beyond Stereotypes: "Women Excluded from Orchestras"

“Il Diritto di Suonare” returns to Milan, a festival conceived and curated by the Classical Rights Association, founded in 2022 by a group of young people under 22; the first Italian music festival dedicated to overcoming gender stereotypes in classical music with moments of dissemination, inclusion and reflection.

The second edition will take place on June 14 and 15, 2025, in collaboration with the Accademia Teatro alla Scala and the Municipality of Milan, with the Bracco Foundation and the Lombardy Region. The program includes symphonic concerts, chamber music with picnics, informative meetings, flash mobs, with free admission, spread throughout the city. Pianist, artistic director of the festival Ginevra Costantini Negri , 24 years old, says that "the data collected by the most prestigious European orchestras show how the percentage of women is still extremely low: in some cases it does not even exceed 20%". An alarming and sad fact that Costantini Negri explains: "Many orchestral sections still have a female presence equal to 0%, such as double basses, percussion and brass. Furthermore, the percentage relating to pieces by female composers proposed in the concert seasons is little more than negligible. This is the result of deep-rooted social and cultural stereotypes, which our festival wants to help overcome".

Composer Silvia Colasanti opens the festival with the meeting “Nel nome di Anna A.: l'arte che svelade al potere“, a preview of a new opera by La Scala with a libretto by Paolo Nori, to be performed in the fall. At 8:30 pm at the Auditorium of the Cariplo Foundation, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Teatro alla Scala conducted by Anna Skryleva , winner of the 2024 Opus Klassik award; soloist the eclectic Sébastien Jacot , former first flute of the Berliner. On June 15, Breakfast Concert at Villa Scheibler: the protagonist is the duo formed by the very young Chiara Kaufman (cello) and Emanuele Raviol (harp).

To close the weekend, at the Auditorium Cerri there will be a meeting with the theme “Ottanta voglia di emozioni - Music&Art Talk“ conceived on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of the Liberation; an exchange between art and music to learn about the parallel stories of female painters and composers; including Fernanda Wittgens and the Monuments Women, protagonists in the protection of artistic heritage. There will also be a focus on pianist Myra Hess , creator of the Lunchtime Concerts: classical music concerts hosted in the National Gallery, which has remained empty of her works transferred to safe places.

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