The Vienna Philharmonic has announced that it has appointed a woman as concertmaster of the orchestra.  The leader of the violin section also traditionally serves as a kind of second-in-command of the orchestra.  It’s the first time a woman has risen to this level in the Vienna Philharmonic.  In fact, they only began allowing women into their ranks in any capacity as recently as the 1980’s but only on a provisional basis.  Full membership in the Philharmonic Society was not granted to women until 1997!  The Vienna Phil is one of the world’s top 5 orchestras, with positions often passed from father to son for generations.  Well, all I can say is it’s about time!

Albena Danailova