25 May 2023

Taking up the baton: British conductor Alice Farnham

From Nine To Noon, 10:05 am on 25 May 2023

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British classical conductor and author Alice Farnham

Photo: Kate + Mount

British conductor Alice Farnham was once told by a male conductor that women couldn't do the job because their breasts get in the way.

She's now been a conductor for three decades, and her newly published book both tells her story and explains the craft.

 Born in Norfolk, to a musical vicar, and music teacher mother, Alice Farnham she learned the trumpet and sang in choirs, winning a scholarship to Oxford University.

She studied conducting in St Petersburg with the most famous conducting teachers in the world, Ilya Musin, and later founded a series of workshops for women conductors - so far 500 have been through. 

Alice Farnham says she's doing her best to improve accessibility to a role which has for centuries been dominated by men.

She speaks with Kathryn Ryan about her book In Good Hands.