As we celebrate Women's History Month, it's exciting to see the progress women have made in the performing arts. In recent years, there has been a boom in truly talented women conductors. Here are a few to watch in their meteoric rise to symphonic stardom.

Kalena Bovell

Kalena Bovell is currently the only African American/Hispanic woman classical conductor in the country. She hasn't let being a woman, a minority, or even starting music lessons very late in life stop her success as a talented and respected conductor. Growing up the daughter of hard-working immigrants, Maestra Bovell didn't have enough money for violin lessons until she was 18 but once she got started, there was no stopping this talented rising star.  She even managed to make her international conducting debut despite the global pandemic in 2020, leading the Chineke! Orchestra in concert featuring composer Adolfus Hailstork’s “Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed" European premiere.  Maestra Bovell started her professional conducting career as the Chicago Sinfonietta’s Assistant Conductor in 2015 and has worked tirelessly since; conducting roles with both the St. Louis Symphony, the New Britain Symphony, Hartford Symphony and becoming the Music Director at the Civic Orchestra of New Haven for the 2018-2019 season. She is currently the Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony.  NYPL card holders are invited to hear Chineke! perform via our Naxos database.

Susanna Mälkki

Susanna Mälkki may be most famous in the opera world for conducting  Kaija Saariaho's 2016 "L'amour du Loin" Metropolitan Opera debut. Her insider understanding of Sibelius and Beethoven, made her an easy choice to conduct the rythms of her fellow Finnish composer.  She is now scheduled to conduct the world premiere of Saariaho's new opera, Innocence with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Festival d'Aix en Provence in July, 2021. She has already been named a fellow of the Royal Academy  of Music, received the Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland (one of Finland's highest honors), the Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France and was named a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in France. In 2016, she was named Musical America's Conductor of the Year. In 2017, she was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize. Her long-term post as Chief Conductor is with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, where she has been working since September 2014, when she was the first woman to be given that position. Currently, she is also in the process of building an entirely new Wagner Ring production for the Finnish National Opera with a hopeful 2021 premiere.  

 Mirga  Gražinytė-Tyla

 Gražinytė-Tyla is the first woman conductor ever to sign an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and her very first Deutsche Grammaphon recording won the Album of the Year prize at the Grammys in 2020. She is also the first woman to be named musical director for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where she has reigned since 2015. Before CBSO, she served four highly acclaimed seasons as musical director with the Salzburger Landetheater after a triumphant stint as the Los Angeles Philharmonic's assistant conductor, following her success working with them after receiving the company's Gustavo Dudamel Fellowship. Fans of Cellist, Sheku Kanneh-Mason (who you might remember from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex' Royal Wedding) can hear her conducting skills in his 2018 Inspiration cd from NYPL's catalog (which you can also listen to via Naxos Music Library).

Elim Chan

Currently working as the Chief Conductor for Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, after serving as Assistant Conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra.  She is the first woman to win the Donatella Flick Conducting competition as well as being a Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Hong Kong native has had quite a whirlwind career working successfully across Europe, after finishing her musical studies in the US.  

Yip Wing-Sie

Yip Wing-Sie has been flirting with retiring as musical director of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta but it's hard when you've been an international sensation for almost twenty years. In the last five years, Yip has received both France's Chevalier de l'Order National du Mérite and the Chevalier dans l"Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She has been named a Fellow of the Royal College of Music (RCMF), as well as Ong Teng Cheong distinguished visiting professor at Singapore's Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. In Hong Kong, she has received the Hong Kong Women of Excellence in the Six Arts award by the Hong Kong Federation of Women and the Hong Kong government's Bronze Bauhinia Star as well as being named University Artist at the University of Hong Kong. Despite a busy schedule touring in Asia and Europe, she doesn't forget her roots working at Tanglewood with mentor Leonard Bernstein. 

Kerri-Lynn Wilson

Maestra Wilson has performed globally including conducting concerts with the Royal Opera House, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, the Marinsky, the Bolshoi, the English National Opera, the LA Opera and Washington Opera. Coming in at 6'1", New Yorkers and Metropolitan Opera followers may know this woman behind the baton as Mrs. Peter Gelb, but Wilson's talent for conducting classical operas leads us to wonder if internationally,  Mr. Gelb is known as Mr. Kerri-Lynn Wilson? NYPL Card holders can use the Naxos Music Library collection to hear how she breathes new life into Rossini's Sigismondo with rising star, Hyesang Park,  the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Munich Radio Orchestra.