In Good Hands

Passing the Baton: Conducting in the 21st Century explores the ways in which gender, culture and socio-economic status influence a conductor's language, career, confidence and even their body. With her own personal story at the heart, leading conductor Alice Farnham interviews conductors - both men and women - at different stages in their career, looking at what it takes to become a conductor. Alice has set many women on a path to the profession, and her book gives a particular voice to female conductors, what it takes to succeed, and just what the job entails. This is not a handbook for conducting, though it describes the job to the layman. A book for all music lovers, professional musicians and anyone interested in leadership.

Auteur

Alice Farnham is listed in the Classic FM Today's Ten Best Women Conductors and in the BBC Woman's Hour Music Power List. Recent engagements include concerts with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, and Southbank Sinfonia. She has been a Guest Conductor on productions at Royal Opera House, Mariinsky Theatre, Calgary Opera, Folkoperan Stockholm, Wermlands Opera Karlstad, Grange Park Opera, Singapore Lyric Opera, and Teatru Manoel Valetta. She was Music Director for award-winning productions at Welsh National Youth Opera and returns for Shostakovich's Cheryomushki in 2022. Alice has conducted much of the standard ballet repertoire with companies including the Royal Ballet Covent Garden, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Danish Royal Ballet. In 2022 she conducts Swan Lake at Opéra de Rouen. She is Artistic Director of Women Conductors with the Royal Philharmonic Society and National Concert Hall Dublin Female Conductor Programme and is much sought after as a teacher. She was Organ Scholar at St. Hugh's College, Oxford University and trained for three years with the legendary pedagogue Ilya Musin in St. Petersburg.