Violins, hard work and training
I went last night to a Prom concert. Bruch's violin concerto was played by young Norwegian with the fine lupine name of Vilde Frang (having a half-Norwegian daughter entitles me to comment). She was mightily impressive. I was in the seats behind the orchestra, and as I watched her frizzed mane of hair vibrating to the music I wondered how many of the younger breed of soloists, or just outstanding players, are women, and how far this varies by instrument. Only one of the orchestra's double basses was a woman, for obvious reasons, and none of the percussionists. For most of the strings, it was 50/50ish. Whatever the…
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