Anna Rakitina was awarded European Culture Prize 2025   Being а female conductor in today’s music world does not feel too uncommon, though, for sure, it was not always like this. The rise of women in the profession is a relatively recent development and, as with many other leadership and governance activities, most positions have been held by males. In the past this had seemed perfectly natural. Conducting demands many qualities that traditionally were attributed to men rather than women: strong leadership, strict character, unwavering resolve, a cool head, and, last but not least, physical strength. For a long time, all this made conducting suitable (in the eyes of many) almost exclusively the domain of men.   Throughout history, leadership roles were given only to males, and not just in the music field. The gender division applied to politics, military service, aviation, etc. Women faced inequity wherever qualities such as boldness were thought to be needed. There are many women today who work hard to prove their capacity for this work. People struggle for equal opportunities and, step by step, are making gains. In classical music, particularly conducting, female musicians have shown themselves strong enough finally to break through and keep up with males on the stage. ...

When I walk across the Square, or even beside it, I see those winding sycamores beyond the black wrought iron fence, the garden and grass and trees, the fountain I know in the center, rectangular, and the benches along the…

Late in 2017, with a breeze off the Bay of Bengal stirring through the tongue-shaped leaves, I sat under an ancient banyan and listened to the voices of birds I couldn’t name while that banyan moved imperceptibly closer to the waters of the Indian Ocean.
I recorded the birds in the branches as they called out to one another. I recorded the birds as they flew away and as they rowed their wings through the morning air and as they made their way into canopies of light and shade. I thought about where I was on this planet, and just how lost I was in my life. ...