Inma Shara (Inmaculada Lucia Saratxaga, born 1972 in Amurrio, Spain) is a Spanish orchestral conductor. [1] [2] She started practicing music at the age of 4, and made her professional debut as a conductor at the age of 27.
Some of her most recent commitments included her collaboration with leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Chamber Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rome Symphony Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Milan Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Switzerland), the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Parma Symphony Orchestra, and the Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra. In addition she has collaborated with soloists such as Mischa Maisky, Boris Berezovsky and Shlomo Mintz.
Shara conducted a concert in Madrid, in attendance was her Majesty Queen Sophie. [3] She also conducted a concert for over 7,000 people in the Vatican City chaired by Benedict XVI, in order to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, becoming the first woman to do such performance, in December 2008. [4]
She has recently been awarded with the prize to the European Excellence, and been named "Spain Brand Honorary Ambassador" from the Leading Brands of Spain Forum.
In addition to being invited by the European Commission and the SEEI to conduct the concert that has meant the closing day of Europe in the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, on 9 May, at the head of the European Union Youth Orchestra.
Claire Gibault is a French conductor and politician and a Member of the European Parliament for the south-east of France. She is a member of the Union for French Democracy, which is part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education and its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.
Marin Alsop is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and to the American Philosophical Society in 2020.
Yip Wing-sie is a Hong Kong musician.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) is the oldest youth orchestra in the United States, established in 1924 as the Portland Junior Symphony (PJS). Now based in Portland, Oregon, the orchestra's origin dates back to 1910, when music teacher Mary V. Dodge began playing music for local children in Burns, Oregon. Dodge purchased instruments for the children and organized the orchestra, which would become known as the Sagebrush Symphony Orchestra. After touring the state, including a performance at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, the orchestra disbanded in 1918 when Dodge moved to Portland. There, Dodge opened a violin school and became music director of the Irvington School Orchestra.
Henry Jay Lewis was an American double-bassist and orchestral conductor whose career extended over four decades. A child prodigy, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 16, becoming the first African-American instrumentalist in a major symphony orchestra and, later, the first African-American symphony orchestra conductor in the United States. As musical director of the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra, he supported America's cultural diplomacy initiatives in Europe after World War II.
Árpád Joó was a Hungarian American conductor and concert pianist.
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor. He is currently the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is scheduled to become the Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026.
Xian Zhang is a Chinese-American conductor.
Zoe Zeniodi is a conductor from Greece. She is currently the Artistic Director of El Sistema Greece. She is the first woman conductor to ever perform with Opera Southwest. She has been selected by the Dallas Opera for the residency of the Institute of Women Conductors, 2016. and a Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship Mentee.
JoAnn Falletta is an American conductor.
Alondra de la Parra is a Mexican conductor.
Yuja Wang is a Chinese pianist. Born in Beijing, she began learning piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Jeannette Sorrell is an American conductor and harpsichordist. A GRAMMY Award winner, she is the founder and music director of Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra. She is the subject of the 2019 documentary by Oscar-winning director Allan Miller, PLAYING WITH FIRE: Jeannette Sorrell and the Mysteries of Conducting.
Emmanuel Siffert is a Swiss conductor.
Tomomi Nishimoto (西本智実) is a Japanese female conductor.
Ilyich Rivas is a Venezuelan-American conductor. He made his professional debut at the age of 16 in front of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and has subsequently made successful debuts with a number of important orchestras in Europe, Australia and America.
Josep Caballé Domenech is a Spanish conductor. He has recently been appointed Principal Conductor of the Moritzburg Festival Germany) and he is also in his eighth season as Music Director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic(USA). Besides, former General Music Director of the Staatskapelle Halle (Germany) from 2013 to 2018, Music Director of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra (Colombia) during 2018 as well as principal guest conductor of the Norrköping Symphony (Sweden) from 2005 to 2007. "Protégé" of Sir Colin Davis in the inaugural cycle of Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Caballé Domenech enjoys combining his conducting career with a great symphonic and operatic repertoire.
Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. Conductors of African descent are rare, as the vast majority are male and Caucasian.
Women are active in all aspects of classical music, such as instrumental performance, vocal performance, orchestral conducting, choral conducting, scholarly research, and contemporary composition. However, proportionately to men, their representation and recognition -especially at higher levels- falls a long way below their numbers.
Maximino Zumalave is a Spanish orchestra conductor and pianist.